Corgi barking for food at night

    • Bronze

    Corgi barking for food at night

    I have a 13 year old Corgi - Quincy.  He's doing some things that are "different" for him.  For one, he licks the floors/carpets in the house all the time.  It's not like there's food/crumbs all over my house...he just walks around licking the floor.

    The bigger problem is he has begun  barking at night and wants to be fed.  We know that because he'll stand by his bowl and bark over and over again.  He'll eat dinner and an hour later, bark repeatedly to be fed again.

    I asked the vet and the vet said he could have "cognitive dysfunction" and told me to give him Benadryl at night.  I tried that and he actually got worse...having 2 - 3 episodes of waking and barking.

    For the past 2 weeks, he's been sleeping in my son's room - prior to that he'd just roam the house at night - but 2 weeks ago, he started barking to get into my son's room.  So, last night, he woke at 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 & 6:30.  My son fed him a small amount at 3:30...then again at 6:30.  I think this is "teaching" him that we'll feed him when he barks...but we all work and need to get a decent night's sleep too.

    Since no one is home all day, I think Quincy sleeps all day.  Is there anything I can do to stop this? I'm going to try putting his dinner in a feeder cube and see if that helps to tire him out.

    Any other ideas? 

    Thanks.

    • Gold Top Dog

    What food is he currently getting?  How much?  What intervals?

    What exercise does he get?

    • Bronze

    He gets 3/4 cup  Eucanuba (reduced fat) food usually at 7:30 am and again at 5:00 pm. (He actually used to bark like this at 5 PM - which we thought was funny).

    He goes out around 7:30 am...has a walk at around 3 pm...and again at 9:30 pm...His walks are around the block with takes about 15 - 20 minutes.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Irisheyz
    He gets 3/4 cup  Eucanuba (reduced fat)

    IMO, there are way more nutritional foods out there.

    Irisheyz
    He goes out around 7:30 am...has a walk at around 3 pm...and again at 9:30 pm...His walks are around the block with takes about 15 - 20 minutes.

     

    So he gets two walks a day for 40 minutes. Corgis are active dogs and require mental stimulation as well as phsyical exercise. Are these brisk walks where he has to trot or just a laid back walk?

    Irisheyz
    He gets 3/4 cup

     

    Are you saying he gets 3/4 cup of food 2x daily? Thats a lot of food. I have a Corgi and she is a trim 21 lbs. She gets fed a 1/4 cup of NB Reduced Calorie 2x daily.If she ever barked at me to feed her, she'd definitely lose that meal. I would crate at night to prevent this problem. He should be sleeping, that leads me to think hes not getting enough stimulation during the day.

    Keep us posted and good luck.

    • Gold Top Dog
    I suspect this is behavioral and nutritional issues. My senior dog started barking for food too eventually but she was near 16. It was when she started to really go downhill from pain, and we suspect cancer (but that was never verified). I'm not trying to say your dog has cancer. I'm suggesting that your dog is probably going through physical changes which is causing new behaviors to come out. It sounds like your dog might be anxious at night. There's a lot of things you can do to deal with that: phsyical and most importantly at this age, mental exercise. Before bed, have the dog run through some obedience skills, do some tricks, do some free shaping, etc. Corgis can get fat quick so use kibble for treats, or frozen green beens, carrots, etc.

    For food, I would switch from eukanuba to something with more protien so the dog feels full for longer and you can feed less. Its the same concept with humans. If your diet consisted of all carbs and emtpy calories, you are going to be hungry all the time. Eat more protien and fiber and you are fuller longer. Check the ingrediants on the food you are feeding. Are the first 4 - 5 ingreds corn and some carbs? Maybe 1 meat? You should find something that has a meat meal as the first ingred. And again, go for higher protien. 26 to 35 percent or so. (All this is assuming your dog is healthy)

    You can also add some frozen veggis to your dogs meal like green beans or carrots. Dogs don't get a lot of nutrients from these but it helps fill them up and slows down their eating

    For sleeping arrangements, I'm guessing a kennel probably won't do unless the dog has been trained that way at this point. You can have it wear an anxiety wrap at night, like a snug t shirt, a thundershirt etc. Something it can snuggle up and curl up and relax. Don't give in to the demand for food. That is just making the problem worse.

    • Gold Top Dog

    The OCD licking, the barking at night for food and his age make me think this could be cognitive dysfunction, as your vet suspected.  Did your vet suggest anything other than the benadryl?  I would have a complete blood panel done, including getting the thyroid checked.  There are drugs used to help dogs with cognitive dysfunction and if it were my dog I'd pursue this avenue if all the blood work is normal.  

    • Gold Top Dog

     I'm sorry. I must have missed the part where you said hes 13. In that case, I agree with JackieG . A full blood panel is most likely the way to go. Again I apologize.

    • Gold Top Dog
    I agree - at his age, I'd do a complete blood panel.
    • Bronze

    The vet did not suggest anything other than the benadryl. Never said anything about thyroid or bloodwork.

    Last night I put his dinner in the puzzle cube (which he hadn't played with in awhile)...he remembered exactly how to get the food out (kept picking it up and dropping it so the food would fall out...smart dog!) It did take him longer than normal to eat his meal this way and he got some playtime as well.  Before bed, I gave him a kong - with the benadryl in it - and he played with that for a bit.  He still woke up at 4:30  - barking to be fed. My son fed him - which I really feel is reinforcing this behavior but at 4:30 a.m. I don't blame him for wanting the dog to be quiet.

    He is an old dog...so his walks are not brisk...and he loves to stop and smell EVERYTHING!!!  I really don't like the idea of putting him back in a crate (we haven't done that since he was a pup) and feel sure he will bark more.  I feel like it's punishing him for something he can't help (he's old and fits the bill for some cognitive dysfunction) but will do what I have to do to make this better.

    I'll check back with my vet as well.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Do you have a pic of Quincy? I love Corgis! Smile