Hi guys,

I need some help! We have a Shih Tzu who is coming up to 11 months old. Generally he is a great dog, he pretty much does what he is told and he is 99.9% house trained (only time he goes in the house is if we go to bed really early and don't get up til late)....but anyway, we have a problem.

For work, I set my alarm for 6.30 and get up between 6.45 and 7. Generally Alfie (the dog) will start barking shortly after he hears my alarm go off from downstairs, so I get up and go and let him out and then he's fine, it's not a problem because I get up to go to work and my wife is up before I leave the house.

The problem has been that at the weekends he likes to bark between 7 & 8am, even though there is no alarm going off or anything to indicate to him that we are awake (we aren't!!). Feeling that he probably needs the loo and that his body clock is waking him, either me or my wife will get up and let him out, then we tried to bring him up to bed with us but he is so hyper that he won't settle so usually one of us gets up and takes him out for a bit or goes and watches TV with him. It's not ideal as we haven't had a lie in together for a long time, but the real problem is that now he seems to be getting earlier and earlier, even during the week. For example, today he was barking at 3.30am so I got up, let him out to the loo (he had a massive wee) then told him to get back into bed (he did) and closed the door and went back to bed myself. He barked and barked until I got up at 7am. Yesterday it was the (slightly) more sociable hour of 5am that he started barking, again I went to let him out and went back to bed but he continued. We have even tried not going down to let him out at all but he doesn't stop at all until somebody gets up.

I'm really at the end of my tether with it and he knows he shouldn't be doing it because when I come down he runs off knowing that he's going to get told off. We need to get to the stage where the dog doesn't get up until we're up (the same as any other dogs I've had in my life)....we rarely sleep more than 8/9 hours anyway so he should be ok to hold his toilet provided he goes before bed (which he always does).

Anyone got any ideas? I'm fresh out

Sounds like he knows if he barks you will come! He started a 7-8am as he is used to seeing you at that time. Dogs don't really do "lie-ins". Knowing that barking makes you appear he continues to do it, even earlier if needs be.
If it were me I would try and ignore it and get him back into the routine you had before. Bed at a certain time and then up at a certain time. Dogs love routine. [If you think the neighbours can hear too, tell them you're trying to sort the barking out so they are aware.]
Does he get enough exercise in the day? A walk before bedtime?

We've been going to dog classes and a couple have a similar problem with their dog. The teacher showed them how to stop the dog barking by throwing keys at a tin tray when the dog barked. It completely distracted the dog, and when he stopped barking he was praised.

Apparently the beauty of this is you're not rewarding him in anyway, for barking. Bit difficult I know if you're upstairs when he barks, but you might be able to take the principle and sort something out.

All my dogs once woken have needed to relieve themselves same after eating, if the alarm wakes him up he may just need to go outside. They are also slaves to routine and if they wake up 5am mon-fri find it difficult to understand we don't wake up till 8am at weekends. Consequently we are the earliest wakers at the weekend round here, has it's compensations though as it's quiet and peaceful going for a walk.

Our dog always wants to go in her basket around 9pm. She stays in there until I'm up, even though OH comes downstairs to make a drink for us to have in bed. Even if we have a lie in at the weekend, she still waits for me to get up. I guess we're just lucky.

We've tried to ignore it and it doesn't seem to make a difference. Although maybe it's best to persevere with the ignoring? To be honest, I can cope with the weekend thing...it doesn't bother that much to get up at 7 or 8 and take him out for a walk or lie on the sofa with him and watch TV....it's the fact that he's waking up stupidly early during the week that is getting to me, I mean he barked from 3.30 til 7.15 today non-stop. He gets lots of exercise, a walk in the morning and a big run around the park for about 30-60 minutes after dinner....I think that's a lot for a dog of his size.


That sounds like a good idea although I'm not sure how it would work in practise with us being upstairs. I mean, if we go down to do that trick then surely we've already given in? And making a racket upstairs is just going to alert him to the fact we're up? I don't know...could be worth a try. I've read a bit about using those water sprays that people use for plants and squirting a bit in their face when they bark? Might be worth a try. He does quite like a bark ordinarily anyway, like at his own shadow in the window or at me when I've got my feet up on "his" seat....maybe I could try these tricks when he barks during the day and see if we could turn him into a complete non-barker.


He def needs to go to the loo when he wakes...there's no doubt about it. But he should be doing it through the night like that, surely? I mean, we went to bed at about midnight last night and he was up at 3.30 so it wasn't exactly a long time in comparison to his usual night time. I do agree, it's lovely to go for a walk when there's nobody else about...the world is a lovely place at 6am on a Saturday or Sunday.

If something is waking him up then yes he may need to go sooner than you would think - heck I do too when the people next door come home after I have gone to bed and wake me up I have to get up and go again even if it's only an hour.

Our Golden comes and stares at us if we don't get to bed at a certain time, almost like she's saying "bog off to bed, I want my sleep!".

