I am now down to about 6 hours on a good night. I'd welcome anyone's ideas, sometimes who you are on top of a problem you cannot see the answer. Molly is now 7 months old. She sleeps in her crate downstairs in my study. First night she didn't like it, not surprisingly as she was used to being crated with her 12 litter mates, since then she has always gone into her crate with no trouble (so long as the requisite 2 pieces of kibble are dropped in there) When she was a small puppy on 4 meals a day I fed her when she woke up and the day pretty much started then. Now she is down to, nominally, 2 meals a day, but as I feed her using treat balls etc she will get a couple of refills early and the rest throughout the day, but I make sure she has a reasonable amount at the end of the day. 1. She wakes me up about 6.15 I let her out for a wee and a poo. Only does a small wee so I don't think that is what gets her up. I put her back in her crate and crawl back into bed. If I'm lucky I get an extra 10 minutes. I ignore her barking for a few minutes, but you cannot blot out a Lab barking for long. 2. Up I get and give her her first treat ball etc of the day. This is usually refilled a couple of times so she has a reasonable amount of food then I put it away in the cupboard and she does not bother about it. Short training session with treats. 3. The humans have their breakfast and I give her a Kong to buy time for the meal and a crossword in peace. 4. I do a few chores. Then we go for a 40 minute walk. Sounds a lot, but much of it is stationary as she has a sniff. 5. Get home. Her morning sleep. One hour if I am lucky. 6. Lunch time. She gets up and has another treat ball buster cube session. 7. More chores, ably 'helped' by Molly. 8. Mid afternoon we usually go and do the shopping, so Molly is crated 9. Fourthirtyish is I usually make my supper and eat while she has another Kong. 10. Another walk. 11. I am now trying to stretch out her bed time, but by 7.30 she is usually so OTT (like a tired toddler) and I put her to bed. 12. I sink exhausted into a chair and fall asleep in front of the TV. 13. I get her up about 11pm for a wee. Recently OH sent me to bed and promised to do the 11pm pee. Next day he confessed he'd fallen asleep too and she didn't have e her wee until 3.00, it made no difference. I do several short training sessions with her during the day I've tried giving her a snack about 11pm but it made no difference. It is a pretty full on existence and I've lost over half a stone, (3 kilos or around 8 pounds) since Molly arrived in November. I now weigh less than 8 stone and am trying to put weight on. Sorry it is a long post, but there doesn't seem any point in asking for advice if I don't give you the full story.. Any advice gratefully accepted. I may well have overlooked something basic. At seven months we are entering the teenage years and I'm going to need all my strength for that
Re: I need more sleep my lab is now 10 months and we have hardly had a night when she sleeps for long at all she has had an op in feb and then came in season so has now started to go about 5hours at night so i know exactly how you feel she is better now as she is older and can go for longer walks sorry i dont have much more to help you but do look on here there are so many good people on here i have never seen any nasty cmments not like other forums i have used good luck
Re: I need more sleep Oh you do sound tired. I am racking my brains to remember when Bess (two at the end of the month) stopped waking us up in the morning. I think it was before she was one. She did last much longer once I was confident she could be left with her crate open (confined to the kitchen); although she was always fast asleep in her crate when I got up she had prowled around at some point evidenced by her moving toys etc. Does she get chance to play with other dogs? That along with going to training classes always tired Bess out and even now we are guaranteed a very peaceful evening after a class. It will get better. Alice
Re: I need more sleep I'd say immediately, tonight, take her out for a last wee at 9.30pm, having taken her water up at 9pm, and go to bed, see what time she gets up - I bet it's still about 6am.
Re: I need more sleep i think that is good advice julie, i think they are like an alarm clock and waken the same time every day
Re: I need more sleep This may sound daft but I know someone who had a messed up sleep pattern and the therapy was to adjust the body clock by an hour a day until it was where you wanted it to be. It seems to me that you could adjust the 7pm sleep; if that sleep didn't happen until 10pm, maybe you could sleep until later in the morning. Maybe you could start by making the 7pm sleep a 7.30pm sleep and slowly change it by half hours until it got to where you want it to be. Draw up a daily chart so you can see improvements and tick them off day by day. Don't fret if you have an off day, just carry on with the plan. Or make the changes only 15 mins a day, whatever works best. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick? Is that any help? Good luck.
Re: I need more sleep My Labs were pains in the evenings, wide awake, they were put to bed at about 11pm and quite quickly they slept through until we got up at about 8am. These Labs are 6 years apart in age and both began to sleep in the evenings when 6 months old. I would suggest that you extend your getting up to her by five to ten minutes a day even if she does cry and she is crying now when you try to go back to bed. Soon she will be sleeping later and later as I think her waking up at that earlier time is just habit. Edited to add that I was typing at the same time as Jane!
Re: I need more sleep Instead of bedtime so early I would save one of the training sessions for that time, then a little walk round the block - to get bed time as late as possible. I would make sure she has a good sleep after lunch by putting her in her crate and leaving her alone, they never sleep properly out of the crate imo - always one ear open! Then she will have less chance of zonking so early. I would never let her out of the crate when she's barking, I would potter around the kitchen 'till she's quiet then let her out. When she knows for sure that barking doesn't get her out I'd make 'up' time 7am come what may. At 7 months her wee and poo should easily wait that long. When Tatze was tiny (10 weeks) I never fed her 'till 7am even if she was up and by 7 months I didn't get her up 'till 7am at the earliest. I still potter about for a while when I come down so she knows I decide when 'up' time is, not her. We don't go out immediately for wees either - I get my coat etc and take her to the green (lawn saving strategy) so she has to wait a few minutes even when she's out of bed. She is just fine - once properly house trained they will hold it, no probs. All the best with it! You need that sleeeeeeeep!
