Waking up early, help!

[C4itl]

Normally my dog (10 months, dachshund) wakes up at around 7:15-7:30. Over the past week he's been waking up anywhere from 5am and just barking and crying till someone gets up with him. Last night it started at 3am and didn't stop.

I've tried getting up to let him outside, he doesn't need to go. I've also tried just ignoring him until it's the normal time he should be getting up but that isn't working either. He sleeps in the kitchen downstairs where he's slept since he was a puppy, he settles down on a night fine, it's just the mornings.

This is his usual routine:

7:30: Breakfast
12:00: A snack such as a chew and a short walk round the block
4:30: A longer 40-50 minute walk
5:30: Tea
10:30: Bed time

Any ideas on what to do? I can't cope with the lack of sleep for much longer...

[C4itl]

I'll also add that when I do get up, he just goes straight back to sleep on the sofa, so it's not as if he's wide awake and ready to start the day

[StarlingsDarlings]

It’s the light mornings. Afraid the sleep deprivation got to me and mine are now (temporarily) sleeping in my bedroom. They still wake but settle straight back down when they realise they aren’t alone.

[C4itl]

@StarlingsDarlings I'm hesitant to bring him upstairs as I know he'll scream the house down when he eventually has to go back down, but the lack of sleep is really getting to me

[icedcoffees]

Are you crating him at night and is the kitchen cool enough for him?

I would also ask whether you have any blackout blinds to keep his sleeping area cool and dark?

[PermanentlyDizzy]

If it’s been over the past week, it could well be the heat bothering him.

Other things to consider are noises outside (eg, neighbours leaving/arriving home from shift work, foxes, cats, even hedgehogs). Light. With less cloud cover it’s brighter earlier. You can buy black out blinds for nurseries you can just velcro or use suckers to attach to the window and take down in the morning (although they’re brilliant for keeping south facing rooms cool in hot weather as well).

If he doesn’t settle when the weather cools down a bit this weekend, I’d be inclined to try a blackout blind and maybe leaving some white noise or the radio on low and see if either of those (or both help).

[C4itl]

@icedcoffees he’s never been in a crate but the kitchen is the coolest room in the house, I think blackout curtains could be the best option

@PermanentlyDizzy I think I’ll try a makeshift blackout blind tonight with a bin bag (what will the neighbours think ) and see if that works, and then look into a more permanent solution if so, thank you!

[Flaunch]

Maybe he’s having a growth spurt and is hungry?

[C4itl]

@Flaunch I did think that, he eats all of his food straight away, but doesn’t seem to be growing, maybe a bed time snack is something to consider too

[SuperheroBirds]

Could you try changing his feeding times? When we fed ours at 7ish, they would wake us up when they got hungry (at about 5:30am). We moved mealtimes to 9am and 9pm and started getting a full nights sleep again.

[C4itl]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I’ve got a list of different things to try, so I’ll try a different one each night going forward and see which works the best.

The windows have been bin bagged, so we’ll see how that goes tonight

[C4itl]

Update: blacking out the windows and giving him a treat before bed hasn’t worked.

Tomorrow I will try moving his feed times to later in the day and see how that goes

[Overthinker84]

Hi, I have the same problem with mine! He gets up at 5.30 every day without fail and had a wee and goes back to sleep! He is 6 months old and the sleep deprivation is a killer. We made his feed times earlier so he eats at 6 now and wees at 10 then up again at 5.30. Not sure if a later feed would work as he isn't hungry as always had breakfast at 8ish. Did yours work?

[C4itl]

@Overthinker84 No it didn't make a difference

What I started yesterday was to set an alarm before he normally wakes up and got up then, and then moved it 10 minutes forward today and I'll carry on like that, with the aim being that he knows that when he hears the alarm it's time to get up. Hoping this works as I'm all out of ideas!

[Overthinker84]

Thanks. This is what I have suggested to my DH but he doesn't seem keen. This was the biggest drawback to a dog for me, the early mornings haha.