Fair point. I just find it hard to believe because he is a cheeky little fellow at the best of times and he WILL go in the house if he is really desperate and no one is around to let him out....as was demonstrated last weekend. Maybe it's his all round behaviour that is impacting on this, he is quite spoilt. It's probably not too late to change though given his age.

I also worry because our next door neighbours (terraced houses) have a 6 month old baby and I'd hate to think Alfie was waking him up.

Just be aware big_hard_lad of using "punishment" - if you're going to use water spray etc you have to do it as soon as he's barking. Any delay will confuse him as to what he's being told off for. He won't make the connection.

I think as long as you explain to your neighbours they will be fine - they're probably worrying if their baby's crying wakes you guys up! I know our neighbours worried about that!
PS If the barking is waking you up, try ear plugs!

Yeah I know what you mean...personally I'd rather use the "noisey" method as it's neither punishment nor reward. I just don't know how we could implement it in this situation.

Also, he definitely knows what he's doing is wrong because whenever he is making a racket and one of us comes down he hides and won't really make eye contact with you unless you get down on the ground and call him over. So I guess it's a case of making him realise that it's unacceptable....not just that he can do it then look all cute and be forgiven!

Yeah I might have to call in. She has said previously about being worried that the baby wakes us up.

My wife wears earplugs all the time (she's a very light sleeper and has to in order to get any sleep). I borrowed one last night (couldn't find another) when he was barking and it helped a little....but not much!

When you go down, do you tell him off? That may be why he is running away initially? And then you get down on the floor and make a fuss of him, sounds like he loves having you come down LOL!
Have you tried just opening the back door for him to go out and do his business, if that is what he needs to do, but no petting or talking, just do it all very boooooringly.......

I used to tell him off but I've stopped now.

That's not a bad idea actually, just down, open the door and say nothing. Would I be allowed to tell him to go outside and do his business? Cause if I don't I'll open the back door and he'll be all over me like a rash and not care less that the door is open!

Of course but say it matter of fact, just so he knows it's not playtime but toilet time and bedtime.

I think that's not a bad idea at all...I'll give that a go.

Good luck, may take a few days to get him used to it. Just think "boring"!

I will....it'll make a change from thinking "wring his neck"! Not that I ever would...I wouldn't harm him for the world but he is bloody annoying at that time of the day!

So last night he went to bed as normal and then started barking at 3am. We decided to ignore him completely and not acknowledge it. He stopped at around 3.30 but then started up again at 5am. Again, we decided to ignore him and he continued to bark right through until I got up at 6. He also definitely didn't need the loo as he'd done a wee on the kitchen floor.

When I got up, I crept down the stairs and he could obviously hear me as he stopped barking, I waited in the hall until he started again and then made my entrance, told him off and then completely ignored him. I wanted to get him when he was barking rather than when he had stopped. He then had the cheek to actually go and get into his bed and proceeded to go to sleep!!

Really at the end of my tether now

Just a thought, but maybe it's the other way round and Alfie can hear the baby.

Might be worth getting him checked by the vet to make sure he doesn't have any trouble with his waterworks.

Other than that, the "boring" response is pretty good and there are also collars you can buy which can deter a dog from barking.

He's actually going to the vet tomorrow to get his dew claws trimmed so I am going to mention it to them. I don't think he has any problems with his waterworks as he has never had any problems before and hasn't ever had any signs he does....but that's not to say he doesn't! I saw the collars....if we can't find any other solution I might have to try one of those.

My wife seems to think that his barking is different from his normal barking and that it sounds like he's scared....personally I'm not sure as it's hard to remember when you're woken up in the night. I'm going to set up a camera in the living room tonight (I work in IT for a CCTV manufacturer so it's not as bonkers as it sounds) and see if there is something going on.

The other thing that I haven't mentioned that my wife thinks might be playing a part is that he stayed with my parents between 14th Jan & 2nd Feb as we were on holiday. They have two dogs who are a couple of months older than him and he LOVES them (they love him too, to be fair). He had a great time there by all accounts, he always does. My wife reckons he may now have gotten over his initial excitement of being home and is now missing them? Could be I suppose, I just think it would've manifested before now as we've been home for 3 weeks today.

Could just be readjustment to being back home plus could be next door's baby as well. He could be missing the reassurance of having older dogs around, some instincts and behaviours are hard to ignore plus if he is hearing things in the night (quite possible with young baby next door) he might be in need of the reassurance of your presence to let him know everything is ok.

Being very matter of fact, not letting him get too much out of your getting up to see to him, might be the best way forward. Don't even tell him off. Just act detached, open the door to let him out, if he doesn't want to go out just leave the room and go back to bed. Give him as little attention as possible during the night hours but give him positive attention at the time that suits you.

Hopefully he should soon get the message. Good luck

I may be misunderstanding but surely the fact he wee'd means he did need to go ??

Yeah but he continued to bark after he had done the wee....so surely he wasn't barking because he needed to.