Hi everyone, looking for your thoughts/advice.
Recently, my almost 5.5-year-old male Pyrenees has started refusing to sleep inside overnight. He’s always slept in our room, but now like clockwork around midnight he becomes desperate to go outside.
Given his breed, he’s always been pretty alert at night (small noises tend to make him anxious and unsettled), but I’m not sure what’s triggered this sudden shift to wanting to be outdoors.
I’m okay with him sleeping outside, our yard is fully fenced and our vet has given us the green light, but the challenge is that he’ll intermittently bark throughout the night, which obviously isn’t ideal for neighbours at 1am.
We’ve tried having him sleep in other rooms inside, but he won’t last more than an hour before trying to get out again. Interestingly, he has no problem napping in our room or other areas of the house during the day. He also has no issue sleeping indoors overnight when staying at my in-laws.
For context, he has gone through phases in the past where he gets extremely anxious overnight if he hears noises outside (raccoons, people moving garbage bins, etc.), sometimes leading to long episodes of distress.
Has anyone experienced something similar or have any suggestions on what might be causing this or how to manage it?
Thanks so much in advance!