Hi, First time poster. I am looking for help with my 1 year old black lab. He is crate trained and has no issue going into at bedtime in the evenings. Bedtime is 9PM as is for me and I get up for work at 5. Problem is times he will start barking at 4AM because of boredom. If someone gets up and is moving around then he quiets down while they are moving. Bedrooms are upstairs and he is downstairs in the family room. On weekends when he wakes me up earlier I head downstairs and rest, maybe sleep some more, in a recliner next to his crate. He will keep quiet then. Any suggestions on how to keep him quiet until the alarm goes off? I can't have in the bedroom due to alergies and just noise he makes while moving around during the night. thanks, Troy
Re: Early morning wakeup - any suggestions? I know it can be hard but try ignoring him, if your going down to see him when he barks then he will think that barking will bring you down to him. It will be driving you mad but ignoring is what I would try.
Re: Early morning wakeup - any suggestions? Hi and welcome Can't really help, I gave in and let Harley upstairs to sleep with us : I agree with the previous post that if you ignore him and wait until he is quiet before you go down. I'm sure others will be along soon to give you some more advice
Re: Early morning wakeup - any suggestions? Hi troy and welcome to the forum! I am in a very similar situation to yourself - my lab is 18months old and whines in the mornings. So far I haven't been able to come up with a solution for it, however I totally agree with what Naya and Kev have said above and it is very similar to what I do: Never go downstairs when he is making a noise as he had learned that this makes you come down, I don't even get out of bed as I know Penny can hear me moving around - I just lie there until there's a break in the quiet and then get up and go to her. It will take a little while to get him to break this habit as he's been doing it for so long. Also look if there are any triggers that are waking him up early - noises like your alarm clock going off or a toilet flushing, also how light is it where he stays overnight? All of these things will set Penny off so before I go to bed I have to double check I've shut the curtains and my alarm is not going off any earlier than necessary. We were away on holiday in a chalet recently and the curtains were as thin as sheets hung in the windows - sure enough as soon as it got light and the seagulls started calling at 4am Penny was awake!
Re: Early morning wakeup - any suggestions? my lab is 13 months i have exactly the same problem as you do but although i dont go downstairs when she barks i think if she is let out last thing at night at 9.30 then she does want a wee as early as 4am i suffer from very bad insomnia so i am always awake to get up and let her out but i know how hard it is to not get up to a dog that starts whining or barking so early when we got millie she was 5 months and incontinent but had an op which cured that so she can hold on for the night if you can hold out as people say on here dont go down when the dog is making noise but i know how hard that is as soon as the dog hears me going downstairs she is quiet very hard to sort out
Re: Early morning wakeup - any suggestions? Our boy did exactly the same! And also at one year. We think it was the light, cos the sun was coming up earlier and so did his desire to wake up AND wake us up! Of course me, the softy, would get up and take him for a walk when he woke us up. But my husband insisted we ignore him. Oh, that was so difficult! But it took three mornings and it worked! The first morning he threw a tantrum! I didn't know dogs did that! When he realised we were ignoring him, he picked up his huge cushion in his mouth and threw it across the room. And then stood there indignantly and gave two barks very loudly. It was hilarious and we had to pretend we weren't noticing while heaving with laughter under the duvet. But the ignoring (very painful for me!) did work and he learned very quickly that he was only allowed to wake us up when the radio alarm went off. At that point he was allowed onto the bed for a cuddle. Now, at 2.5 years old, he sleeps late and will only get up if we do. I never thought I would see this day! Weekend sleep-ins actually do exist!
Re: Early morning wakeup - any suggestions? i do let milly out after she wakes up early but then she knows it is not playtime and goes straight back in her crate for a bit longer so i feel we have made some progress from when she was incontinent and had to go out every 2hours i worry about how long she can hold on for a wee about 8 hours seems reasonable to let her out then i think
