Both our GSDs, Jax and Kane, sleep in the bedroom with us at night. They have their crates in there but Kane doesn't sleep in his anymore, preferring the floor on my side of the bed instead. DH would really like it if Jax would sleep on the floor on his side of the bed, but Jax refuses to. DH wears a CPAP apparatus at night and the oxygen concentrator machine is on DH's side of the bed. I think the noise the O2 machine makes bothers Jax, so Jax sleeps in his crate with the door open; or rarely, on my side. The last four nights in a row, Jax has woken up in the middle of the night. He makes a quiet "woof" and it gets louder as he heads to the living room. Woof, woof and then flat out barking. I tell him "it's okay Jax or Nein". Jax then comes back to the bedroom, goes to Dad's side of the bed to nuzzle and check on him, then to my side of the bed for the same thing, he sniffs Kane to check on him, then he goes back to his crate to lay down. Last night he insisted on checking on the cats too, where they were asleep at the foot of the bed; much to the cats dismay. We can't figure out what's getting him up in the night. Dreaming, maybe? It doesn't bother me, since I rarely sleep deeply anyhow and it doesn't wake DH up at all. Just curious.
He's just doing his job. Might be hearing noises too. Ricca does a low wooooof and goes to check when she hears something. Her sleeping preference is an equal distance from each outside door, on the floor. But she resigns herself to up against the bedroom door. A pain if you need to pee in the middle of the night. Course she has to go with and check the house over while you're in the bathroom. Logan just sleeps on... haha. We seem to have a foot step creating ghost in the hall, 3 steps only. Didn't take her long to stop barking at it but she still twitches an ear at it when we're on the couch. She used to bark like a lunatic and race up the steps, so I know I'm not making it up. After about 50 times she's realized it's nothing but noise. She's always wanted to sleep where she could see everything. Foot of the bed, neither side, right by the door. Logan sleeps on my side so he can nose me first thing in the morning if I happen to roll his way. We have a super high bed just to keep the noses out of our face at 2am. LOL I have their barks pretty well figured out now. Ricca has a big difference between "I think I heard something" and "I'm about to eat someone". Logan never barks, so I always check when he actually does bark. He's the dog that won't even twitch an ear at the mailman, but Ricca knows the *tink* of the mailbox lid and starts her mouth from way out back! Yeah, I only have one vigilant guard dog. Sounds like you have one too. Ricca can be just outright paranoid sometimes. I can even tell when a coon is close by, tails gets thrown out, she starts prancing around with her hackles up and nose to the wind. At my dad's house she would bite at the lowest branches of the tree they were in, she knows they're up to no good! Don't know what I'm going to do with her if we move to the country in her lifetime! She takes her job much too seriously. 9 times out of 10 it's a false alarm. Nice to know when the pizza is here before the guy even gets 5 ft into the driveway. My dad's Shepherd would check on you when you sneezed. EVERY time, no matter who you were. That was way cute. Unless you had allergies. She grew very concerned the more you sneezed!
Mandelyn, I too have trouble when I need to get up in the middle of the night. At 106 lbs., Kane pretty much takes up all the floor space on my side of the bed. Jax would have to carry on for a good five minutes before Kane would get his lazy self up to see what all the fuss is about.
You might have a predator that's new, nosing around. My boys start before dawn when the deer are roaming, and heaven forbid a squirrel wander through. Even though your yard is fenced, they may still hear something foreign to them, and you might still have something inside the fence when it's quiet out. Lots of critters get through or over a fence, then leave. Maybe and evil Peter Cottontail? Loose cow?
Jax is getting to be an adult doggie now... Hes doing what hes supposed to do. Guard you guys. Hes is either hearing something at night.. OR.. you know how G reat Pyr dogs bark and walk their yard to guard it at night?? i BET thats what hes doing.. and then checking to make sure his mommy and daddy and buddies are all okay... What a good boy!!
Something's going on if the dog is checking on everyone. Could be anything different - like a new car in the neighborhood. I suspect it is a new night prowler. I love sheep herding type dogs above all others!
We'll have to figure out what's bothering him. Doubt he hears a new vehicle out here in the boonies. The closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away.