Re: I need more sleep In terms of loger term solutions, you could try address the morning barking with some of Pippa's tips from the article "night waking". I don't think I could do this, but might change my mind if Charlie starts barking in the morning: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/night-waking-how-to-restore-the-peace/ From 7.30pm to 6am is quite a long time for a pup to spend without company, so in terms of not putting her to bed so early, you could try getting her to settle in the evening with you instead of putting her to bed, you could try "stop pestering", although it says for older dogs, we did this with Charlie from 9 months: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pestering-you/ If Charlie is not pestering, but just over excited, we used to clear the room of everything that he could use to make a nuisance of himself (remote controls, log baskets, out of reach) and just ignore him. He'd settle in about 30 minutes, and that got shorter and shorter. These days he is on his mat, with a frozen kong, in the TV room when we settle in the evening. If he starts messing about, 20 mins in his crate in the kitchen, then he gets to come back in. 3 strikes and he goes to bed for the night. The only other thought I have is try 6 small kongs (the small ones take only 15g of soaked kibble - so 6 would be a 90g breakfast) at 6 am instead of a treat cube. That would keep Charlie quiet for an hour.
Re: I need more sleep :'( I echo a few others comments saying could you try putting her to bed a bit later? Harley usually dozes on the sofa next to us from about 9pm, we wake her and go out for a wee around 10.30/11pm then to bed (she does sleep upstairs with us though) we usually have to wake her at 7/7.30am for breakfast. Hope you manage to find a solution x
Re: I need more sleep Trouble is she is such a little s** from 7.00pm that I'm longing to see the back of her so we can have a bit of uninterrupted peace and quiet. Just to be difficult right now she is sat at my feet chewing on her hide ring. Wouldn't you just know it I am happy for her to stay up later if she is going to behave herself. I might go mad in a mo and try switching the TV on.
Re: I need more sleep [quote author=Mollly link=topic=5736.msg73216#msg73216 date=1399144691] I am happy for her to stay up later if she is going to behave herself. [/quote] Yup, good rule. Just communicate that to her - nice quiet dog, you stay with me. Little sh*t dog, you don't. At 14 months Charlie still sometimes gets red carded (3rd try) and ejected from the tv room.
Re: I need more sleep The little s***t thing in the evenings will eventually stop, usually at about her age now! Both mine are asleep at my feet
Re: I need more sleep I agree with everything everyone else has said, and we have a puppy coming up to months so can understand how tired you are. One thing I wondered was what sort of exercise is she getting during the day? We have increased his activity quite a lot, especially on the morning walk, lots of running around off lead and having fun meeting and chatting to other dog walkers, this can be an hour or more, and we don't do many short walks now.
Re: I need more sleep I think Mags made the point I was going to mention. If you give breakfast very soon after getting up, then is your pup just acting as your alarm clock? We had a bit of an issue with this with Lilly. We "manage" it enough for it not to be a problem now. My strategy would be to extend breakfast time. Go for the *I am up but you aren't getting de-crated until you are quiet* approach. And make sure you have breakfast or something before you feed Molly. Feed her when you feel you want to, probably at least half hour after getting up. Then she may learn that getting up does not equal breakfast. Just my thoughts. Lilly mostly comes through to us around 6am. She is allowed up on the bed and will snooze away......until the very moment I stretch, or maybe move the duvet, or stick my foot out - then, she is up and waiting.....for breakfast (if no alarm) or walk (if the alarm is on = work day) . OH could be up and about and it makes no difference. I am "the trigger".
Re: I need more sleep She knows if she makes enough noise and fuss you will give and get up , Our Jake (rescue lab) does the same sort off he is now approx 23 months and we have had him 5 months now . I am the one to take him out and feed him on a morning about 5-5:30 am he comes in the bedroom and comes to my side of the bed jumps up forces my wife to move over then lies on me as if to say time to get up now dad . Thankfully i am about ready to get up anyway but at times he will force his way in between us lays on his back with legs in the air and snores his head off in seconds .
Re: I need more sleep [quote author=Mike link=topic=5736.msg73421#msg73421 date=1399193667] at times he will force his way in between us lays on his back with legs in the air and snores his head off in seconds . [/quote] This perfectly describes every single night of my life......
Re: I need more sleep When she was a small puppy I did go to her immediately. When you are trying to toilet train them there really is no alternative. But for some months now I always take my time going to her, I potter putting kettles on etc just so she doesn't think all she has to do is bark. I popped a kong in with her after she had her wee this morning and it bought me an extra half hour Basically you all seem to be saying what I suspected, that is something she will just grow out of. Right now she is stretched out enjoying a patch of sunshine. I think I'll keep her another week. I said that to my last dog for 13 years
Re: I need more sleep Ah Tina,I tried to reply to you last night but my battery was so low I lost my post twice.nothing to add here to the suggestions you've had.im sorry you were feeling a bit overwhelmed but I've enjoyed seeing you are keeping your sense of humour xxx Dexter used to wake me up with a bit of whining and one low wuff when he heard the golf carts start up at 5.15am in the Summer...this worked for us as I have to have him out by 5.30 due to the heat.....he's stopped now and it's one little habit I quite miss ,it was cute and unique to him
