If your dog has been acting weird at night, you may be wondering why and what you can do about it. In this post, I’ll explain why this happens and what you can do about it. So why is my dog acting so weird at night? It may be an issue with your dog’s diet, separation anxiety, fear, the need for more exercise, an injury, the need to pee, or old age. 

There are actually a lot of reasons behind that weird behavior, or it could be a mix of reasons. But there are many things you can think about when trying to figure out the main cause, and there are many things you can do about it.

Why Does Your Dog Behave Weird At Night?

Here are some common reasons why dogs act crazy at night.

Diet

It could be that something wrong with what it eats is making it act crazy at night. It could be overeating, not getting enough of the right nutrients, or eating things it shouldn’t.

Fear Of Being Alone

If your dog doesn’t sleep in the same room as you, it might have separation anxiety. Here, it doesn’t like being left alone, and the thought of being left alone makes it nervous.

Encouraging The Behavior

It’s also possible that you’ve been encouraging the behavior by giving them treats when they do it. If you give it things like toys, treats, or extra attention when it is crazy at night, it will probably do it more to get more rewards.

Having trouble getting to sleep

It’s also possible that there’s something wrong with where it sleeps. It might be too hot, bright, noisy, or uncomfortable.

Fear

It could also be afraid because of something that has been happening. This is more likely to happen if it does it more often at certain times, like when fireworks, sirens, or construction work are going on outside.

Excess Energy

It could also be because they didn’t get enough exercise during the day. This would be more likely if it gets less exercise during the day and then gets crazier at night.

Injury

An injury may have been hurting it and making it act that way. This is more likely if it started acting weird suddenly and if it was limping or showing other signs of being hurt.

Age

Older dogs may experience joint pain, which may keep them awake at night. This is more possible if your dog is old and behaves like it hurts when awake.

It Needs To Pee

Another possibility is that it has been doing it because it needs to urinate. This is more likely to happen if the dog is a puppy and it wants to go outside when it starts acting crazy.

What To Do About Your Dog Acting Weird At Night?

When I am concerned about my Frenchie acting weird, which shows the above behaviors, I found some tips for doing when they behave crazy. Here they are.

Consult A Vet

Suppose it looks like it might be injured, if it started doing it every night all of a sudden, or if you can’t figure out why you should take it to a vet. By doing this, you should be able to get advice from an expert that is specific to your dog and rule out the possibility that it is sick.

Make Sure It’s Getting The Right Meals

It would also help if you made sure you were feeding it the right things, that it didn’t have access to something it shouldn’t eat, and that no one else was feeding it.

Feed It Earlier

It may also help to feed it earlier in the evening since it’s possible that providing it late at night sometimes contributes to a wired behavior.

Give It Exercise

If it’s in good health, it would also be beneficial to ensure that it can get the recommended amount of exercise each day for its breed and age.

Don’t Encourage The Behavior

It would also help if you didn’t reward the behavior by giving it something when it did it. Instead, rewarding it when it behaves well in the morning is always better.

Make Sure It Has A Comfortable Place To Sleep

It would also help if the room it sleeps in is cool, not too bright or loud, and has a place to lay down comfortably.

Talk To A Dog Behaviorist For Help

You could also talk to a dog behaviorist if the vet hasn’t found anything wrong and you can’t stop it. By doing this, you should figure out why it has been acting like this and how to stop it.

What Makes Dog’s Restless At Night?

Restless at night is just like a section of the wired behavior of dogs. Most of the above wired behaviors include restless nights. Even though new puppies and young dogs often have sleepless nights, the restlessness usually goes away as the dog grows up. 

But notice that your dog isn’t sleeping through the night any more and is constantly changing positions and walking around the room. There may be a more severe problem that needs to be dealt with.

Most of the time, sleeplessness is a short-term problem you can fix. Some dogs do this because they have too much energy, which you can fix by giving your dog more chances to run around. Environmental changes can sometimes cause restlessness, but the restlessness may go away once your dog has adapted. But if you see that the behavior keeps happening, you should take your pet to a veterinarian to find out what’s wrong.

Some more common things to think about are:

• Canine dementia
• A cause of long-term pain
• Anxiety

Prevention Of Your Dog’s Restlessness At Night

Exercise is one of the best ways to ensure your dog sleeps well and for a long time. If your dog has too much energy left over at the end of the day, it will be hard for him to fall asleep quickly. Provide a calm, cool space for your dog to nap in.

Don’t assume that sleeplessness is caused by getting older. If your dog is having consistent trouble sleeping, you should take it to the vet immediately to diagnose the reason. Problems like cancer, kidney disease, and dementia can really hurt your dog’s overall quality of life and should be addressed immediately. 

Summary

There could be many reasons why my dog acts so weird at night. Some facts can be solved by yourself. But you may need the support of a vet to fix some problems.