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8 Month Old Puppy Waking Us Up Too Early

5K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  Galathiel 
#1 ·
My alarm usually goes off anywhere between 5:20am and 6am, so I understand if he wakes up and starts crying between those times, but recently it's been before 5am he wakes us up and starts crying.

If I ignore him he will continue to cry and keep me awake

Usually I wake up and feed him, which makes him quiet for an hour then I take him outside to pee and poop.

Right now he's downstairs in a crate and we are upstairs sleeping.

I'm thinking maybe he's doing it because he just wants to see us, or hes got us trained as to when to feed him in the morning!

What are some ways we can make it so he's not crying so early in the morning?
 
#4 ·
Because my boy has stitches along his back, my she-pup has been having to sleep in her crate. Both his crate and hers are in our bedroom.
We get up at 4:15 on weekdays, and our she-pup joyfully jumped on our bed at 4~ grrrr. Did I not latch the door? Was she just happy that the door opened and she got out? Then our guy came slurping our faces. My hubby and I grumbled and told them to go back to bed. My boy lay back down and our gal lay on our bed..well, not actually. She was on our bed cleaning and scratching and jiggling the bed. sigh.

So all that to say, do what you can to set the dog up for success like cutting back on water before bed. Close the blinds so that the first rays of light don't signal getting up time. Don't reward behavior you don't like. Perhaps keep the crate in your bedroom with a pretty sheet over it to make it den like (if it is a wire crate). But most of all, try to develop a sense of humor even if you are awoken Too Dang Early In The Morning!

Hey dogs, I am talking to you. I'd like to sleep in until 6 on weekends!!!!! ;)
 
#5 ·
I would get up 3-4 times with my dog for months...it's what you have to do. He's a puppy and I completely disagree with cutting off water, covering a crate or doing anything that tells him that being hungry, thirsty or having to go to the bathroom is bad??? He/She is trying to tell you something.

At < 1 year, my GSD was sleeping outside his kennel, next to our bed on his own bed, and has NEVER had an accident at night. He has free reign of the house to get a drink and walk around. He knows that eating only happens in the morning, afternoon and evening and that going to the bathroom only happens outside. These were constants for him and he learned them early. It was our schedule.

And now, he wakes me up every morning at the same time. I set no alarms and it's our "thing". FYI-he likes me better than anyone in the house too. :)

Again, I'm not trying to sound stuffy but I believe people really underestimate the amount of work and inconvenience a puppy can cause. And, the input you have directly relates to the output you get in the long term.

Might be that I have three kids and have been up for far greater issues. :)
 
#6 ·
He's a puppy, but he's not a baby. He doesn't really need to decide at 8 months (unless he's ill) what the household schedule is. That's for the humans to decide. As long as it's not unreasonable, then it won't hurt for the dog (gasp) to actually adhere to the human's schedule.
 
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