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Dogs not sleeping again :(

I have had ongoing problems with Heidi sleeping through the night. I started feeding her a little more food before bed and that seemed to help and she would sleep until 5:30 or 6, which I can tolerate. 

But now I have a new neighbor with whom I share a patio/ yard. She also installed a doggy door so her 14 year old Italian Greyhound can let himself out to potty- at all times of the day and night. He seems to let himself out at midnight, 3 am, 5 am, etc, and Heidi wakes up every.single.time he goes out, stands on the bed and cries, stands at the door and barks, etc. I ignore her as much as I can, but I don't want her waking up half the neighborhood barking. 

Also- her dog is on some super high fiber diet because he's diabetic and he poops like 15 times a day. The dogs have become obsessed with trying to eat his poop, and since he lets himself out, she doesn't clean it up and I'm constantly having to clean up after him before I left the girls out.  

One of the many, many reasons I want to move :( But what on earth am I going to do with Heidi? I'm tempted to give her some calming treats every night before bed because I can't go on without sleep. Even if I don't let her out, I'm still waking up every hour all night long. 

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Re: Dogs not sleeping again :(

  • Have you talked to your neighbor about picking up the poop? 

    Also, do you have curtains/blinds or is it that she's hearing the other dog and that is what disturbs her?  Maybe a white noise machine would help?  Or transitioning her to sleeping in a different room of the house?  

  • she can hear the other dog. I will try a white noise machine. I have a very small apartment, so there aren't many other places she can sleep, but I can also try keeping my bedroom door closed so she has to stay in the bedroom and can't go into the living room where I think she can hear him better. it might also help with the noise. 

    I have a totally different schedule from my neighbor, but hopefully i'll see her tonight and talk to her about the poop situation.  However, she can't clean it up when she's not home, and that's the problem time- he is able to let himself out and poops while she is gone

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  • I'd be tempted to go knock on her door every time her dog went to the bathroom (you know, when your dog wakes you at 3AM, 5AM, etc.) to let her know she needs to go clean it up, but you probably want to have a good relationship with your next door neighbor.  At a decent hour, I would express empathy that she has an older dog with issues, but be firm in that she needs to figure out how to keep the dog poop cleaned up, as it's her responsibility.  If she won't do it, talk to her landlord/community association/etc.  If it's a duplex situation and there's no higher authority, put up a fence.  Your dogs can get sick from eating poop and she needs to be a responsible pet owner.   

    For the barking, is there any way you could move your dog to a room that doesn't have a window or door to the courtyard?  Another idea is to teach her a quite command or an it's ok command so that when she does start barking you can get her to be quiet quickly.  If she's a really stubborn barker, you could try one of the anti-bark bird houses (they use a high pitched sound to deter barking) and put it next to the door (or near the end of your bed that she barks from if you're going to bed) and use that while you're teaching the quite command. 

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  • imagejdbmjm:

    However, she can't clean it up when she's not home, and that's the problem time- he is able to let himself out and poops while she is gone

    Um, we've all managed to care for our dogs when we are not home.  I understand he is special needs, but that's her responsibility.  She can hire a dog walker during the day.  Or maybe this is a good opportunity...if your schedules are different enough, you take my dog for a potty break, I will take yours. 

    Besides, the dog shouldn't be outside unsupervised ESPECIALLY in a common area because she has ZERO control over the dog.  Does she have permission to 1) install a dog door and 2) to leave the dog in a common area unsupervised? 

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  • I'm actually REALLY surprised that the landlord installed the dog door for her. We have a common yard/ patio area, but the gate is not the most reliable (but it swings in, not out) and the landlord's dog always tries to run back to our yard, throw his body weight against the fence and break it open. Landlord tried to fix it, but it needs to be replaced, for sure. My dogs have been let out on accident when I'm standing right at my front door because of this. And her dogs is blind and half deaf. I don't know how she would find him if he got any sort of head start. 

    I mentioned to her tonight about her dog going out at all hours of the night and it waking up my pups- and Heidi crying and barking. And she's was like, "Oh, silly dog, I guess she'll get used to it." So while she's nice enough, she does not appear to be incredibly interested in the teamwork part of being a neighbor with shared living spaces.  

    And as an update, Heidi cried and barked (quietly, but still barking) for THREE HOURS last night- from midnight to 3AM. I closed us all into the back of the house so hopefully she wouldn't hear the dog out front, but no such luck. I swear, I'm going to start giving her benadryl.  

     

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