[reza]

A brief outline of the daily attention our dog gets, which has been true for the last 6 months: Walking: 3 Miles around 8 AM, 3 Miles around 5PM, 2 Miles around 9 PM. Play time for about 20 minutes at 830 PM, or whenever we finish dinner. He maybe spends about an hour per day outside on a leash, or sometimes we let him run free, but there are a lot of foxes/coyotes around, so we dont' really like to unless he is with his black lab friend. Now, the problem:

Our westie is 8 months old. Until about three weeks ago, he barked maybe once per day. However, he has learned a new trick, which is to bark until he gets what he wants. At 6 AM he starts barking so I will let him out. He'll be happy for an hour or so, then he starts barking again until we let him in. Then he'll come inside and bark at us while we sleep until we take him for a walk. Finally, we take him for a walk and we go to work. When we get home from work between five and six, its another 3 mile walk, then when we get home, he stares at us and barks until we let him out on his leash. Then we eat dinner and he will sit patiently while we eat, then once we sit on the couch, he sits and stares at us and barks. One of us will play with him until he gets bored, then it is a 20 minute walk around 930 or 10 pm, and once we get home, he will sit and bark until we go to bed.

A few notes: 1. this is very new behavior. 2. Ignoring him doesn't work. He will literally bark repeatedly for 20 minutes at a time. 3. We have tenants upstairs who can hear him while he barks, so just ignoring him won't work. 4. I think it may be separation anxiety, because until recently, he was normally not left alone for more than 5 hours at a time, but now it is more like 8 at a time, and i feel as though he spends the whole time sleeping, then when we are home expects constant attention. 5. I feel as though 8 miles a day of walking is plenty of exercise for a 14 pound dog---is it too much, i mean, is he in "too good of shape" and therefore has unreasonably high energy levels?
6. the goal is to be able to train him to be a dog who is like the one we knew until just a few weeks ago---the one who was tired and calm between the hours of 9 PM and 9 AM.

Finally, does anyone have any specific ideas or advice as to what we can do to correct and stop this behavior?

[Durbkat]

Well you haven't tried hard enough to ignore him. If you eventually give in and do what he wants then he will learn that if he tries hard and long enough that he will get what he wants which isn't what you want because he is becoming the alpha dog when you do what he wants versus he does what you want.

[Curbside Prophet]

So he's been walking 8 miles a day since he was 8 weeks old? That's way too much for a pup.

First, you need to know what kind of barking he's expressing.
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Second, yor dogs age would suggest that it's fear related, as your dog is in the second fear period of development. I would suggest less walking and more training to help build your dog's confidence.

[reza]

I guess i was a little misleading in the original post---we have worked our way up to 8 miles a day with him---probably about a mile a month. However, I don't see us going over 8 miles. Thanks for the advice, we talked to our tenants and they said ignoring him would be cool with them---the other part of my question is if there is any way to get him on a better sleep schedule---I mean is this something we have any control over, or are certain dogs hardwired to be awake at certain times of the day? My wife and I both go to work somewhere between 9 am and 11 am and would love nothing more than a dog who isn't awake until we are---around 8:00 am.

[LoveLilly]

IMO, wake up time is dependant upon potty time. Lilly can hold it 7-8 hours & is only 7 pounds but was in this horrible stint of waking at 4.30am every morning & we tried to break her of it. When we went on vacation recently she slept till 7am, it was glorious!! Got back home, 4.30am!! I thought about what was different on vacation. So long story short, I bought room darkening blinds & we are back to 6-7am wake up times which is what we want. I also have to keep the cats out of the room otherwise they instigate play time in the wee hours.

For barking, Lilly does her little squeek gruff bark noise when she demands that you hold her chew bone while she chews on it or retrieve her ball from under the couch. She will give up eventually if I am busy as that ball under the couch thing gets old after 30 times of pulling it out with a long stick!!