Why Do Dogs Bark In Middle of Night?

Originally posted by sir_chancealot
Outside dogs seem to bark much more frequently than in-house dogs.

Nothing is crueler than a dog living alone outside. To take a social animal that is wired in every possible way to be with pack members, and curse them to the worst fate in their world by "shunning" them is sickening.

Nothing makes me more angry than someone that has an outside dog on a chain, or all alone in a backyard, and the poor thing spends its life barking and and hoping it will get attention. I would gladly chain the owners up to a tree, toss them a bowl of food once a day, and watch them lose their minds from the isolation and elements.

reply to post by Sonya610


Some dogs prefer to be outside. When I dogsat for a friend's pup, she told me the dog would be hard to bring inside as she loved it outside. If one has a fence that the dog can't jump and the dog likes it outside, that is a good place for it. Many farm dogs are not aloud inside the house. They have heated barns and/or sheds they sleep in.

Originally posted by kidflash2008
Some dogs prefer to be outside. When I dogsat for a friend's pup, she told me the dog would be hard to bring inside as she loved it outside. If one has a fence that the dog can't jump and the dog likes it outside, that is a good place for it. Many farm dogs are not aloud inside the house. They have heated barns and/or sheds they sleep in.

Farm dogs are not typically ALONE outside, they usually have other farm dogs and animals to hang out with. It is very unusual for a dog to want to be ALONE all the time. Most dogs that are isolated outside with no companions are very unhappy.

reply to post by Sonya610


I do agree on that one. Most dogs want to be with their masters. Mine would want to come in with me even when I was going right out. I would never leave my dogs or cats out all night long. There are predators like coyotes out there.

I grew up in a small town in british columbia, canada, and I can tell you that in a setting such as that dogs do quite a bit of barking. It's almost a chain reaction-one dog will "sense" something, then bark about it, alerting others, and so on and on it goes. Dogs used to get real annoying when the salmon run would come in every september or so, bringing the bears...which is what i think those dogs were barking at, since u said there were bears in the area.

you're right about dogs being a social species, but they prefer the outdoors. Since i've moved to the city, the few dogs i've met here have been extremely lethargic, out of shape, and ultimately unhappy. Trust me, as long as those back yard dogs get some attention from the owners everyday, they're happy. Oh, and dogs are tough, it's gotta get real cold or real hot to even affect them.