[lgnutah]

When you are woken by the sound of your dog barking at the door to be let out and it is the middle of the night,
do you get up and let your dog out because he must need to go to the bathroom?
or do you just assume some animal is in the back yard and tell him to be quiet?

 

[Deb_Bayne]

Bayne is crated during the night, when he hears an unusual noise outside he will bark then go back to sleep. If he wasn't crated and this happened, I would just assume there is something outside and maintain the 'nighttime is for sleeping' routine.

 

[Eleanor's Mom]

It all depends upon the bark. Eleanor's bark for "I have to go out" is very different than "There's something out there, I want to go see" so I get up for the bathroom bark, but I ignore the other.

 

[Sosoprano]

I think it depends on the age and potty habits of your dog. Since Pippa reliably sleeps through the night, I shush her on the rare occasions that she barks unexpectedly, and I tell her to go back to sleep. If she were to insist, I think I’d be more worried aboutr a burglar than about her needing to go out!

 

[lgnutah]

I open the door and do a sniff check to make sure it isn't a skunk that Brooks is eager to go out and meet! But I always let him out just in case it is an urgent bathroom situation (not that he usually has that problem but since the bark has already woken me up, I might as well let him out)

 

[CAROLINA MOM]

It all depends upon the bark. Eleanor's bark for "I have to go out" is very different than "There's something out there, I want to go see" so I get up for the bathroom bark, but I ignore the other.

My guys have a different bark for when they need to go out to potty vs. if there's a critter or someone outside.

We have a lot of critters around my house due to an overgrown vacant lot next door. I've seen a fox come out of the lot several times, we have deer jump the fences between the houses at times.

I don't let them out to chase the critters and they rarely need to go out again during the night once they've been out for the last time before going to bed.

 

[cubbysan]

I cannot remember the last time Brady or MacKenzie had to go out in the middle of the night. I don't think they have since MacKenzie was a puppy.

When they do bark in the middle of the night, it is usually very obvious that it is about something. They will bark if the farmer across the street pulls into his driveway after 11 pm, so I just look for truck lights. The other times, they usually run from the doors to the windows, so I know it is deer or other wildlife.

 

[inge]

I aways go to her. Tess never barks without a reason when it's night.

 

[luvbuzz]

I think Buzz was born to be a night shift dog. He always barks, wants to play, carries his ball and wakes me around 2 or 3 regardless of his day activites. My arm automatically throws the ball even when I am sleeping.

 

[fostermom]

My dogs don't bark to go out, so if they were barking in the middle of the night (and when you have more than one dog, if one barks, they all tend to bark), I would assume there was an animal or person out there and I wouldn't let them out. If any of them needed to go potty, they would either whine at me or jump on my side of the bed or nose me.

 

[Deber]

Mine have a special bark for when its something outside. We have doggie doors so if they need to go to potty they will, but if someone or something out there they are chicken and start to bark. I usually get up and lock the doggie doors then peek out the windows to see what they are getting upset about. Usually it is some dogs out running, but our neighborhood isn't what it used to be and bad people are out too, so we stay inside and watch TV until everyone settles down again.