My nearly 8 month-old black lab puppy is going to bed between 10:00 - 11:00 pm and wakes up by 5:00 am already. I feed her at 6:00, so she's awake a whole hour when I wish she was sleeping, or at least quietly awake (right now she tends to wine/bark after a while). I do know how to reinforce quiet, but I am wondering if she is waking up by 5:00 am because she isn't tired enough from not having enough exercise or waking up hungry. She gets at least 45-60 minutes of formal exercise each day and is neither overfed nor underfed by looking at her. Is it normal for a dog in her situationto be awake by 5:00 am?
8 hours is a reasonable goal for night time at this age, so she's waking a little earlier than we'd expect. This article has some tips that might help: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/dog-wakes-up-too-early/ We actually recommend just 40 minutes of formal exercise a day at this age, so I'd be surprised if lack of exercise was the issue - but you might want to look at how much stimulation her brain gets during the day. How many hours does she spend crated during the day? And how much time does she spend alone? Puzzle games, training games etc, at regular intervals throughout the day, may help tire her out and meet her need for stimulation and interaction so she's not calling for you at 5am, too
Thanks, very helpful yet again. In regards to fromal exercise: what is generally regarded as 'formal exercise'? I am not able to leave my dog loose at home when I'm out, neither am I able to leave her loose in a yard by herself, so when I or one of my family are not with her or keeping an eye on her she is either in her crate or tethered in her corner of the room. When we spend time with her we do everything from playing fetch, walking at heel, taking a walk while she is off the lead, letting her explore while she is being watched. Which of those activities counts as 'formal exercise'?
