barking at night!

Question
Dear Marjorie,
I have had Mugsy, an English Bulldog, for the last 5 of her nearly 11 years. I've never had a problem with her barking in the middle of the night until recently! I can't get her to stop. It's terrible and very persistent! We've tried taking her outside because we thought that was the problem, spraying water on her face, ignoring her... you name it, we've tried it! There's no new sounds, that we know of, in the middle of the night and the one or two times we've given up and let her out of the kitchen she's just came to my side of the bed and went to sleep. We baby gate he in the kitchen at night but I was thinking of putting her in her kennel outside our room with the door open and slowly moving her away. What do you think? She snores really loud so we can't keep her in our room. I also read maybe spraying vinegar/water on her nose when she barks... have you herd of that?
Please help, any suggestion we'll try! We are so tired all the time from dealing with this every night!

Regards,
Christin

Answer
From what I gather, if you let her sleep in your room, there's no barking, correct? This is probably just a case of the onset of senility, separation anxiety due to her age. Spraying a dog might work in the puppy stages, but not in a senior dog.

I think the idea of crating her off your room is a good one. Since I have a house full of bulldogs, I've slept with ear plugs for years. You might give that a try. Old dogs are such a treasure. Do whatever you can do to make her feel secure and comfortable.