My rescue Dog barks at everything

[Jim]

We have a rescue dog about 4 years old. He barks at everything even
things that we cannot see. He wakes us every night around 1am to 3 am I
get up and look and most times there is nothing and once i look he goes
and relaxes. He goes out in the back yard and barks sometimes at
neighbors dogs but also at nothing, I cannot figure out what to do, he
is a great dog but this is an issue. He also barks at people walking on
the other side of the street with and without dogs, do you have any
suggestions.

Regards

Jim Brohman
 

[Adrienne]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the forums,

Often times, with this kind of barking at night, the culprit is some type of critter. Many critters are nocturnal and can make sounds that we cannot detect. A dogs hearing range is significantly superior to ours. In fact, the dog’s hearing range is twice as wide as the human’s hearing range. To be more accurate, according to  Louisiana State University, humans can hear sounds between 64-23.00Hz while dogs can detect sounds between 67-45.000Hz.

Why can dogs hear sounds that are inaudible to us though? Is there some evolutionary advantage? The answer is yes. This is in due to their predatory heritage. Dogs indeed are capable of detecting the high-pitched sounds made by small rodents such as mice and rats- both animals that were part of a dog's ancestors summer diet. On top of this, dogs can also detect the high-frequency sounds emitted by bats.

So it might turn insightful inspecting the walls, under the deck, crawl spaces and attics for signs of critters. They may often leave some signs such as chewed up areas and waste. Sometimes, a professional may be needed when the critters are hiding inside inconspicuous places, that are difficult to look at. These experts may have special tools to detect critters. 

Another possibility are distant sounds, such as perhaps an animal nearby the property, or maybe your neighbor's dogs going out for a potty break or some neighbor coming home from work or maybe closing a door. 

In such cases, it may help to keep the dog away from windows, in a room farthest away from noisy areas, and use some type of white noise to buffer sounds. For instance, it may help in some cases using a television, radio, or blowing fan to muffle noises so he can’t hear them as easily. 

Here are some other possible causes for dogs barking at seemingly nothing:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/nothing/

The barking at everything can be suggestive of an anxious dog who feels threatened most of the time. These dogs may struggle to relax. If you can identify some sounds that trigger his barking, it may be helpful working on the 'hear that" method for reactive dogs. This can also help boost  his confidence as sounds come to predict something great happening versus something worrisome. With time, you may start seeing signs of happy anticipation. It is covered in the following guide: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/

For the barking at neighbor dogs and people walking by the road, it may help to do a similar exercise to the "hear that method" described above, but this time adding some visuals, so the dog gets fed tasty treats when he actually sees people or dogs walking by.  It can help to start the exercise from a window if you have one overlooking the road, before actually taking your dog outside. Then you can progress from the door area, the porch if you have one and then closer to property line. Going very gradually. If the dog ever barks, it's sign he's not ready for that level of exposure yet, so you'll need to take a few steps back and practice more from a lower level.

Very important for this exercise is ensuring your dog is under threshold, something that is done initially by keeping the dog on leash and at a distance from the triggers. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

To succeed with this method though, it would be important managing your dog as much as possible. In other words, he shouldn't be let out on his own as he'll likely bark and this allows the dog to rehearse the problematic behavior. The more rehearsal, the more the behavior puts roots. The more a behavior has been ingrained, the more time and effort is needed to work on it.  So it would be important to accompany him on his outings, and keep him on leash, so that you can help him make good choices.

More on this method here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

In general, dogs who are kept in the yard for most of the day will grow bored or may become more reactive and will feel compelled to bark at everything. Barking at everything can raise their stress hormones and these hormones circulate in the body for some time and make dogs more propense to startle and become reactive to the minimal sounds. Dogs who are kept mostly indoors (in quiet households of course!), may be less propense to barking because the home buffers the sounds, and they often find some more productive ways to entertain themselves and we can help them keep busy and feel more relaxed with play, training and brain games. 

 I hope this helps,

Let me know if you have any questions, 

Best,

Adrienne