Hi, Looking for some advice. Hunter is now 13 months and doing great. He is crate trained and loves his crate, however he is getting a bit big for it now and I don't have space for a larger one. About two weeks ago I took the crate away and replaced it with a bed and he hasn't had a problem, treated the bed as he did the crate. In the crate he didn't fuss or make a noise until around 7:30 when the rest of the house wakes up but now he starts scratching at the door any time from around 6. If I go down and let him out for a wee he will go back to bed for a while but he's waking the whole house up early! I know he could hold it because he always has, and has never seemed desperate before. Just hoping to extend wake up time to around 7. Thank you Andrea
If he scratches and you respond by going down to him and letting him out, you are only reinforcing him for scratching - so he will continue to do this. Seeing you again after the night, and a visit to the yard, are reinforcing... You will need to ignore any noise he makes until he stops. This may mean more noise for a few days and everyone being woken up, but just explain that everyone needs to ignore it. If you don't think that is possible, you could try putting the crate back up again for a week or so to try to break the habit and then ignoring it if it reoccurs.
