Hi new to this group we have a beautiful choc lab bella who was 1yr old on friday... love her dearly but she is driving us crazy waking and barking every half hour from 4am she sleeps in halway with a bed blanket,bone, a cover some cuddly toys and her water bowl both ours and our daughters bedroom have stairgate on them. My husband is up at 5 for work so when he wakes he lets her out to the toilet etc he leaves at 5.30 and then she continues barking we only have to turn over in bed and she starts barking once i get up at 6 (i dont normally get up till 7) she will then go and get comfy and have a sbooze on the sofa i no she is my little shadow an like to be cuddled up next to me all the time but 4am wakeups are making me and my husband have 4am arguments week days she has an evening walk and about 30 mins running catching the ball to the point she lays down and is shatterd bless her and weekends i actually get up when she wakes at about 6 and take her out for a long walk over the river. 2 days a week she is left for avout 6 hours but with being taken out at lunch time on both days. Luckily my daughter somehow manages to sleep through it all but i dont think my neighbours do any help or advice would be really appreciated xxx
Hi and welcome! How much exercise does she have during the day? It might help to work with her on mental training during the day, clicker training for example. Also, what time does she goes to bed? If maybe you could tire her out a bit more during the day, and let her go to bed a bit later this may help. The other thing I wondered, is she getting disturbed by other sounds she can her in your hallway that wake her? it does sound like when she is awake she wants to be with you straight away, a few things to think about
I feel for you being sleep deprived! Our biggest mistake I think was allowing Snowie to sleep in our bedroom. Every time he moves, scratches, licks, etc, I wake up. If I had to do it over again, I would not allow the dog to sleep overnight in the bedroom. As a puppy, perhaps a little younger than Bella, Snowie started waking us up at around 5am -- when the sun started rising. He barked at us to wake up. On consultation with our trainer, we took this line of action: ignored him! The first day he threw a tantrum. It was hilarious and we were laughing hysterically under the duvet (trying to be quiet and not give him attention). He even picked up his huge cushion in his teeth and tossed it across the bedroom. The next day he barked again, but no tantrum. Again on the third day. And thereafter he stopped barking to wake us up. We did SMS our neighbour to apologise for early morning barks, to which she replied: Haven't heard a thing. (Lucky!) Now four years on, he has started to wake us up again, but this time to ask permission to jump onto the bed at 5am. I wish he'd just jump on, not stand on ceremony! He doesn't bark, just stands there and kind of sniffs loudly until we wake up. My husband and I just today said we have to stop this behaviour, so remembering that early "ignore" advice might come in handy! Of course my husband "trained" him to do this -- I was away a few times for work and my husband felt guilty about Snowie needing attention, so he gave in to everything, and now, well...
thankyou for your reply i dont think there is anything else disturbing her only thing i can think of is the sunlight that comes thrpugh a window? She gets quite alot of excercise during the day but maybe i could change the routine so that she is more tired in the evenings rather than the daytime, for example this morning we left the house at 8.30 walked my daughter to school and carried on to the country park where they have a dog excercising area aswell as beautiful walks we got home at 11.30 so she had a good longgggg walk and play and a little dip in the river too .
Hey, we did exactly the same bella was crated till abt 2 months then was allowed in our bed at christmas time while we were redecorating but it got to the point where we couldnt even have a cuddle at nighr as bells was slap bang in the middle neither of us had any cover but she was so contented it got ridiculous so we set up her "bedroom" in the hallway it took ages for her to settle she would cry and bark all night but ater 2 weeks she was absoloutly fine but for some reason all of a sudden now she does this its bizarre im so tempted just to let her back in just so we dont have the barking but even her in the bedroom we dont get sleep either my neighbour is pretty goos i will have a word with them as they have a little girl i dont want bella disturbing her too i just dont no what to do even if i ignore her im still disturbed from sleep and laying there awake i cant listen to to have to jump up lets see if me tiring her out vefore bed tonight works....wish me luck lol x
Haha! We bought a Kings Size Extra Length bed so that we would all have space on the bed! And we bought a coil-spring mattress so we can't feel when Snowie jumps onto the bed, which is why I wish he'd just jump on rather than sniff loudly so that he can hear us say, "Okay, jump on." Sounds like, from what you say above, that perhaps the sun rising earlier is making her wake up earlier? Based on our experience, I'd say ignoring is the best way to go (even though it is so hard in that moment). And sticking to a routine. Dogs are such creatures of habit.
Hi Catherine - You might find this article of some help: Labradors Waking Too Early. I hope you get some more sleep soon!
I may have to invest in some blackout blinds we have a kingsize bed but its sooo noisy only 2months old will defo continue trying to ignore thankyou xx
