This is has been a rather annoying occurrence over the past week or so. My wife and I usually go to bed pretty late and Royce usually falls asleep around 10-10:30 or so. He'll sleep for a good few hours, but it's always the same routine with him. He'll wake up around 2:30 am and begin to bark like crazy. He's cut off from the bedroom and bathroom, because our other dogs food is the bathroom and he attacks her food like crazy, and it seems as though he's made the bedroom his playroom. Anyways, he'll start barking and howling and won't stop, but the minute I go sit on the couch, he immediately stops and will lay down and fall asleep. I don't know if it's separation anxiety or if his sleep schedule is just messed up, but it's just something I wish I knew how to fix.
The strange thing is, before last week, he would bark and howl once around 4 am or so, because he needed to go outside, then once I took him outside and fed him just a little bit of food, he would immediately fall asleep and literally not wake up until I was up. I don't know what changed this all of a sudden and I wouldn't even know the first step to take to even fix this.
I hate to say this, but Royce is a frustrating dog. He's 7 months old and thankfully he learns quickly when it comes to commands and training, but since we had gotten him in July, I haven't had a full nights sleep.
I've been told that many huskies, as puppies, are a living nightmare, until about a year or so, then they're the best dog anyone would want to have. I love him to death and I never want to give him up, but there are certain days, especially with this new habit of his, where it takes a toll on me.
Can anyone help with solutions, or if I'm overreacting with his behavior?

If you aren't taking him out when he's barking, you're sure he doesn't need to go out, and he'll sleep the moment you go check on him, then I think he's probably just figured out that if he barks, you'll come sit with him.
I would argue that to fix this you should let him make noise and let him settle down on his own. But if it is separation anxiety (which it may not be if you don't experience this when you leave), then I'd be worried about him becoming destructive. A good reason to crate them if you ask me, but that's just what I think!

I've been experiencing something of the same thing with Dragon. One week he was sleeping literally the whole night waking up at 5;45 or 6 right when I did (thank Jesus!) and now he is waking up howling in his crate doing his "old lady yelp" up to 3 and 4 times a night all of a sudden so I will take him out. I DO take him out and once he potties I take him right back in and crate him again so I don't let him think its play time but I don't understand what changed? I was thinkin I'd hit the jackpot with the 6 am wake up calls and suddenly he is making me bleary eyed again and wanting to murder my patients at work Glad you posted cause I need some advice as well!!

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Anyways, he'll start barking and howling and won't stop, but the minute I go sit on the couch, he immediately stops and will lay down and fall asleep.

Reads like a mild form of separation anxiety to me.

I've read in another thread that Royce has a Kennel. Do you ever crate him though? Provided you had the room crating Royce in the same room you sleep in could go a long way in helping him relax for the night.

If you truly are getting "relaxation" and "sleep" when you go out to see him at 2am, then he might just want to be close. Both my pups have free roam of the house all night, and they sleep right by the foot of the bed... They like being close.


If your adamant however on keeping him in a different room then I agree with Katie on this one. Let Royce howl it out until he figures out you aren't coming.

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he would bark and howl once around 4 am or so, because he needed to go outside, then once I took him outside and fed him just a little bit of food, he would immediately fall asleep and literally not wake up until I was up.

He's learned by vocalizing you'll wake up and let him outside, lay with him, or even feed him. Like you said they aren't stupid pups... They learn fast.... Especially the things you are trying NOT to train...


In your place I would completely switch it up on Royce. I wouldn't get up on any vocalization from his part at all and just flat out ignore it for the time being. You might be in for some sleepless nights, but nipping this one in the bud might be worth it.

If you let him out at night so he can eliminate then switch up the times so he isn't expecting you at a certain one. Let him out at 2am, then 4am, then 3am, and so on. Scheduling and structure is 100% fine for a pup to have, but right now breaking the night time vocalization would be my first concern and then I would rework a schedule in.

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I've been told that many huskies, as puppies, are a living nightmare, until about a year or so, then they're the best dog anyone would want to have.

All Puppies are frustrating . Huskies just have a playfulness, and stubbornness, that comes along with their absolute love for life that can make them difficult to train at times.

Like anything in life though, it doesn't come free. There is no switch when they are done or even start their adolescence that turn them into a perfect dog.

It takes time, commitment, respect, love, and lots of training for any pup to grow into a well adjusted member of a family. You get out 100 times what you put in, and it is very worth it.

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I hate to say this, but Royce is a frustrating dog. He's 7 months old and thankfully he learns quickly when it comes to commands and training, but since we had gotten him in July, I haven't had a full nights sleep.

Eventually it will all fall into place... Learning to respect one another is always the hardest part, but once that bond is formed you can't ask for a better friend.

Just take it slow, and make a big deal out of the fun times.


Anyways I've rambled enough,
Best of luck to you and Royce!
~Chris~

At 7 months old he is more than capable of holding his bowels from 10-5/6am.

If it were my dog I'd just ignore it. Going out there and continuing to let him out is only rewarding this routine he's picked up.

