My beautiful girl (2 1/2) feels very committed that it is her job to wake up my husband. He's an early riser at 4am-4:30am and while we were puppy training he would get her up and take her out and she would remain with him until I woke up. Since she became trained she has remained on this schedule with him. In the past 8 months or so she has decided she needs to wake him up. She started coming into the room around 4 4:15 but in the past few months she has switched to between 2:30-3:30. She goes to his side of the bed, sits and hits him with her paw or jumps on his side. He will tell her it's not time yet, go back to sleep, typically he has to do this about every half hour or so. I have tried everything. Making sure she gets enough play time before bed Giving her a treat before bed Waiting as late as I can to let her out (I'm exhausted) Trying to get her before she comes in the room to tell her no or if she gets up from her bed (in our room) The amazing thing is if he is away she will not move until I get up in the morning typically 6/ 6:30 and it doesn't matter what time she goes to sleep. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi @Marissa welcome to the forum. You are going to need to classically condition her to wake up later. Buy a distinctive alarm or use the one you husband is now using. Think of Ground Hog Day. You could use the same piece of music. Whatever you use just be consistent. Set the alarm for 30 minutes before she gets up. You have to wake her. Repeat that say 4 or 5 times so that the alarm becomes associated with you waking her. Over many repetitions keep re-setting the alarm to go off later. Do it it in say increments of 15 minutes, until she is waking up at what you consider the appropriate time. Alternatively, if she had been crate trained, then put her back in the crate so that she does not get the opportunity to paw your husband. As long as she does not need to toilet, then ignore her whining.
We have the same issue here but with our Manx cat. My hubby is the early riser and has always done the morning pet chores about 4:30. If he happens to sleep late the cat bats my head until he gets going. Why doesn't he bat his head? If he is gone no one moves until I do. Does your girl wake him cuz she has to go potty? Might she have a bladder infection or something along that line? Or is it something with the moon cycle? Or is she lonely or bored and has learned that he will get up? Our labs tried to wake him early a few times. Ignoring them and shooing them did the trick. I hope it's just a phase for you.
