Hello,
My 10 yr. old dog has been barking continuously at night to keep going outside. We let him out and back in awhile later. Within 10 minutes of being let back in he will start barking again. He does not bark throughout the day to go out and only started this barking at night all the time for the past few days. He stops barking when let out and just lays outside. We can just leave him out if he keeps barking but is this something we should be concerned about? I heard dogs leave or go outside when about to die. He is active and I think in good health so I don't think this is the case but don't know why he started this barking all of a sudden. Thanks!

Is it really hot where you are? Could heb e going out to cool himself down? Dogs get particular in their old age, some even get senile. It probably wouldn't hurt to take him to the vet for a once over. What breed is he? Do you think there could be animals, cats or even kids lurking around out side?

Aurora Bell makes a good point, dogs can actually suffer from dementia and a type of sundowners syndrome much like alzheimers patients.
That may or may not be what is going on with your dog, but it's certainly worth discussing with your vet.

Darnit, Bella beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing.

My first thought was, he's hot, and the outside air is cooler and feels better. When our lab got older he refused to come inside, and spent many nights sleeping in the garage. We put a dog bed, food and water out there for him. Whenever we took him inside, he'd bark to be let back into the garage. As long as he was comfy there, we didn't see the harm.

Do take him to the vet. If there's nothing physical going on, then perhaps put a dog bed outside for him. If he's happy outside, he just may feel more comfortable there right now.

Good luck.

But I do agree that a trip to the vet is in order, especially because this is a new behavior.

I have friends who had a large dog with arthritis who wanted to spend as much time as possible in the snow, no matter how cold out.
I'd suggest a water bed or super soft bed of any kind. Done that myself for my arthritis. I like to run either hot or cold water over my arthritic hands.

A water bed for a dog?

A water bed for a dog?

I can just see it. My house covered in a foot of water because the dog gnawed on his water bed. Yikes.

I still have pictures of the incident with my pillows. :(