New And Strange Behavior, Need Help!

[Guest mopar31898]

Hi,

 

We have a four year old greyhound that we have had for about two years. For the most part, he is a typical greyhound.

 

We recently moved to a new state and into a new single family home in June. He adjusted fairly quickly and has been enjoying his large backyard.

 

For the past month or so, he had been sleeping on the couch downstairs. We are fine with him sleeping anywhere and he picks a different spot every few weeks. Within the past week or so he decided to start going to bed with us and sleeping on his dog bed in our bedroom. He has done this before, it is no big deal. This time around, something has changed.

 

Ever since he has started sleeping in our room again, he is absolutely restless all night long. This is not the typical dog adjusting position throughout the night. About an hour after we fall asleep, he will stand up from his bed, walk over to the doorway, out to the stairs, look around for a minute then pace back into the bedroom. He stands there for a few seconds, then lays back on his bed and lets out what sounds like a frustrated moan/sigh. This whole process takes about two minutes. Then he will lay on his bed for another few minutes, then he will repeat the whole process all over again and again for the next hour. Then he might fall asleep for an hour then go through the entire hour long process again.

 

Needless to say, this is not the most quiet process and it is beginning to take a toll on all of us. We have no idea what is causing this. He does have fear of thunderstorms but it has not rained in nearly two weeks here. We live on a quiet street with little to no noise during the night. He has access to the entire house to sleep in any of the seven normal places he likes to sleep so if there is something that bothers him in our room, it would only make sense he go somewhere else. We have tried to get him to sleep downstairs on the couch where he had been sleeping but he does the same thing with the pacing.

 

Also, this is something that only happens during normal night time sleep hours. He is completely normal and happy throughout the day. He has no issues sleeping during the day and even on the couch until we go to bed at night.

 

I think that sums up without going into every detail. Has anyone ever seen anything like this before or have any idea what is going on? We are at a loss here and have no idea what to do. Obviously we are trying to avoid any sort of sedative or anything because that just masks a deeper issue.

 

Please help us. If you need clarification, please ask questions.

 

Thanks

[LaFlaca]

I wonder if strategically placed night lights might help him feel more comfortable during the night in his new home?

[Dave_P]

"We recently moved to a new state and into a new single family home in June."

 

Night lites

maybe leave a radio/tv on for him?

 

"About an hour after we fall asleep, he will stand up from his bed, walk over to the doorway, out to the stairs, look around for a minute then pace back into the bedroom." Is he checking the security of his family??

[Remolacha]

Maybe he hears something outside, an animal, a leaf, the wind?

[ramonaghan]

I agree with trying a night light, and perhaps a white noise machine in case there are subtle noises he's hearing that are undetectable to you.

[MaryJane]

He might be in pain (restless and cannot get comfortable), he could be cold (hot), or just not sure of the surroundings since they are new.

 

You might want to talk to vet about giving something like a tramadol for a few days 1 hour before he goes to sleep to see if that fixes the problem although, if he is 4 years old, I would not think the problem would be arthritis but, you can rule it out. It could be that since he has a nice yard now, he may have pulled a muscle.

 

As strange as it sounds, you might want to sleep on the floor near him (so he can see you) for one night and see if that keeps him settled. I had to do this for my dog when he had his leg amputated for osteo - he would wake up and get very anxious if I was not right next to him where he could easily see me.

[greysmom]

First thing to do is to schedule a vet visit to rule out a medical cause for his restlessness. He could have a pulled muscle or some paw/toe issue that is making him wake up more often. His vision could be impacted by a number of issues, causing him anxiety at night. He's very young for something like Sundowners syndrome, but that's kind of what it sounds like, which could mean there's something really wrong. But the first step is to check him out thoroughly.

 

My first non medical thought was some sort of vermin in the house or walls that he's hearing. Did you go from urban to rural or rural to urban?? The new nighttime noises might be making him anxious. Same for the temperature in the house - he could be waking up because he's too hot/cold in the new home environment - or the new ac/heating system could be making noises which make him uncomfortable.

 

I would try a couple things - get a few DAP diffusers set up around the house (and maybe have him wear a DAP collar). I would also limit his access at night - baby gate him into your bedroom (or the space he feels most safe), along with a dim nightlight, and perhaps a white noise machine. If you think he's too hot, a small fan can take care of both the temperature and the noise aspect. Some light jammies or a blanket will help if he's cold.

