Why does my husky bark, howl or whine at night?

If your husky starts being noisy at night you might want to know why and what you can do about it.

In this post, I will show you a number of possible reasons why it might be doing it and what you can do to stop it.

So, why does my husky bark at night? Possible reasons are that it needs to get more exercise, you might have inadvertently rewarded the behavior, something might be scaring it, a problem with its diet or separation anxiety.

There are actually multiple reasons why your husky might become noisy at night and it could be the result of a combination of factors. However, there are also a number of things you can consider when trying to figure out the exact cause. There are also a number of things that you can do to get it to stop.

Why your husky barks, howls or whines at night

The different reasons why your Siberian husky does it will likely come with some clues.

Below are a number of possible causes and what would make them more likely.

Not enough exercise

Huskies are a breed that is meant to get a lot of exercise on a daily basis. If your husky is not getting a lot of exercise during the day it could be resulting in it being full of energy at night.

Generally, it is recommended for them to get at least an hour of exercise per day. If your husky is not getting that much exercise it would help to make sure that it does.

You have inadvertently reinforced the behavior

It might be the case that you have actually trained it to be loud at night by giving it things that it wants when it does it. If you tend to give it things such as extra attention, toys or treats when it barks, howls or cries at night it might have learned to do it more in order to get those things.

Instead, it would help to avoid rewarding it when it does it unless necessary and it would help to follow the other tips mentioned below to train it not to do it.

Fear

It might be the case that there is something that has been causing it to be fearful at night. Things that might be causing it to be fearful could be thunder, strange noises like the wind or seeing objects in the window. It would be more likely that fear is the reason if it only seems to be noisy on certain nights and not others.

If it does seem to be the case that fear is the cause it would help to remove the thing that it does not like if possible. You can also try using desensitization training in order to get it used to the thing that it does not like. I have written more about why your husky might be afraid of thunder in this post.

Diet

It could be the case that there is an issue with its diet. If there is an issue with its diet it could be causing it to become hyperactive at night or to feel unwell which could be why it is doing it. You can look here to see what you should and should not be feeding your husky. It would also likely help to try and feed your husky earlier in the evening if you tend to feed it late at night.

Separation anxiety

It might be the case that it has separation anxiety and it becomes anxious when it has to sleep in a different room than you. This would be more likely if your husky does not become difficult on nights where it is allowed to sleep with you and if it becomes anxious whenever you are leaving it.

If your husky does seem to have separation anxiety it would help to train it to be less anxious without you.

To do this you could do as follows:

• Make it seem like you are about to leave by doing something such as picking up your keys
• Reward your husky for not being anxious and repeat these two steps a few times
• Make more moves towards actually leaving such as by picking up the keys and putting your hand on the door handle
• Reward your husky for not being anxious and repeat the process a few times
• Actually open the door and go outside for a few moments then come back and reward your husky
• Repeat the above, each time staying outside for slightly longer

You could follow a similar process when trying to get it used to being in a different room than you at night as well.

A problem with its sleeping environment

It might be the case that it is struggling to fall asleep at night because there is an issue with the room that it sleeps in. This could be because it is not comfortable, it’s too hot or it’s too bright.

It needs to pee

It might also be the case that it does it because it needs to pee at night. This would be especially likely if it is still a puppy and if it tries to get you to let it go outside so that it can pee when it starts being noisy at night. In this case, it would help to let it go outside to pee just before going to sleep.

How to get your husky to stop barking, howling and whining at night

Below are a number of options you have when getting your husky to stop doing it. You will likely find that the best solution will be a combination of them.

Make sure that you are feeding it correctly

As mentioned above, it might be the case that you or someone else has been feeding it the wrong things just before bedtime. You can look here to see what you should and shouldn’t be giving it. Feeding it earlier in the evening would likely help as well. It would also help to consult with your vet on its diet when you see them next and to make sure that no one else is feeding it things it shouldn’t be eating.

Give it exercise

As mentioned above, huskies need to get a lot of exercise on a daily basis. If your husky has not been getting a lot of exercise it would help to make sure that it starts getting exercise. You can do so by walking it yourself or by getting a dog walker to do it for you. It might also help to give it a short walk in the evening as well or to get it to play fetch to tire it out before bed.

Make its sleeping environment comfortable

It would also help to make sure that the room it sleeps in is comfortable so that it can fall asleep easily. This means that the room it sleeps in should be cool, not bright and it should have an area where your husky can lay down comfortably.

Try crate training

Crate training is where you train your Siberian husky to learn to be comfortable inside of a crate designed for dogs.

If you crate train your husky in the right way it will give it a space where it can feel safe at night which should help it to go to sleep more easily.

Train it to be less anxious without you

Since the reason why your husky barks or whines at night might be that it has separation anxiety it would help to train it to be less anxious without you.

One way to do this would be to follow to tips mentioned above on separation anxiety.

You can see more on how to do so in the video below.

Avoid rewarding it

As mentioned above, it could be the case that you have been rewarding your husky for being noisy at night and that it has encouraged it to do it more.

Instead, it would help to follow the tips mentioned above and to avoid rewarding your husky with things such as attention when it does it unless it is necessary. It would also help to reward it more in the mornings when it is well behaved at night.

Things to consider

When it started doing it

It would help to consider when your husky first started being noisy at night since it could be the case that there was an event that caused it to start doing it.

If it started being noisy at night suddenly, it would make it more likely to be due to things such as a change in its diet, not getting as much exercise or something causing it to be fearful. It would help to consider what else changed when it first started doing it.

If it doesn’t always do it

If it does not become noisy on every night it would also help to consider what is different when it is not noisy.

If it does not do it every night it could be due to things such as not being able to go out to pee sometimes before bed, not getting as much exercise or being fed different foods.