# Heidi is acting really weird at night



## Karin

Heidi has been acting really strange late at night during the past week. Between around 1AM and 5AM, she starts getting really nervous. She'll jump up on the bed like she wants to go out. Then, I'll take her out and she'll just walk around (sometimes peeing and pooping, but not always).

Last night was the worst though. At 3AM, she woke us up by jumping on the bed. We normally don't let her on the bed, but we did tonight because we thought maybe we'd get some sleep if she was up there with us. She couldn't relax though and kept staring at us, acting like she was listening for something, and then she sniffed both of our faces and jumped off the bed. 

From that point on, she's been really restless, roaming the house, whining, staring. My husband has to get up for work in the morning, so I went in the other room so he could get some sleep (she normally follows me everywhere).

But she is still nervous, wandering around the house, and I found her in the bathroom twice just staring at the toilet! And she rarely goes into the bathroom because she is nervous walking on the linoleum. Three and a half hours later (at 6:30 AM), she's still pacing, whining, staring at me and hitting me with her nose.

I did a search on the forum and found two other threads where Heidi was acting weird. Both times, it lasted a couple of days and then stopped. This time, it's worse and what's weird is that she seems her normal self during the daytime but in the late hours, she turns into a nervous wreck!

At first I was wondering if something was wrong with her physically, but it seems more like something is scaring her.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong with her and any suggestions to get her to calm down and let us get some sleep? This is getting to be a real pain!


----------



## Lilie

This only happens at night? Never during the day time?


----------



## Stella's Mom

Is it possible that your house is haunted?


----------



## Freestep

Seriously--a few years ago, there was a period of several weeks where Luka was acting really anxious when she was outside. She was fine when inside, but when outside she'd whine, pace, jump on the door to get back in... we even took her to the vet because the behavior was so unusual.

After a few weeks of this, my shop caught fire. They couldn't figure out what caused it, but ruling out everything else, they figured it had to be a short inside the wall. It could have been smoldering for days or even weeks and we never could have known.

The interesting thing was... after the shop burned down, Luka's behavior went back to normal.

So, you never know. Dogs can sense things we can't.


----------



## GSKnight

my first thought was "critters" of some sort.


----------



## Stella's Mom

Freestep said:


> Seriously--a few years ago, there was a period of several weeks where Luka was acting really anxious when she was outside. She was fine when inside, but when outside she'd whine, pace, jump on the door to get back in... we even took her to the vet because the behavior was so unusual.
> 
> After a few weeks of this, my shop caught fire. They couldn't figure out what caused it, but ruling out everything else, they figured it had to be a short inside the wall. It could have been smoldering for days or even weeks and we never could have known.
> 
> The interesting thing was... after the shop burned down, Luka's behavior went back to normal.
> 
> So, you never know. Dogs can sense things we can't.


Your dog was probably smelling something was off, or maybe a change in the electric charge. Amazing story.


----------



## msvette2u

There could be mice in the walls or something. Something is wrong in the house. 

Two of our dogs flipped out completely in the middle of the night when the smoke detector's batteries got low and started with that "chirping" noise they make.
Dogs cannot stand random noises. That is, if a noise was occurring at regular intervals, it'd be one thing but random noises freak them out. I guess in our case, the smoke detector was doing something random and new, and the dogs just couldn't tolerate it. 

Is your toilet working okay or is the seal allowing water to seep out and then do the fill-back-up thing like a half-flush?


----------



## nitemares

My guess would be critters, or something wrong with house. 
On the other hand I wouldn't rule out upset stomachs. My previous GSD Juvi used to pace and whine for hours if she had gas or some sort of indigestion.


----------



## Karin

Lilie said:


> This only happens at night? Never during the day time?


In the past, she's done this during the day, but this time it's only been in the wee hours of the night. And it doesn't happen every night. The night before last, she laid down on her pad when we all went to bed and stayed there all night!

And now she's totally back to normal again. She's outside looking for squirrels!


----------



## Twyla

Dogs can also react to storms, earthquakes etc. You are in the Bay area, has there been more tremors then usual or stronger?


----------



## Karin

Wow, that is very interesting about the fire and Luka. Very scary! We have a 1920s house with old wiring, so that makes me kind of nervous to hear! Then on the other hand, she only acts that way at night, and not every night at that.

Regarding the chirping smoke detector, we had one of those last month and Heidi was terrified. I was in the living room and she came in and was shaking. Then I heard the smoke detector chirp and knew that's what was bothering her. After I took out the battery and took her for a walk she was back to her old self again.

I suppose it could be critters but she has a huge prey drive and I would think that she'd be more interested in rather than scared of them. And the toilet doesn't make any sounds...

And it didn't seem like she was sick because she kept lifting up her head with her ears perked up as if she was listening for something. 

The puzzling thing is that she really likes to go outside at night. In fact, when I took her out at 2AM, she grabbed her cuz like she wanted to take it outside and play! I would think that she wouldn't do this if she was really scared or sick.

My strange, sensitive girl. What is going on with you???


----------



## Karin

Twyla said:


> Dogs can also react to storms, earthquakes etc. You are in the Bay area, has there been more tremors then usual or stronger?


I think you may be onto something. I just checked and there were a couple of small earthquakes in Northern California in the early morning hours last night. And one of them was said to be pretty shallow (I don't know if that means you'd feel it more).

I have a feeling that might have been what it was. Next time she does this, I'm going to pay better attention to the time so I can get a better idea. I actually kind of hope that this is what it is because it's better than the alternatives!


----------



## Lilie

Are you in a location where wild life (coyotes etc.) might travel through at night? Whereas it might not be normal to see them during the day, but perhaps they might cut through a location close to you and your pup hears/smells them. 

We have coyotes who travel through our back pasture at night. Apparently there is a small pack now as when Hondo goes back there (with me) he marks and drools and even poops a bit here and there. He no longer sleeps the entire night in the house. He wants to be in the back yard at some point. I think he can hear their silent cries and wants to go out. He doesn't bark at them, but I'll watch him as he sits at the back fence and look towards the back of the pasture. 

I also agree with Freestep on changes in normal house sounds/smells. Early one morning, while it was still dark, Hondo kept barking at my older nieghbor's house. It was a single bark here and there. I went to investigate and her main water pipe had broken and water was rushing everywhere.


----------



## Karin

No coyotes but some raccoons and possums pass through regularly. She has a high prey drive though and I think she'd bark at them and be interested but not scared. We'll see how she acts tonight. I hardly got any sleep last night and am totally pooped! I sure hope it won't be a repeat of last night!


----------



## Lissaashes

Hi, my dog just recently did something similar. He was whining to me to let him out then did a few strange things and recently has been sleeping downstairs instead of in my room. He's not listening to me to come upstairs, but when he was in my room his tail was in between his legs and he whined until I let him out. 

Love for a reply xx 

email is [email protected] 

Mind the email, I'm 17 and have a thing for harry potter.


BTW he is a german shepherd cross breed with a collie


----------



## shanleyb

Our 12 year-old GSD has been doing the same thing for the past few months. The vet believes this is most likely a sign of the beginning of canine dementia. He is 100% fine during the day, and his whining/restlessness begins around 5. In adults, this is often referred to as "sun downing." We are going to consider meds. Like you, I need to get up early to go to work, so in addition to worrying about my dog, I am also worrying about how I'll cope with this problem long term.


----------

