I have a 4 mth lab who sleeps in my 17yr old daughters room next to her bed.He will become her assistant dog as we got him for her due to medical reasons.She doesn't get much sleep through the night due to her medical condition so when she is woken at 5am she has probably had 2 hrs sleep.He barks at her to get up she has tried to ignore him but he persists and tries to jump on the bed and lunge at her .Her bedroom is upstairs and he knows food is downstairs .He has a porch potty in the room to use if need be so thats not the issue,he just wants to eat! Last night we tried giving him one of those toys that you put treats in (just used 1/4 cup of kibble) and he has to try and get them out it worked for about half an hr I hoped it would satisfy him until breakfast at 7am His last meal is at 5pm ,should i give him something late at night to get him through ? I have tried to stretch him out longer of an evening but he won't budge from the kitchen! any suggestions would be appreciated ...hope I'm posting in the right section this is my first time
Hi and welcome to the forum! Can you give us a little more information regarding his daily routine? Feeding, exercise.. etc...That will help when suggesting options you might want to try
Welcome to you. I would set a meal time at 7am ish and feed him nothing in the night until then. His body clock will adjust. He's only a baby and waking at 5am isn't unusual at all at that age. Just make yourselves as boring as possible until 'proper' getting up time. He will fit in with your routines really well, but not yet, while he's still so young.
He has breakfast at 7am ,i feed him raw meat(usually kangaroo) with Vets all natural mix, he goes outside for a wonder likes to do his own thing then at 8ish he puts himself back to bed in the lounge for about an hr.We have a play together as i have sent my daughter back to bed after his breakfast,Im home all day so he always has company, he has a little snack usually a frozen banana with some peanut butter bout 10ish.Then lunch at 12 ,he goes for his walk with daughter at 3.30 to the park and to meet other daughter at bus stop which takes about half hr. when he gets back i give him some fruit as his walk treat blueberries/strawberries ,plays and naps in between dinner at 5pm. my daughter takes him upstairs at 10 for bed,he's had a couple of naps by then. My son (19) plays with him before bed to tire him out .We have tried to stretch him out for dinner even to 5.30 but won't leave me alone until he is fed.
He has a good routine and will soon wake later. Meanwhile the only way to get some peace in the morning hours is to use a crate or baby gate so that he can't get to you and slowly extend the time you go to him by five minutes a day. Here is some excellent advice - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/crate-training-your-labrador-puppy/#crate-training-night .
Mine is the same - 5.30 every single day - demanding to get fed -take him for a short walk and then we both go back to bed for a couple of hours. Then thinks he should get fed again. Tiring .Hoping it is just summer time light and he will sleep longer as it gets darker again in mornings. Going back to work soon and he will have to be up at that time for day care anyway so not worried but a lie in at weekends would be nice.
