Ernie, now 8 months old , has a HUGE personality. Meaning that he thinks it is up to him to take on the world. He is usually just the defender of the neighborhood(barking at every single sound outside but now he is the protector of the night. He is getting up 3-4 times and just doing his fierce barking and growling at nothing. It is scaring the crap out of me when he does it as I am in a sound sleep and he is on my head. Any advice on how to get him to stop? I grab him and just cuddle him to hold him down and he goes back to bed until he hears the dust settle again and then he does it again. Are a lot of bullies protectors like this??? On a happy note....he has only had one accident in the house in five weeks. He still gives me absolutely no signal, I just let him out every couple hours. at this point...whatever works!