In the Middle of the Night
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
I'm having some trouble with the dog's sleeping patterns of late. For the past several months, Doc has taken to waking up (and I mean REALLY waking up) in the night and scratching at the bed, and sometimes even barking. He gets out of his bed, puts his front paws on mine, then scratches the shit out of my bed frame and linens.

Because I am one of THOSE people who requires a little more sleep than most, I've been getting up to get a treat for him to SHUT HIM THE HELL UP and that usually does the trick. I know, I know, I'm just rewarding him for waking up and bothering me. But when I'm 99% asleep, that's the only surefire tactic I know of to get him quieted down.


It's genuinely weird. For instance, last night he was up at 2:43am, 3:49am, and again at 4:55am. Barking. For all my sleepy (and now pissed off) neighbors to hear. Sometimes I'm standing at the bus stop in the mornings, and can't remember whether I fed him breakfast -- usually breakfast is the last shut-up method, but I try not to feed him until at least 5:30 or 6am.

Somebody please tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do. I've tried barking collars, misting water in his face (as a negative association), muzzling, the works. Do you think that if I paid to have him walked during the day, that he would sleep more soundly at night? Any dog owners out there with advice?

Please? Help the sleepy, crabby, blogger?