Oliver is 11 weeks old and sleeps in a crate at night. we go to bed around 9-9:30 and then he is up at 2:30-3 to go potty. he goes back in the crate but then is awake barking between 4:30-5. He eats at 6 am.
Oh, I know where you are coming from. We had this for six weeks - puppy slept until around 4:30, then barked and whined until I went to him, then went back to sleep, then woke again, more barking... This went on for two hours. Eventually we cracked and let him sleep out of his crate, next to our other dog. He then slept right through until 7:00 am!!!
Does he poo before bed? What kind of food is he eating? Is he peeing or pooing when he gets up at 2:00 am?
I was thinking about posts like this where pups walke up wanting attention at various points during the night while I was lying awake not being able to sleep. General guide lines are to not leave a dog especially a young pup alone during the day for more than a few hours at a time yet at nighttime we want our pups and dogs to be away from us without any interaction for eight hours or more because we would like our undisturbed sleep. I remember as a child lying awake in the early hours of the morning, listening to the early morning birds and the quiet creeking of a still, dead quiet house while everyone else was fast asleep knowing that I wasn't allowed to be up yet. It was like torture for me just lying there waiting. Homer is five now and will still wake me early. On Weekend mornings I take him outside but it's not that he needs to go to do his business, he'll have a sniff and a run round the garden table then come back to bed and settle for a few more hours.
I'm only 24hours into puppy raising but I read something somewhere (think it was a FB group for labs) where someone had this problem and had an ingenious solution. She set an alarm clock (near the dog) and didn't get up until the alarm went off. Adding a few minutes each day until the dog was waking at a more acceptable time. Like if he's waking at 4:30 now, set it for 4:30 the first day, 4:35 the send day, 4:40 the third....yada yada. Until eventually the dog is sleeping/laying around until the 6:00 (or whatever) alarm goes off and the family is up for the day. I have no proof that it works but it sounds good to me Of course I wouldn't do it until he's full potty trained.
It does work and you can use this for night-time toilet training, too. Set the alarm for every two hours that first night, then knock it back 15 minutes every "successful" night. Pippa talks about this method of night-time toilet training in The Happy Puppy Handbook.
I did this with Inky when he woke early every morning. I'm sure there's a link on Pippa's website. I didn't set the alarm for before he woke - seemed strange to wake him if he was asleep but as soon as he woke, I set the alarm on my phone for 2 minutes later and when it went off, I went down to him. It gradually got later as though he knew I didn't get up until that alarm went off. Now I have to wake him when I get up at 5.20 for work. He looks rather indignant! On the other days he sleeps to about 7 but doesn't make much noise til I go down. I think maybe the central heating wakes him. Hope this helps, I was surprised it worked !
My 6mth old lab puppy Rockstar used to be a good sleeper and would wake up at 6:30am but not bark until 7am. He now is waking up between 5-6am. He doesn't get quiet until I meet him. I don't know how to stop him from waking up so early. Please help!!!!
Hello and welcome. As others have said, the best method is to set your alarm before he wakes, take him out and then bring him back to bed without a word, and put the time back by fifteen minutes each night. Also, be aware of how you greet him in the morning. Make it a non-event, don't get overly excited and absolutely don't feed him immediately you get up.
Hi and welcome! If you are in Europe, it may be that your pup is waking earlier as the mornings get light sooner... The clocks will move forward at the end of March, but in the meantime it might also help if you can darken the room he is in.
Yes, we pee's and poo before bed. Yes he usually does both when he gets up in the night. This morning he was awake at 5 but i let him bark a bit and he went back to sleep until 6 and then i got up with him. I dont think that will work for us. Our Minature Schnauzer sleeps in our bed and they don't get along the greatest just yet. He will just have to sleep in his crate and get used it it i guess. Is it ok to give him a treat when he wakes up around 2 or so to keep him from getting as hungry before he eats n the morning?
How long do you wait in the whining and barking. With my kids I waited for 20 minutes before I got them up, and checked on their diapers or food needs. After the second night home, they slept through the night. With our puppy, we used the same technique, and never had to go beyond 11 minutes. Now at 4.5 months, he sleeps 10 hours through the night, and actually starts harassing me at 9:00 to go to bed. I feed him at 7:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM. He usually poos at 7:05, 12:05, 6:05, and 10-10:30. I make it clear to him that for him to go to bed he has to poo. He no longer wakes me up, I have to wake him up. I give him a 4.5(out of 5) rated puppy kibble, along with vitamins in the am and 6:00 PM feeding. He gets a 25-30 minute walk every day, and 15 minutes of chasing his milk bottle. All these things contribute to his sleeping at night.
I think it does very much depend on your pup though. When I got my dog every said I had to leave him to cry. Naive puppy owner so I though.. ok. He howled for 4 hours straight once, not whined.. full on howled. And if I hadn't given in and gone to him, I think he would have gone on longer. Then luckily I came here and realised no that's not acceptable. My puppy didn't sleep through until he was 17/18 weeks. There was no magic trick to it, he just grew up. He couldn't hold his toilet that long, so he woke me up. Sometimes it would be 2am and he would go back to sleep, sometimes 5am and he wouldn't. Then one day.. nothing. And he's slept through ever since. 11 weeks is still very young, so I wouldn't be concerned by this yet.
Agreed - whatever you do they all sleep through in the end. We tend to think we caused it, but they just grew up Of course, if we rewarded them for night walking (food, play etc) that would be a different story! .
