Hi, we have a gorgeous black lab called Toby who is six months old this week and is generally doing very well. He used to be ok with sleeping through until around 6am-6.30am but over the last couple of months he has been waking anywhere from 4am! He doesn't whine/cry but instead he rucks up his blankets and scratches his claws on the plastic tray in his crate. I wait until there is a gap in scratching then go downstairs to let him out into the garden (without any talking/fuss) where he always relieves himself. However, when we come back indoors he refuses to go back in his crate. He happily curls up on the sofa and goes straight back to sleep but as soon as I move to go back up to bed he wakes up and follows me and I can't get through our stair-gate quick enough so he ends up zooming upstairs and going to sleep on our bed! I could really do with some advice as to how I stop this behaviour. I don't mind letting him out to the toilet if he needs to go, but he needs to learn that I sleep upstairs and he sleeps downstairs. I'm worried that I'm creating a habit by letting him sleep upstairs on the bed. I've tried to sleep downstairs on the sofa with him but the sofa isn't quite long enough for me and is creating problems with my muscles and I'm getting exhausted too. Should I try the tough love approach and just let him scratch without going down for a couple of nights? I managed to get him back in his crate after toileting one night and he scratched from 5.45am until 7am! Do I need to just be persistent?
Hmmmm ... It’s a difficult one. Have you tried having him sleep in a bed, not the crate with a puppy proof kitchen?
