Sleep/Going Back to Bed!!

[user1486669405]

Puppy is 4 months old.

He's really great, super calm for a puppy. During the day, he's cool if I go out. I know this...because we have cctv and he never barks or cries. Most I've ever been out for is 3 hours. He has a crate with door kept open, and he stays in the kitchen. So he has run of kitchen and a little bedroom within it. He doesn't bark or cry, when it is time for bed.

What I'm getting at his, despite loving our company he is also v content on his own and seems relatively independent...no issues of separation anxiety. However...he wakes around 6am. We take him out to the toilet and then try to go back to bed until 7am. This is the only time he barks and cries. I just don't want to start the day at 6am, if I can avoid it, especially not at the weekend.

Is there anything I can do to tackle this situation?

Put him to bed later?

The clocks go forward soon so maybe that will solve the problem, do hope so.

Fill a kong the night before and pop it on the freezer. Take it out in the morning and pop the kong in the crate as a post toilet treat

At the weekend when I want my dog to go back to bed for another hour I give him a couple of dog biscuits in his crate. He now knows this signals time to settle down for a bit longer.

Like you we get up at usual time to let him toilet then he has his biscuits back in his crate and lights still off. I have a video monitor so I can see that he is constantly listening for us to get up again but does settle and a little bit of food also means he isn't hungry as he typically gets fed first thing on a week day.

When my DP is on a late shift or days off, he doesn't get up until an hour after me. I let our 4 month old pup out for the toilet before I go to work. Then I pop him back in his crate with breakfast, normally in his kong with some added tasty food such as cheese or pate. He only gets those treat food when he is going in his crate, so that he associates going back in with lovely things.

He was better today. He was clearly wide awake but didn't bark or anything. Really hoping it wasn't a one off.

The kong is another thing. So many people say their dogs play with them for hours but mine doesn't. Loses interest quickly. I don't know if I am filling it so it's too difficult to get at. I put kibble in and then block the top with peanut butter. He eats the peanut butter on the outside but doesn't try to access the food further inside. He's currently going crazy with an empty small coke bottle though. V cute and noisy (on the wood floor).

With Kongs mine loses interest if the food is pushed too far down so I leave it where he can lick it out as it's more what it symbolises e.g. a treat for when he needs to settle without me.

Do you still seal it in with peanut butter or just put in loose kibble and no seal. I just love the idea of him playing with something for hours, but he probably won't much like like my actual children never did with any toy that wasn't a device!!

I use the kong stuff n paste in mine (cheese or liver flavour) with a bit of kibble stuffed on top. I refer to it as his ice cream cone as it just looks like one as I leave a lot of the paste around the opening.