[Dayna]

Hi. I have a nearly 6 month old pup. She's my first dog ever. She sleeps well in her crate downstairs, but I always wake up too early for me, because I'm worried about her. Her last potty is usually 11:30 pm and I wake up at 8 to 8:30 to let her out. What I really want to do is to sleep like I used to, sometimes waking up at 10am. I'm afraid it's too long in the crate though. Does anyone here sleep in late? At what age was your pup before you felt comfortable doing this?

BTW, I occasionally sleep on the couch with her and she wakes up throughout the night quite often. 8 am seems to be the latest she'll tolerate me telling her to go back to sleep.

 

[Pytheis]

Do you go to sleep at 11:30, or do you go to bed earlier and take her out for the first time at 11:30?

My dogs have always been "forced" to sleep 10 hours a night, due to my disability. At least they have to wait for me to wake up and let them out for the day. I always take them out for regular potty breaks throughout the night because there's no way a puppy could or should hold it for 10 hours. That said, they have learned very quickly what the schedule is. By about 6 months my puppy was sleeping through until about 6:00 (we went to bed at 10), we'd go out for a potty break, then instead of putting him back in his kennel for another hour or two, I would let him sleep in bed with me. He was much calmer then and would patiently wait for me to get up for the day. It also helped that I would give him a kong or nylabone to chew on. He would do that for about 15 minutes before falling asleep again.

Now my dogs will continue to sleep the morning away if I get up earlier than 8.

However, I do want to stress this, my dogs get a lot of exercise and mental stimulation throughout the day. I cannot work, so I am home all day long. My dogs get regular walks, playtime, training, puzzle games, and other forms of exercise and stimulation. I would never expect a dog to sleep that long if I was then at work all day or did not completely wear them out during the day.

 

[Dayna]

Not sure if I'm replying correctly. Yeah, I take her out right before I go to bed, at 11:30, sometimes later. I work from home and take her for walks or to the dog park two or three times a day. I Play with her a lot throughout the day and we do training throughout the day. She's so tired by the time 9pm rolls around and usually crashes.