night time abnormalities in german shepperd

Question
I have a female dog (bitch) ; 4 years old, generally healthy ( checked regularly  by her vet and cleared for any disease.)  she has been tested (blood chem, x-rays, urine tests etc. ). during her last estrus she has exhibited uncontrollable abnormal behavior that her vet assured us was hormone related and would soon pass.... well it hasn't.

i hope you can help;we are at our wits end as to whats happening , we love her very much but something needs to be done soon. i should tell you that she is a very good dog, intelligent, responsive, obedient, clean  and never has presented a problem before. she is very active and her trainer has kept her in pretty good shape;  she lives with 2 younger shepherds (both male);  that are rather deferential to her and she generally acts as the pack leader, fights are non existent and they seen to get along well, during her heat; she will not allow either of the younger dogs to mount her and they have ceased trying a while back. the pack gets regular exercises  2-3 hrs a day , lots of attention from their trainer, my wife and myself.. all dogs are obedient  and well trained, responding to my wife and myself,although they seem to seek her out for affection and me for help ( when they are hurt,sick or afraid, although its a rare occurrence).
our dogs share quarters during the night  in the laundry room downstairs, its a clean open room, tile floors cement walls ;  aprox 3mts x 4mts, with a doorway to a small (3mtsx2 mts) walled courtyard (3 mtsx3mts) with cement floors , where clothes were hung to dry. until now they seemed to like it ok. bundling together in winter and sleeping separately in summer ( each in a corner). during this past month , right about the beginnings of the bitches' heat she began whimpering at night, no barking , but a constant whining , as if she were hurt or afraid, it would wake us up and  we would check her out, she acted oddly, almost as if in pain (whimpering, submissive, crawling along to our feet,almost hugging our feet, tail wagging but ears down, tense body)  but on examination  everything appeared ok. assuming the dogs were bothering her  we would take her upstairs to our room and allow her to sleep there ( a favorite of hers) she would quiet down a little bit , but even  then she seemed agitated, panting,  moving from place to place as if looking for a place to get comfortable, walking in and out for our bedroom, in and out of our balcony... not sleeping well nor letting us sleep.  she has slept with us on ocations and always slept fine, even snored and "dreamed".  as the days went by this behavior progressed ( deteriorated)  she continued to wake us up at night , now it isn't whimpering , its whining, scratching at the door and walls , to the point that she has taken the plaster half of the laundry room wall, and scratched her paws raw leaving bloody prints on the glass partition  ( door way to the inside of the house) .  i have ceased allowing her inside ( on my vets advise)  and started monitoring her ( i haven slept more than 3 hours  for a month). some very strange thing i have observed: 1)  the episodes  begin always around the same time 3:00 am. she will be normal during the day and go to sleep normally around 10 PM  but every night at 3:00 am  she begins the whining, escalating until she starts scratch hing the walls. 2).- the episodes seemed to be exclusive of the bitch  ,the other 2 dogs do not get agitated , simply move away from her and stare at her behavior.  3).- i have even camped out observing the dogs to appease my wife ( my wife became frightened and convinced that the bitch "sensed" something, that happened at 3:00 am) to no avail, no squirrels, cats, mice, noises, changes in temperature either in the laundry room or outside, no strange sensations that i could detect.. the younger dogs seem to validate my observations as they sleep soundly and do not move until the bitch starts going nuts, when they calmly, move pout of the way and simply stare at her antics.3).- she exhibits this behavior most acutely at home , i have sent her to sleep at the vets and at our summer house in the country with her trainer and both vet and trainer reported some nervousness and whining but that was about it. 4).- the episodes stop at dawn.- around 5:00 am she quiets down goes to sleep and becomes normal again during the day 5).- she licks her vulva constantly at night but not in the day ... i have no way to know for sure;  but i don't seem to remember her doing it on other estrus seasons.. 6).- she has put on weight   but according to blood tests and ultra sound she is not pregnant. i imagine you will need more info but this is all i can think of for now please help, we live in a gated community , our neighbors have had it with this behavior , my wife is starting to believe in ghosts , i haven slept in month and there are no behavior experts in Mexico City so ...your help will be much appreciated

Answer
Hi Jaime, Have her hormones been checked for a false pregnancy? Does she exhibit any mothering behavior towards toys...? You said you had her x-rayed. Was her spine, hips and patellas all been x-rayed? It sounds as though she is hurting when she is in a sleeping position. Like when she tries to sleep and her muscles relax, she has a pinched nerve or something which causes her distress. You can read up on some of the diseases and problems that are typical for her breed and be sure the vet does the proper tests. The OFA has forms you can download and take to your vet, get the proper exams done and send them to the OFA. A proper x-ray for hip displaysia can only be done while the dog is under general anesthesia. So if your vet did not do the x-rays correctly, the problem may have been missed. If she is in heat, she will lick the vulva due to the bleeding off, but otherwise she usually would only do that if she had a bladder infection or a UTI (urinary tract infection), which your vet should have tested for as well. I do wish that we lived closer so that I could help you more. Are you ever in the States?  We are located in Florida. Try asking your vet some of these questions about the examinations that were done in the past. Leave me some feedback, a nomination (if you wish), and please keep me posted on how things go for you. I am sincerely concerned for her, so please do keep me up to date. Thank you for writing. Regards, Susan