Had something similar last year at my old place out in the Cumbrian fells. Dog went absolutely mental at 2am, fur standing up, the works. Turned out to be... nothing we could explain. No animals, no tiles disturbed, no tracks in the frost the next morning. That last bit is what got me.
The frost thing is worth checking actually - if you had any last night, get out there and look around the perimeter of your house and below the roofline. Animals always leave something behind. If there's genuinely nothing, that's when it gets interesting.
Few questions:
What breed is your dog? Some are more sensitive than others, Did the footsteps have a rhythm to them, or more random?, How long did it last?
My GSD mix was going berserk for nearly 20 minutes that night. Neighbours heard nothing, which was the other weird part.
I've got a couple of Hikvision cameras set up outside now partly because of that incident - worth considering if this keeps happening. Having footage either rules things out or gives you something concrete to work with.
Don't dismiss it as ". Just an animal". Too quickly. What does everyone else reckon - animal activity or something worth looking into further?