 

If you feel like you need to double down on the natural calming get some L-theanine for him (we got ours from our vet but I think you can get it elsewhere cheaper). If you/your vet want to try a pain reliever, I would suggest codiene instead of tramadol as it has less chance of causing restlessnes as a side effect (IMO). An nsaid might be in order as well.

 

Good luck!

[cendrine1]

Does he need to pee?

 

I get the 1 am pacing from time to time and a quick pee break seems to solve the problem.

[cleptogrey]

we travel with our dogs all the time. if they are EXHAUSTED, they sleep. all of the suggestions above sound good, i throw in more exercise later in the day- a good long walk to tucker him out and agree that he may need a cooler spot to sleep. how warm is your bedroom?

 

personally, i would try the exercise first.

 

i can't sleep with any light what so ever, so for me the nightlight is out. i even block the led light on the tv! we sleep in a tomb! one dog moved into our bedroom after quite a few electrical storms and there is a feud going on with her partner. so, she is a dead log on a bed unless there is a storm. the other needs to be woken up in the morning. the dog room is pitch black. the person i board w/ is always amazed that they never move at night. years of crating promoted a very good habit.

 

a crate for security? if you have one you can also give it a try. stick it in the corner of your room if you want him in there.

Edited September 27, 2017 by cleptogrey

[NeylasMom]

Honestly, I would try sleeping with the door shut before I did anything else.

[Guest mopar31898]

All,

 

Thanks for the ideas. Over the past few days we have been trying them with some success.

 

First, my wife did notice he was a little weird with the lights off, which he used to not be. So for the last three nights we slept with a night light on and it seemed to help for the most part. Although, last night it did not have any effect at all. We are still trying to figure that one out.

 

We know he doesn't have to go out to pee as we have tried and for as long as we have had him, unless he is sick, he does not need to go out. Usually if he goes out in the middle of the night it is because of a stomach issue.

 

We tried closing doors and using baby gates but he just seems to pace around the bedroom rather than out to the hallway. So no real change in behavior there.

 

We do not believe he is hurt at all. He has not shown any signs of limping, etc and he still loves to chase tennis balls in the backyard without any issues at all.

 

We do try to get him out for one last long walk or romp in the backyard but he just doesn't want to get up. He is so asleep in the evening on the couch, he usually takes most of the energy to just get up the stairs to go to bed with us. We do continue to try though.

 

We do currently have a some DAP products, including a collar. The collar usually seems to help with other things but not much effect this time.

 

We are holding off on the vet for now just because everything else seems fine at this point but we will go if things do not change soon.

 

Thanks again for all the help and if anyone has any other ideas, please let us know.

 

It is just a really weird experience because every other aspect of his life is completely normal and has been since we moved here. He is still the playful, goofy boy we have had for the last two years.

 

Thanks again

[FiveRoooooers]

Two things I wonder. One, where his nighttime bed is, is there a draft on him? Could he be cold? I'm not sure where you're located but even in summer/warmer months some dogs can get chilly. Try putting a t-shirt or jimjams on him and see if that helps. If you end up taking him to the vet please have the thyroid tested.

My other thought is way out there, however, how old is your house? Do you know any of its history?

[Guest mopar31898]

All,

 

I just wanted to give an update and look for some more advice.

 

We took Paxton to the vet a few weeks back and the vet confirmed there is nothing physically wrong with him. She gave us a low dose anti-anxiety to try.

 

We have been giving him the meds at night and they seem to be hit or miss. Some nights he sleeps pretty good through the night and others he still paces the night away. He has changed how he sleeps. He will not come upstairs to sleep with us anymore. Typically when we go to bed he is asleep on the couch. On a bad night he will stay there until about 1am when he will get off the couch, run up the stairs, turn around and run back down the stairs before we have time to even react. He will continue to do this for some time and/or off and on through the night. We have made attempts to baby gate him upstairs to see if that will help but he does everything he can to find a way back downstairs until we let him out. Basically, he will not stay upstairs at all anymore; even during the day. This is a complete 180 from when we moved here about 5 months ago. And he loved to sleep on the bed in the spare bedroom.

 

For the most part, he is normal during the day and even at night while we are still up. He has been a little more jumpy from noises outside but this home is much more quiet than where we used to live. There is something about night time, when we go to bed and he realizes we are not coming back down for the night.

