[Clairebear]

Hi guys hope someone can help me.

My dog fergie is 11 years old and is a cross between a westie and a Bichon Frisch. He has always slept in my room since he was a puppy and has always been fine. I’m a nurse so when I’m on night duty he sleeps with my mum and dad but that’s been happening for the past 8 years or so and has always came back in with me when I’m home.

Over the past 4/5 months he will come into my room at the start of the night and happily lie there til 1/2 in the morning when I’m about to go to sleep and as soon as I go to sleep he starts he will pace the floor, cry to get out, pang, scratch the door and also pee in my room. I get up I go downstairs I let him out he does a pee or gets a drink he comes back up and will come back in for 5/10 mins and start the same cycle again. If I leave him down the stairs he howls. But if he goes into my mum and dads room at the start of the night or any part of the night he will happily sleep on the bed til morning. This wouldn’t be so much an issue cause I would let him sleep there if he is more comfortable there but he is my dog and I’m moving out in the next couple of weeks to my first home and he is coming with me and I’m dreading it. I’ve been taking him to the house every day while I’m working on it and he has got comfortable there and lies in his bed or plays outside.

I thought that it was just because he knew when my mum and dad were there and wanted into them however they are away on holiday and he knows they aren’t here and he is still doing the same thing. It’s getting me quite down cause I love him so much but the lack of sleep is killing me. I need my sleep for working 13 hour days.

Does anyone have any advice please I would be so grateful. Thanks 😊

 

[BKaymuttleycrew]

Whenever there is some sort of dramatic behavioral change, especially in a senior dog, the first thing necessary is a vet visit to rule out anything medical.

 

[Clairebear]

Whenever there is some sort of dramatic behavioral change, especially in a senior dog, the first thing necessary is a vet visit to rule out anything medical.

Thanks for the reply.

He has been to the vet and he is fine no health issues

 

[Knute]

Perhaps your snoring is disturbing the dog.......... just kidding.

Anyhow, yes. A trip to the Vet is warranted.

Or perhaps your schedule has kept you away enough that the dog has become more attached to your parents.
Or since your parents are on holiday, the dog maybe missing part of the "pack"

 

[RonE]

Perhaps your snoring is disturbing the dog.......... just kidding. I need to be careful because humor on this board is frowned upon.

Oh, ACTUAL humor is appreciated.

 

[DaySleepers]

Did you discuss possible cognitive issues with the vet? Canine cognitive dysfunction - essentially doggy dementia - is always something that comes to my mind with an older dog who's having nocturnal behavior change. If it didn't come up, you may want to arrange a specific behavioral consult to discuss possible cognitive decline and if the vet thinks it fits the behavior pattern you're seeing.

 

[storyist]

When he sleeps with you, is it on the bed? Or is he only on the bed when with your parents? If on the bed with you, are you a restless sleeper?