I have a 5 year old greyhound/foxhound mix. I've had her for a little over 3 years. She is great in so many ways. My husband and I are definitely of the mindset that we have to be the pack leader, and she does really well with that. She does seem to have a very high prey drive and does not get along with other animals very well.

However, the main issue is that she wakes up virtually every night at least once to go outside. While outside she always goes to the bathroom, but also barks at whatever animals are out there and smells all over the yard. We have a fence, but I think there are small animals (racoons, rabbits, cats, etc.) that sometimes get in the yard.

To combat this, we give her about 5 minutes and then call her in. She gets a "come" treat, and then we go straight back to bed. She gets a walk almost every day for at least 20 minutes. However she does lay around all day while we're at work as well as much of the evening (typical of greyhound breed). I pick her food up at 7pm and she is able to go out whenever she needs to, and does so before my husband goes to bed @ 11 or 12 at night. I wake up for work @ 5am, so she's doing this between 11 - 5!

HELP!

My walker hound has almost the same routine. My husband goes to bed at ll,so she goes out and quickly has a pee then goes to bed too. I wake up at 4:30 am, she goes out, sniffs around in typical hound dog fashion (lots of animals afoot during the night too), barks, carries on, etc. Taffy gets a come treat as well (she is l0 years old). Her schedule with me every morning is okay and I don't have a problem with it, but... it doesn't work on weekends when I want to sleep in. She is a wonderful animal in so many ways.

I am just blathering on here and any answers you get from the experts will benefit me as well, good luck ! But the only solution I can find is just letting her out later in the evening if it works for your hubby to give you some relief. My husband's bed time is carved in stone, so nothing can be done in that department.

You could try taking her water bowl up when you take up her food bowl. If she went in the night. I would put the her on a leash... no sniffing around or barking take her to a spot let her do her business and back inside. Maybe if she is just going out to look over the land she will get the hint the middle of the night is not for that. *edit* there would be no treat... I would make sure she wasn't just getting up for a treat.

Your dog probably sleeps a lot during the day and is anxiously waiting for her people to come home so she can have social interaction with you. LOL-- What fun is your dog having with you when you are out all day and then you have the nerve to go to sleep all night ignoring her? LOL! So, since you are home, she can wake you up to do stuff with her or allow her to go and investigate all the great smells, AND she gets a yummy treat for doing this! She probably can very easily hold her bladder and bowels until you both get up in the morning, but she won't because she has been trained to relieve herself in the middle of the night. In giving her a treat, you are establishing a toilet routine and you rewarding her for waking you up. So, walk her as late as you can, and when she bothers you during the night, tell her "no" and direct her to lie down. You may or may not find a mess in the morning. If you do, just clean it up. To correct her after the fact for sticking to a potty schedule you have created will send her mixed signals and confuse her. Do you use a crate for her? It might be beneficial to start crating her at night at least until she can get adjusted to her new schedule.

Agreed Ruby,

Definitely lose the reward for waking you. Does your dog ever pee in the house? If no, I would also provide a "No" to going outside in the middle of the night. If the attempts to pry you from bed continue, then crate her for the night. If this continues from night to night then crate her to start the night, for a little while, before trying again. My 8 yr old Schnauzer will only alert/wake me to go out if something is wrong. And he has no trouble holding it through the night. Again as Ruby said, reduced water intake near bed time may help too.

Thanks everyone. Last night I decided I was going to practice tough love. I picked up her food at 6pm. I picked up her water when I went to bed at 9pm and took her outside. I fully intended to get no sleep, but say NO every time she asked to go out (many times she will go lay down and then an hour later get up again). However, I could hear her stomach all the way across the room (sick) so I gave her a Pepcid and my husband took her out around 12am when he came to be. She slept all night and wouldn't even get up this morning!

So, I guess tough love will have to start tonight. I'm also not going to use "come" when I want her in from outside unless there's an safety or immediacy issue. That's our word that we want an immediate response from her, hence the high quality liver treat. That will no longer be used if she ever has to go out at night!

Hopefully this works. I will still welcome any other suggestions as this is just the beginning. The issue got this far because she used to pee her bed in the night (even in a crate), that stopped when my husband and I got married and things were more stable as far as the living situation, however, the nightly visits outside continued...

I have a dog that occasionally needs to go out at night. The way I do it is that I just walk to the door, open it, wait for her to come back in, and take her back to her bed. No talking, no excitement, and just a pat when she settles back down for the night. Of course, she's not doing that every night, so it might not work for you. But the idea is to not have any accidents in the house, and not make this "fun" for her.

Renno, pick up her water bowl by 7 or 7:30. Don't worry if she acts thirsty. She won't become dehydrated and she will learn that she better drink her water early enough. Froggy is right about handling the potty issues that occur from time to time. We all go through it. Keep all talk and interaction at a minimum. Try the suggestions for a few weeks. You should see positive changes in her routine.

Can someone help me. I live in my own apartment. I had my dog trained not to go in my bed, but when I visit my mom's house she encourages her to come sleep with her. I have already told my mom I am not bring the dog over anymore. How do I get my dog back to sleeping on her bed. She wakes me up all night, scratching at me, and barking. My mom doesn't understand why I am annoyed. I feel I have no other choice but to crate her, this is how I trained her when she was a puppy.

Alyssa