My lab pup is a few days over 6 months old, now just within the last month he has been waking early , now I don't put him to bed in his crate until I go to bed around 11:30 pm after a potty break, he is waking around 4:30 am every day sometimes at 4, any ideas on what we can do or is it a growing thing?
Re: Early wake ups Any change in his routine? New food, new schedule, new treats, or anything? where is his crate located? Any change of routine in your neighborhood that he is responding to? I know as the days get longer, sometimes routines change that we don't always recognize - along with just changes in sunrise/sunset. I live out in the country....so the big changes now is that the "pre-dawn wildlife" activities happen earlier....and the log-truck traffic happens earlier on the main highway. Perhaps there is a subtle change you haven't noticed yourself. Otherwise....I'd say it's just a growing thing....if you continue to get up with him at an earlier time...it can be a reward for him and he will keep doing it. If you ignore him and keep with a strict wake up time....he'll learn to adjust. It's unlikely that he has an urgent need for a potty break...he's just waking and thinks you should too. My Bella is not quite 6 months - and she is learning that weekday routines are not the same as weekend routines, and she has to wait for ME to decide to wake up. She sleeps on the bed with us, so she hears my alarm - and has learned that I hit the snooze multiple times : so she just snuggles in closer knowing eventually I'll get up...and if it's urgent because she has to go potty...she has to get down and ring the bell on the door....usually she just snuggles up for as long as I'm in bed too.
Re: Early wake ups No changes , we do let him out and he does pee and poop , but I don't think its urgent especially since it's only 5 or so hours
Re: Early wake ups At least if he is peeing and pooping it's something. If he's waking early I would get up to let him out but don't interact with him, no greeting, pop him on is lead if necessary to ensure he doesn't have a play/round around and then take him I and put him back in is crate. Say to go back to sleep or whatever you say to him at bedtime and leave him to settle down. This approach worked with Juno when she stared waking early but soon stopped as she didn't get any attention from me.
Re: Early wake ups Ah, I had this from about this age, and whatever I did made no difference to the early morning 5am call! I tried everything I could, never rewarded her by going down to her when she was barking. If I left her, she would just continue to bark and bark. I tried giving her kongs, nyla bones, etc. No difference....until....one morning I was so tired, I brought her upstairs with me, put her on my bed and off to sleep she went until 7am! She now sleeps upstairs with us and sleeps until 7am or 8am at weekends. She still wakes at 5am, jumps on our bed and goes back to sleep!!
