# Young golden pacing for hours in the middle of the night



## AngelaW (Dec 17, 2015)

Hello everyone, 

I have a wonderful 3-year-old golden girl named Korra. Last night, Korra woke me up around 3:30am pacing around the room and whining. Occasionally she would prop her head on the side of the bed, which is something she does to wake me up for food in the mornings. Korra does tend to wake up too early for breakfast sometimes, so I told her to lay down and rolled over to go back to sleep. I let the behavior continue for about ten minutes. Thinking that it may be a bathroom emergency, I got up and let Korra outside. She quickly peed and came back in, and started to get excited because she assumed it was time for breakfast. I brought her back to the bedroom and got back into bed. She continued to pace around the room and whine at the bedroom door until I got up at 4:50am and fed her breakfast (breakfast for her is at 5am). Even after feeding, she continued to pace and whine. I let her back outside again, where she explored the backyard for 15 minutes. I tried to get her back inside because it was clear that she didn't need to go, she darted away from me and tried to start playing. I went back inside and let her sniff around until she came back to the door. Once I had her back inside for good, I left my door open so she could roam the house. She continued to pace. I was awake for a good portion of it, but eventually I dosed off. I woke up around 6:45am and she had finally settled. This same behavior happened about two weeks ago. 

Because both nights had considerably more wind than usual, I am under the impression that she heard something and was pacing because she got nervous. I've also just recently started back in school and I am gone most days during the week so she isn't getting as much exercise as usual. However, the first time this happened was in the middle of the week, when I knew she had more pent up energy than usual. This weekend I managed to walk her 7 miles on Saturday and 5 miles on Sunday, so she should have been relaxed enough to sleep through the night. Is this behavior something that is cause for concern? She is due for her yearly check up with the vet, so I could make an appointment if necessary. Most of the information I've seen regarding this concerns more senior dogs, so I'm unsure how worried I should be. Her stool is normal and she is eating as usual. There have been no behavior changes besides that pacing. The last time it was accompanied by panting, this time she just paced. 

Has anyone had experience with behavior like this? Does anyone have advice on what I should do?


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

I have a 8 yr old golden that paces and gets anxious when the wind blows. I got her when she was 4 and she has always done this so don't know when it started. When the wind blows there are lots of things moving and lots of unusual noises. She lives in the house so took me a while to figure out how the wind was affecting her. I don't have crates but do have a large laundry room without windows. I have found if I put her bed in there on blustery days she will go in there and settle down. 

Not sure if this is a solution for you but my girl likes her safe place and I get to sleep!


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Are you sure she doesn't have bloat. Check her stomach. Is she in pain? Is she acting like she wants to throw up but nothing comes out? This is a emergency if it is and you can't wait.


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## AngelaW (Dec 17, 2015)

She doesn't appear to be in any pain and she hasn't shown any signs of trying to vomit or looking like she may vomit. She is having a lot of stomach gurgles right now, which is pretty typical for her. Luckily, I was able to bring her to work so I could keep an eye on her. Right now she is asleep. Since I've been up, she has been acting completely normal. She doesn't appear to be in any pain. She hasn't been drooling or whining.


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## wdadswell (Dec 17, 2015)

Just throwing this out there. My daughter's dog has a thing, about beeping noises. It usually means, for him, the smoke detector is going to go off. He will pace, whine, pant and as he's small, will jump in your lap. It generally takes him, a few hours, to settle afterwords. So if hydro, goes off and certain electronics beep, before they die, or vehicles that beep to back up, or even on tv, beeping noises, will set him off. It sounds to me, like something has her rattled and she is coming to you for comfort. My daughter's dog, would rather be outside, as well and not want to come back in the house.


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## AngelaW (Dec 17, 2015)

I definitely think that it's something outside that's making more noise than usual because of the wind. We have a day porch and when I let her outside the windows were rattling (we live in an old victorian that's been converted into apartments). The wind is supposed to be even worse tonight. The first time it happened, I did end up sitting up with her for about 20 minutes and petting her to calm her down. I wonder if getting a white noise machine in the bedroom could help?


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

I have had similar issues with my goldenX, Gracie. Gracie is a senior dog and has slept in our bedroom since she came to live with us over 10 years ago. We noticed Gracie would become extremely restless and would pace at night when we first began to take her to our lake house. We figured she was just not used to the house and would eventually settle in. She didn't do it every night there, just once in a while, and never when we were at our home in the city. After about 2 months we discovered the cause of her pacing...there were coyotes in our yard at night. She was either able to hear or smell them and it caused her to be anxious. Now when she begins to pace at the lake house one of us will look out the windows, invariably see a coyote, tell Gracie it's ok. Just another coyote and she returns to bed. Seems she was just trying to alert us and once we reassured her that we knew and it was ok she could go back to sleep. So, perhaps there is an unfamiliar animal in your yard.


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## wellarmedglockgirl (Oct 6, 2016)

I would have her checked out by a vet and if it is nothing, how about a long walk before bed?


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