 

My only theory on this behavior, even though this is our first grey, is that he has some weird fear of the upstairs all the sudden. That could be because there was a strong thunderstorm one time he was up there and he hates run but other than that I am not sure. Given that new weird fear of upstairs, he wants to sleep downstairs but sleeping downstairs almost creates some sort of separation anxiety, which he never had before. So he gets scared downstairs, runs up to see if we are there but hates it so he runs back down. Then the cycle repeats itself.

 

I don't know if that makes sense or if it is even the problem. Or even what the solution is. All I know is that it can't be healthy for him to be so stressed and in turn it is not good for us because we are sleeping like we have a newborn that is up every hour.

 

Any insight would be welcomed.

 

Thanks

[greysmom]

You may need to adjust or even switch the anti anxiety med he is on - some can caused increased anxiety in certain individuals. We don't really know how or why AA meds work on canines in the first place, so it's always a bit of a dart board game to find the right med and the right dosage.

 

While he's on them, you need to concentrate on desensitizing him to his fear of the upstairs. Don't force him to be up there if he doesn't want to be, but you can give him special treats and chews that take a little while to eat up in your bedroom. Make sure you praise him whenever he comes up there on his own and reinforce that with yummy treats (keep a tupperware or plastic bag of them up there just for this purpose). If he will do it, you can try splitting his dinner and feeding half at his usual time/place and half later on upstairs. Make it a point to have fun interactions with him upstairs and basically do everything you can to make it a pleasant and fun place to be.

 

A white noise machine in your room might help if there's a particular noise he hears that needs masking. Also put in a couple DAP diffusers around the house and especially upstairs.

 

One other thought - have you ever considered crating him in your bedroom (or downstairs for that matter)?? He may feel better in a smaller space, and a crate will curb his nighttime wanderings. If you've never crate him, he will need to be introduced to it slowly, making sure it's seen as a good thing by him at every step.

[GeorgeofNE]

How about just closing the bedroom door? Because the real problem is yours--that he is waking you. There is certainly nothing "wrong" with a dog getting up a few times in the night. I mean that the behavior doesn't seem all that unusual, and if he is otherwise happy and healthy, maybe just close him OUT of the bedroom?

 

Being medicated 24/7 because he wakes you up a couple of times at night seems rather extreme to me--but I don't think I've slept all the way through the night since I was about 6 years old, so it wouldn't really bother me that much.

 

I'm guessing there is something outside and he can hear it. Like a raccoon or an opossum--some nocturnal beast.

 

Have you tried teaching him "go lie down"! and just not allowing him to pace, etc.?

[Guest mopar31898]

How about just closing the bedroom door? Because the real problem is yours--that he is waking you. There is certainly nothing "wrong" with a dog getting up a few times in the night. I mean that the behavior doesn't seem all that unusual, and if he is otherwise happy and healthy, maybe just close him OUT of the bedroom?

 

Being medicated 24/7 because he wakes you up a couple of times at night seems rather extreme to me--but I don't think I've slept all the way through the night since I was about 6 years old, so it wouldn't really bother me that much.

 

I'm guessing there is something outside and he can hear it. Like a raccoon or an opossum--some nocturnal beast.

 

Have you tried teaching him "go lie down"! and just not allowing him to pace, etc.?

 

 

 

Sorry, I should have explained better. It is not as simple as him hearing something and popping up or just readjusting in the middle of the night. It is the equivalent of him pacing the house when a thunderstorm rolls in. Before we moved and when we first got to our new house, he would sleep through the night or maybe just get up and move from one bed to another. No it has gotten to the point where he goes into almost a "panic mode" in the middle of the night and moves throughout the house like it is burning down. He will run up the stairs 10 times in a row like he has no idea what to do. We are worried that whatever is causing this stress on him is not healthy for him, rather than interrupting our sleep. And the weirdest part is that he is 100% fine during the day and at night while we are still up.

 

Also, we have started to try and make him feel comfortable upstairs by getting him up there during the day and giving him praise and treats while he is up there.

Edited November 8, 2017 by mopar31898

[Walliered]

Both of my Galgos sleep in their crates at night and have since day one. These crates are in my bedroom. When it is cool in the house I lay a blanket on top of the crates and that makes it more like a cave. I did buy cots to put inside the crates and have blankets on the cots. I do not hear a sound for at least 8 hours. They seem to love their crates.