Older San Jose dog’s late-night barking keeping her owners awake

DEAR JOAN: Stella, our 14-year-old Havanese dog, has always been an easy dog to live with but she has recently begun barking during the middle of the night.

She sleeps downstairs in the laundry room where her bed is and where she’s fed. It doesn’t appear that she’s distressed. When we’ve tried to ignore her she will settle down, however, sometimes she’ll start again about three hours later.

Is there something that we can do to stop this behavior?  It’s beginning to be a factor in our sleep patterns.