Kaya was crated in our bedroom from day one. When she got restless or upset, I would put my fingers in the crate so she could smell and settle back down, but would not take her out under any circumstances. She quickly got the message. Now she is brilliant with sleeping (through to 7am). We have no toys in our bedroom, and we don't encourage her to play there or in any other bedroom by keeping the doors closed.

A very similar siutation happened with our puppy. After getting through the first hellish month, our puppy started to settle in to a nice routine at night time. In the early months, our puppy slept in his crate in our bedroom. Everything was going really well. He loved his crate and was at the point of sleeping through the night without any potty breaks. All of a sudden out of the blue one night, he woke up at 4:00 am barking and howling. The next night, it started at 3:30. The next night was midnight. And from that point on, he wouldn't fall back asleep in his crate. In the end, we decided to let him sleep on our bedroom floor without having to be in the crate. He always fell asleep there early in the night anyway, and when lights out time came, we'd get him in his crate. In the end, this worked out perfectly. Never had any other issue with sleeping until just recently. Although, our newest issue seems to be a slight anxiety issue. My advice is to make decisions that are best for you and your family and don't be afraid to do something other than what the "books" say. Good luck.

Thank you all so very much for the advice! It's tough having sleepless nights, but hopefully I'll find a way through it.

Admittedly, we gave up on the crate training after the second month of having him, because we would literally not stop barking in the middle of the night. Non-stop barking for 2 months straight and he showed little to no improvement. He would also continue to go to the bathroom in his kennel, which wasn't really helping his cause. The day we let him sleep outside in the living room, he stopped with the barking and would only want to use the bathroom outside. But it's strange now, because since it seems like we don't have a use for his kennel, we've been putting him in there, whenever he's doing something wrong (i.e. jumping, playing too rough, etc) and ever since we've been doing that, he's loved it! (but only for a short amount of time). We always put him in when we're going to be gone for long periods of time.
Last night was a small improvement from before. He woke me up around 3 am (but I was in bed around 2:30 am, so I wasn't exhausted when he started barking. I ignored him for a solid 20 minutes, but he wouldn't stop, so what I'd do is stand behind the gate and tell him "No" and "Be quiet." I did this twice, and both times, he would stop and lay down, falling asleep. But then it'd usually be about 10-15 minutes later when he'd start up again. It's very hard to ignore his barks to a certain extent, because the neighbors have complained twice and the next time, they're threatening to tell our landlord, who wasn't so thrilled that we were bringing a 2nd dog into our home. I did feed him around 4 am and once he was fed, he traversed around the house, then went to sleep. That's when he didn't wake up til around 7:30 am, but I could tell there was a more alert pitch in his voice, meaning he had to go outside. The second I let him out, he went to the bathroom and immediately came back inside and fell asleep. It's hard to classify it as separation anxiety, because usually between 4 am or so, I can sometimes hear him walk up to the gate, in which I think he's about to start barking, but he just walks away.

The main goal is to completely remove the gate, so he can roam free at any point during the night, but as I've mentioned before, he thinks that when he's on the bed, it's playtime, and the other dog is very protective of the bed, so she gets upset whenever he's near it, mainly because he's dethroned her of the rest of the spots in the house.

we moved Dragon's crate into our room at the foot of the bed last night and he slept through the WHOLE night!!!! hallelujah!! yall i could've died when my alarm went off this morning at 5:45 and he hadn't made a peep all night! I bet all his screaming and crying was separation anxiety so being close must've helped. I feel so rested

I'm really happy for you. Sleep is a good thing and such a simple solution is awesome!

The funny thing is, last night, Royce woke up around 1:30 am and started barking. I just stood by the gate and told him "NO." He looked at me, knowing he wasn't gonna win, so he walked away and feel asleep. He woke up again at 3:30 am and right then and there, I had that feeling that he was going to continue barking every 2 hours or so, but since he hadn't gone outside since earlier in the night, I let him outside and he did his business. I gave him some food, then, as though some miracle had occurred, he slept until my wife woke up around 7:30 and he didn't even wake up the rest of the morning! I think he's getting used to the fact that once I've fed him, he needs to wait til we wake up.
I love this dog to death and I know Huskies take A LOT of patience, but I know at the end of this, he'll be a great dog!

I know this may seem weird, but the food seems to be the key here, not the pottying. He gets food and he goes back to sleep. Maybe leave breakfast in there with him when you go to bed then he wont need to bark for you to come feed him? That just seems to be what he's really after, not the pottying (since he's old enough to hold it through the night.)

What time does he eat dinner?

I'm not a big fan of feeding after bedtime - after all, what goes in has to come out!

One thing I noticed was that Kaya needed a bigger portion at dinner to feel satisfied, so perhaps look at your dinner portion you're feeding Royce, perhaps he might need a bit more.
Kaya tends to eat only half her morning portion, so I usually add the other half to the dinner one, which helps Kaya feel fuller overnight.

