How can I stop our dog waking up at 5 am?

[GemmaPomPom]

I am at the end of my tether. We normally wake up at 6 am but that extra hour of no sleep (sorry for poor grammar, so tired) is really knackering us out. My DH has a long, dangerous commute and I am 7 months pregnant, so both really need that extra hour.

It's not because she needs to go to the loo, as at night she has some paper in her area (cordoned off by a stair gate), so can use that. She just wants to hang out with us. But it's too bloody early!

Any tips, please? Thanks.

I'm not sure I'll be able to help, but -

How old is she?
How is she letting you know she's awake?
How do you react when she does?
What time does she 'go to bed?'

Thanks for replying TwllBach.

She is 5 months old.
She whines and occasionally yaps (although she doesn't make a sound during the night).
We leave her until 6 am and then I take her for a walk.
She goes to bed around 10.30 pm.

earplugs?

is it light where she is?? ...we have had problems with pups when they were in the utility room, as it had no blinds.

I'd say she is getting a little excited at the day beginning and really looking forward to her walk, so doing something so exciting early on is slightly counter productive. Have you tried letting her out for a wee, and then back to bed? If she knows there is sod all to look forward to other than an hour in bed it might discourage her from an early start.

Our current pup (labGRetx) is about the same age, and crated....behind the sofa, with a cover over so it's quite dark, last night he was in bed at ten and then up at seven, he'll mither about half seven or eight if no one appears.

One of mine always wakes me up around 3am.
I let her out for a wee & then she'll settle again. She 's the smallest & can 't seem to go all night without going out, though she's five, not a puppy.

Yours is still young, perhaps she does need to just go out. If she's learned to be clean she might not want to use papers & soil her nest any more. Just a thought.

Our youngest wakes up at about that time. I think it's the light. I ignore him and take them all out at 7.30am. If the pup is crated, it might help to put a blanket over the crate to keep the light out.

I let mine out between 6 and 6.30 for a wee and then she goes back to bed while we shower and get ready or work. She's not in a crate, though, just in the kitchen. She doesn't whine but I think that's more down to good luck than training! In the past she has whinged because the bastard cat has been screeching and I have ignored her. The only other time she made a noise, I leapt out of bed because it sounded like she was in huge distress, only to realise that she was letting me know I'd left the back door wide open after sending her out for a wee and then gone merrily ff to bed again! I gave her a biscuit after that...

None of that helps you though OP if I were you I'd be tempted to change your routine a bit and do as a PP suggested and walk her a bit later f possible, to remove the excitement.

Thanks for all your advice. We took her out for a wee when she woke up around 5am, then took her back to her little area. She then barked incessantly until we got up at 6.45am! Still, I'm encourage by your good advice and we shall persevere.

Hi, this might sound a bit mad, or very mad, but as you are getting up at five anyway, it might work. Try getting to her before she wakes or barks, take her out and do your usual routine. Do this for a few days, then start pushing back the time by five minutes and see how you get on. The theory is that she will know that you will come to her without barking to alert you. It might be worth a try.

I am having the EXACT same problem, although our time frame of our dog waking up is even wider! our nearly 6 month old chocolate lab has barked frantically nearly every day between 4am & 6am since we had her. We did and continue to do EVERY trick - classic radio on low, leaving a shirt behind, walk before bed, for 2 weeks we crated her near our bed but the barking was worse & was unfair on other lab in kitchen, ignoring her, calming spray, keeping her awake after 8pm, little Kong of meat as she's underweight. She's fantastic with toilet training (we had her at 9 weeks & I can count on 1 hand how many accidents she had over night). When she was little we thought it was coz she needed the toilet. She got better for a couple days but then the clocks went back & it started again so we put it down to time change. However it's been 4 months now & we just don't know what to do. She sleeps with her 2 year old 'sister' and has no problem going to sleep. It's just the waking up! We don't want dogs in the bedroom & our alarm goes off at 6am so it's not like we are asking for lay ins!! She's been vet checked & seems healthy. No traffic, no birds and the boiler kicks in after 6.30am.... I mean it, we've thought if everything!!!

Yesterday was a good day at 5.59am, today was a bad day at 4.42am (despite being at doggy day care all yesterday so thought shed be tired!)

Did yours ever stop? I need some light at the end of this very sleepy tunnel!

When my lab starting doing this, I did the completely wrong thing. I went downstairs and laid on the couch, he was on the floor, and tried to sleep - he did of course. This went on for a few weeks until I realised I was a numpty. So the next few times - within a week - when he barked or whined at 4/5 am I went down and in a very stern voice said 'no bad boy go and settle'. I then sat on the stairs and if he started again I repeated the action/words. Within the week he seemed to realise there was no point as he was getting nothing. Good luck!

I wish that worked for us! When we first had her in August when she was 9 weeks old, we went down about 3 times to check she was OK (as she was in with a grumpy 2 year old lab who didnt like having her space invaded) but we didnt want to set a precedent so we stopped. Well its been 4 months and she still wakes up and barks and frantically scratches at the door and nothing has worked.

Think Im going to try setting an alarm at 5am in the kitchen and so she starts associating the alarm tone with wake up and breakfast time rather than barking for it and then slowly push the time forward. Im also going to put a bit of Bach's Rescue Remedy drops on her kong. Other than that Im at a complete loss.
I suffer from an illness that only sorts itself through deep sleep and Ive had to take 2 weeks unpaid off leave from work just to try and nap during the day as my health is deteriorating. So as you can imagine, Im no longer finding this puppy stage fun!

Our 11mnth old lab was an early riser. We had her from mid March and until she was 6mnths she woke up loudly with the sunrise. Around six months she settled into a better sleep pattern and unless she needs to go out she sleeps until we get up at 6. At the weekend she will go longer. Like babies they just learn to sleep for longer, fortunately it takes a few months rather tha a couple of years!
Our last lab was brilliant at night and apart from crying for a few days was never a problem, as was my DS (only ever had one week of disturbed sleep when he had chicken pox). Our new lab has exhausted me at times.

Bit like I did with ds really - we sleep in our own beds at night then if he's up early he scratches on my bedroom door, I open it, he snuggles down and we get a couple more hours. 😫

Hi everyone our 1 year old Jack Russel has started getting up like clockwork at 2.45am to going out to the toilet for a wee and poo!! I let her out at 11.45 pm and she has been for a wee..... This has been going on for the last week and I've not had a full night's sleep

Can you move her dinner time forward?