How to Keep a Dog From Barking at Night

Excessive night-time barking can be very disturbing and upsetting to both dog owners and their neighbors. While barking at possible intruders is acceptable, incessant and sustained barking is not. Barking at night may indicate that your dog is bored, distressed or in need of attention. If at all possible, night-time barking should be discouraged from infancy--training a puppy to be quiet at night will save you from having to retrain them when older. If your dog is an adult, it can still be trained to be silent at night.

Things You'll Need

  • Hot water bottle
  • Small clock
  • Item of worn clothing
  • Toys
  • Water spray or spray collar
Show More

Instructions

    • 1
      Puppies can crave the attention they once got from their mothers.

      Make puppies as comfortable as possible at night right from the start to discourage barking. A puppy will have been used to sleeping in a pack and may be distressed to find itself sleeping alone.

      To ease a puppy into sleeping alone, wrap a hot water bottle in a worn piece of clothing. Put warm (not hot) water in the hot water bottle and ensure the cap is tightly closed. Place these and a ticking clock in the puppy's bed. The item of clothing and the hot water bottle will mimic the warmth of your chest and the ticking clock will mimic the sound of a heartbeat. This will reassure the puppy and relieve some of its fears about sleeping alone.

    • 2

      Keep an older dog entertained to stop it barking at night. Leave toys beside his bed to play with and change these regularly to stop the dog from getting bored. Take the dog for a long walk about two hours before bedtime to encourage him to sleep through the night. Do not give the dog any water for an hour before bedtime and let the dog out to urinate before you head to bed. This will stop him from barking to be let out.

    • 3

      Discipline your dog if it continues to bark at night for attention. Do not go to your dog when she barks at night or yell at her to be quiet--this will only encourage her to look for your attention by barking. Instead enlist a negative stimulus to quiet the dog. When the dog begins to bark, go to her and without saying a word, spritz her lightly with the water bottle. Instruct her to be quiet after spritzing and leave the room without giving her more attention. Repeat as often as necessary but remember to keep telling her to be quiet as you can use this as a command in the future.

    • 4

      Invest in a spray collar if you cannot reasonably get up every time the dog barks. These work by spraying a liquid (often citronella) every time the dog barks. The collar is effective as it distracts the dog from barking and is a negative response to the behavior. It is designed so that it will not spray at all sounds, just ones as loud as a bark.