My almost 6 yr old female Lab Border Collie mix has had in my mind a problem recently. At times she will pant and breath very heavy and she consumes large quantities of water at times, much more than I see our Lab male drink. She has also taken to barking while in her crate at night at weird times in the middle of the night, something 6 months to a year ago that she never seemed to do but now this is happening more frequently. I plan on taking her to the vet asap but I wanted to see if anyone had some thoughts for me concerning the panting/heavy breathing and excessive water consumption. Thank you.

Si she also urinating frequently? Excessive drinking and urination is one of the symptoms of Diabetes. Is she spayed?
Do you feed her bones? Has she gotten into anything that she shouldn't have?
So when she is barking at night, do you go into investigate? Does she have to go outside? Do you have water for her in there? There is so many possibilities, more detail is needed.

Aurora,

Well its hard to tell about the urinating for we let both dogs out frequently once we return from work. She doesn't pee in her crate or anywhere in the house for that matter. She is spayed. We only feed both dogs Milk Bone dog biscuits with Purina One Lamb & Rice formula. The barking at least what I and my fiancée have noticed has only gone on like this, the barking during night, for about a month or so. This may sound strange but we have gone and investigated because sometimes it my Lab barking and not her and we aren't sure what he is barking at. At first I would wake up and she would be wide awake and I would let both dogs out and she would get a drink outside sometimes go to the bathroom but not all the time and then back into the crate where sometimes after this routine she would bark again shortly thereafter. We don't have any water for her in her crate. If you need anything else please let me know.

Do you think there could be something outside that is making noises that she is hearing? Like a rat or raccoon or skunk?

As your dog gets older they will need to drink a little more, use the bathroom a little more, they get different habbits all together. It is always best to get them checke dout by your vet to rule out anything medical. HAs anything traumatic happened in your lives? Any big moves? Any more stress then normal?

We do have skunks in the neighborhood and she seems to hear everything haha. The drinking more and panting just really alarmed me and I have read that diabetes could be a possibility though I know this would have to be tested for by a vet. Nothing traumatic has happened to us, no big moves and no more stress than is usually involved raising two teenage boys haha. Both dogs are due for their yearly checkup and shot updates so when I make this appt I can explain to the vet what is going on. Thank you.

How is her weight? Has her level of activity changed?

Is the house warmer and/or has the humidity changed?

More than likely the barking is due to environmental changes such as a cat, wild animals that moved into the area, even someone houses down getting a puppy and letting it out at night.

Well her weight at least to us is heavier than she should be. Our bedroom, the room the dogs hang out in while we are home, is warmer than the other rooms. Once she starts panting heavy she will go lay on the hardwood floor or we will let her outside and get her some water. There are skunks around the area so that may explain the barking at odd hours of the night by her.

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Originally Posted by jazzyjeff

Well her weight at least to us is heavier than she should be. Our bedroom, the room the dogs hang out in while we are home, is warmer than the other rooms. Once she starts panting heavy she will go lay on the hardwood floor or we will let her outside and get her some water. There are skunks around the area so that may explain the barking at odd hours of the night by her.

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If she gets a clean bill of health from her vet, then it might be she is overheating (thus the panting) and panting plus the dryer air inside is making her thirsty.

It could be heartworms.

Dogs react differently to different things. The heavy panting is one sign of heartworms. Has your dog recently been heartwormed check? Does she receive the monthly pill? Itd be worth looking into.

Another thing.. Is your dog shedding? Or getting ready to shed? I know labs have a very heavy, dense undercoat. Maybe she's gearing up to blow coat for summer.

Is your dog over weight? Just like humans, when dogs become overweight, the fat on the body insulates them to keep them warm. If she's overweight, a body full of hair and the room you keep her in is wamer.. That could be the reason... Possibly.

You think she barks at night because of the skunks? It could be possible.. however, dogs typically get use to other creatures wandering around when it becomes part of the environment. Maybe she doesn't feel good and is trying to tell you something.

She could possibly be creating separation anxiety. Separation Anxiety can rear its ugly head at any age and for any reason. I've heard of families battling this sickness with dogs they have owned since puppy hood and the schedule never changed.

Every dog is different... Its hard to guess. There are a lot of possabilities.

My dogs still to this day bark at things that are out side. Raccoons, cats, deer, cyotes, foxes any thing creeping around at night, and my dogs are barking.

One time my dogs were slinking around the house.. This was late at night a number of years ago. They never barked... they never showed any type of suspicion that something was going on... They all looked out the windows and slinked back. My mom and I were terrified... She called my dad who was at work, grabbed the gun.. Cracked the door to see who or what was out there.. Come to find out, the neighbors cows got out.

Strange how my hounds never said a peep.. Jerks :P

Lol. Lady will hind behind me but she will bark. She's my night in shining brindle. Max on the other hand will have his teeth up against the window, depending on the animal. We had black bears snooping around, he was a little more timid in telling them off. But deers, cyotes and foxes, he is all over the place. The scariest thing when you are sound asleep, and you hear him start barking and growling out the window and you can't see anything!

Wow thank you all for your insight on this matter. The heartworm idea is an interesting one because we ran out of heartworm pills a while back and haven't gotten any since. I hope that is not the cause of this.