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'?
You're most welcome . Formal exercise is leash work, fetch, walks, etc - anything where she exercises at your instigation rather than hers. Exploring while you stand and wait doesn't count as 'formal' because she can just stop and sit down and rest whenever her body tells her to It does sounds like there are some days when she would benefit from more chance to move about and stimulate herself, and more human interaction, during the day. At 6 months we recommend a maximum of 2 hours in a crate per day. Closer to 12 months, we suggest a maximum of 3 hours in a crate per day. So 2.5 hours max may be a good rule of thumb for your pup's age. Provided she is happy with that routine. ('Day' here means, between the time the first person in the home gets up, and the time the last person in the home goes to bed. It doesn't include crating when the household are in bed for the night) If you use the crate when you need to leave her alone, it can be helpful to set a timer on your phone. Stop it each time you get her out and start it again when you put her in. Once you reach 2.5 hours, you're done with the crate for the day. That may be already well within your family's limits - but if not, making that 2.5 hours a new limit might well help Safety wise - I have to say that it's very important never to leave her unattended when she's tethered. It's just not safe for her. Instead, if she can't be left safely alone in any of your rooms, we suggest setting up baby gates or puppy pen sections to create a safe 'zone' for her. It also sounds like perhaps your routine doesn't have much time when she's with you, loose in the house, but not specifically interacting with you. She's old enough to start building up that skill now, and that will help her meet her needs for attention and stimulation without you adding more walks and games etc! I wrote an article recently on one way of balancing all these different puppy needs - it's aimed at younger pups but you might find it helpful - it's here: http://dogsnet.com/puppy-pattern-days/ I also recommend taking a look at Pippa's articles on tethering and crating. I hope they're helpful
