older dog needs to go out 4-5 times per night

Question
I have a 13 year old beagle/lab mix. I adopted him when he was a puppy and he is well housebroken. He could always go all night without going out. Now he comes to me and whines and barks every hour or two until I let him out. I am exhausted! What I don't understand is that during the day he only goes out every 4-5 hours, and he's fine.

He sleeps on a dog bed at the foot of our bed. We've tried a crate, but he goes crazy in it and barks non-stop. I don't know what to do with him - he's driving me crazy at night. He just went to the vet two weeks ago and got a clean bill of health. I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

Answer
Be sure to spend more time with him during the day and make sure he has plenty of stimulation. He simply could be wanting attention because he doesn't get enough during the daytime hours. Do not let him sleep during the day if possible. Also you may try not feeding or watering him after say, 6:00 in the afternoon, then let him out before you go to bed and let that be it. You will just have to ignore him. The best thing would be the crate, I know he doesn't like it, but he should eventually get accustomed to being in it. Also you may consider putting him in the crate and then putting the crate in the garage or another room of the house so you can't hear him bark at night. Just make sure that if you put him in the garage that it doesn't get too hot or cold in there. He is getting older and could possibly have bladder problems, if he is not neutered he likely has an enlarged prostate gland, this could lead to him having to urinate more frequently. Hope that this helped and will point you in the right direction. Good luck.