Just to give you a little background, for those of you not following along at home, my brother-in-law, Elliot, moved into our house at the beginning of March. His plan was to get a job here and get a place of his own, because he wanted to be near us as our family grew up. He’s now moving to Chicago, of all places, because he’s “always wanted to live in the big city.” Whatever. I got over my anger at his abandoning his brother a long time ago. The big problem I am facing now is his no-good rotten pug, Webster.
In the beginning, Webster’s problem was that he hadn’t been socialized as a pup. In fact, he rarely saw another dog. So when he entered our household, my three were like a dream come true. But he would NOT leave them alone. My dogs would want to take a nap and he’d badger them to play, barking, growling, hopping on them. Eventually he calmed down but there are times when they scuffle and he’s the main cause.
Well, as I may have mentioned, I’m flying solo this week. Just me, the Boy, and all four hounds. And Webster? Well, he woke the house up at 5:30 AM Sunday morning, barking. As far as we can gather, he misses his owner (God only knows why, my BIL is not that kind to him). He does not bark like that when Elliot is here. Again, this morning, he started with the barking at 4 AM. I thought I had fought off any possible issue by placing his crate in the kitchen with the other dogs, so he wouldn’t feel so isolated in the other bedroom. Nope, he’s just barking to bark. Because he sure as hell doesn’t need to go out. Both Ash and I got up separate times to see if that was the problem.
So I am frustrated with him right now and have no idea what I am going to do. I never thought I could dislike an animal – a dog – this much. But I can’t find a single redeeming quality about him. He doesn’t listen, runs away when he has to go into his crate, bites (lightly) when you finally catch him to put him up, and he’s hyperactive. If this keeps up, my patience is really going to run thin. The Boy was awake at 5 this morning because of the barking so I see myself getting increasingly less sleep before I either put that damned dog outside for the night (which I don’t see myself having the guts to do) or boarding him at the vet and demanding reimbursement from my BIL.
What would you do? I can’t lose that much sleep, especially when I have to juggle everything this week.
incognitusscriptor.com 
when I’ve dog-sat yappers, both of which happened to be crate trained, I would cover them with a blanket in their crates so that it was pitch dark. If the whining and yapping continued, I’d shake the crate a little bit, not violently, but enough for the pup to know my displeasure.
Sometime, leaving a TV on can help–especially if it is attention they crave.
Good ideas! When I went to put him in his crate this morning, he ran into the space where it used to be, in the guest bedroom. So I’m thinking he liked the small confining space there, even though he barked in the night before. We’ll try some things and hope it work out.