I usually feed him around 6:00-6:30 pm. He scarfs it down the second it's in front of him.

If you go to bed at around 10:30/11 or even 10... I would push his last meal to closer to 8. Or a snack at 6:30 and dinner at 8. Perhaps he's just very hungry.

We feed him a full bowl of food and he seems fine, once he's done eating. We're convinced that he has some sort of food aggression, or it's more like a dominance issue whenever it comes to food.

How much do you feed him, and how many times per day?

We feed him twice a day and it's always a full bowl of food.

Okay, so this week, I had a few days off, where I could sleep in A LOT later, which also gave me the opportunity to run a series of experiments to hopefully pinpoint how I can figure out this problem that Royce doesn't want to seem to give up.

1.) One night, I completely ignored his barking. He wouldn't stop for a solid 2 hours and I eventually had to wake up, because the neighbor above us had called me, saying if he didn't stop barking, then he would tell our landlords. That was probably the worst night.

2.) I fed him right before I went to bed. He didn't bark, but he was full of energy. I could hear him chewing on things, running back and forth, chasing his tail, etc. Every so often, I would have to get out of bed to stop him, because if I don't, he'll try and chew on the furniture. I know his "chewing everything" phase goes away after about a year or so (at least I hope and pray that it does), but obviously, that's still a long ways away. After about 2 1/2 hours of waking up, when I heard him acting up, he finally calmed down and fell asleep and didn't wake up til about 10:30 am, where I was able to take him outside, upon which he immediately fell back to sleep when he came inside. Not a terrible night, but it was more of a huge annoyance.

3.) I went to bed around 12:30ish and didn't feed him. He was fast asleep. He woke up around 2-2:30 am (like he did in the past) and barked, until I woke up. I fed him, took him outside, and went back to sleep. He didn't make a sound, until around 7:30 am, where he proceeded to bark, letting me know he had to go number 2. The second we came back inside, I didn't say anything to him and went back to bed. I slept in until around 12:00 pm and he didn't make a sound. Once I woke up, he was just happy to see that I was awake. Probably the best night of all.

Although experiment 3 seemed like it was the best, I know that's still a terrible habit for him to get into, especially since I haven't had a full, uninterrupted nights sleep since we got him 3 months ago (I'm not kidding). I honestly have no idea what to do at this point, especially since it seems like I've done everything I could to change his behavior. I don't know if, when I have the money, to send him off to a trainer for awhile and hope for the best, or just hope he grows out of it.

How old is he?

I think, generally, puppies don't have full control of their bladder until they are around a year old?

Can't you feed him later, such as 8pm, talke him for a good long walk, and let him pass out after?

I think I agree that it sounds like what was suggested and Royce is actually barking for food and not to go out and potty. My girl is 11 months old and she has been sleeping through the night, with full control of her bladder (with the exception of when she's not feeling well and really has to go) since she was around 5 or 6 months. He can definitely hold his bladder so I think the fact that he gets food everytime is causing him to associate his barking with getting food. I think even though many people don't agree with it, you should try leaving food in the room with Royce and see if that will help because then he won't have to bark to get your attention to feed him. Also how much is a full bowl (ie. scoops) I know I have two different sized bowls and one would be about two scoops and one is like five scoops lol. Anyways, hopefully you can get this sorted out!

Yesterday, I went with your suggestion, Kristina. I fed him around 8 pm last night and took him for a walk around 11:30ish or so. The minute we walked inside, he gave me his droopy "i'm exhausted" eyes and immediately crashed. My wife and I went to bed probably 10 minutes later and it was quiet...til about 2:30, when he woke up and started barking again. I tried ignoring him for about 30 minutes, but his barks continued to get louder. I got up and looked him in the eyes and told him to stop, which he did. I went back to sleep and he woke up again around 4 am, doing the same thing. At that point, I didn't say anything to him and just kind of sat out in the couch with him. He fell back to sleep about 5-10 minutes later, but before that, I let him out one last time.
At this point, I have no idea what to do, because he won't seem to stop barking. I still find this strange, since I have no idea what made him start this habit.
He hasn't had an accident in the house for about a month, but it seems as though his new thing is territory marking, so when we woke up, he had peed on the blanket we put over our computers and electronics, to make sure he doesn't go for them while we sleep. I know he as full control of his bladder (there was one point where I know for a fact, that he's held it for a little over 8 hours), so I do find this a little strange that he peed randomly. I do find this a little worrisome, because, as I've mentioned before, we're taking him back to my parents home in Michigan for Christmas and there's another, much bigger dog there, so I'm thinking that I'll wake up to pee stains, but then again, I could be wrong.

Elyse, he'll be 7 months in about a day or two.

One thing that keeps me going and not wanting to think Royce is a lost cause, no matter how much I train him, it doesn't seem to have a huge effect on him. But, I've been told by two separate people who have both had Huskies, that have reassured me, that every husky puppy is usually a terror, until about a year or so, which is when their puppy phase seems to phase out.