I have a three year old Great Dane, who has always slept in my bed with me. For the past couple of months, he has been acting extremely strange. He goes to the vet regularly and has all of his shots. At night, for no apparent reason whatsoever, he will suddenly hurl himself off of the bed, and then stand around for a long time before jumping back on. And sometimes when he does this, he'll yelp as if someone hit him when he jumps off. The other day, he was lying on the floor and he jumped up and yelped also. I'm not kicking him or anything, I don't understand what's going on. Any ideas? Thanks!

Hip Dysplasia is a problem with this breed. Perhaps his joints are giving him discomfort with the sudden movement and position change.

I don't know why he may suddently be leaping up and being alert.. has there been any new additions to your neighborhood? Any lady dogs? New neighbors who may be making noise at odd hours of the day and night?

It sounds as if he is getting back pains, cramps, or hip pains.

Chances are that the dog is having to sleep in an unnatural position in order to sleep with you in the bed. Give him his own bed. He is a dog, allow him to sleep like a dog. They need to curl up to streatch the back and they also need to sleep in a fairly cool (but not cold) environment.

He has the option of sleeping wherever he chooses. We have a dog bed that's large downstairs but he refuses to sleep anywhere but on my bed at night. I was on vacaction last week and my petsitter said he slept on it when I was gone. He's always stretched out on it.

Anyway he hasn't done that strange thing in months, so something must have been bothering him at the time I posted this. My vet didn't find anything wrong with him either. But he's been back to normal.