[imaircooled]

So, Sophie is a 7 or 8 year old Weim. We rescued her about 5 years ago. She was crate trained. Since we've had her she's been in her crate at night. For the past couple weeks she will start barking around 2 or 3 am. I let her outside and she goes but if I put her back in her crate she'll eventually start barking. I feel like if I let her out she will think that if I bark I can get out....rewarding her for barking. My wife is a very light sleeper so she can't sleep in our room. She's pretty noisy. I don't want her to bark at night because her room is beside my 4 year old's room and will wake him up.

I could take her crate down to the basement, where she could bark to her heart's content, but don't really want to do that. Maybe she's getting older and doesn't like the crate anymore? Since she's crate trained I don't want to leave her out because I'm pretty sure she's not potty trained. She's always been in her crate at night. She's a good dog and I've been told that she's the calmest Weimaraner my vet has ever seen.

Does anyone have some brilliant ideas for me to try? Any information that I'm missing that may help? Let me know.

Thanks again,