how do I get 8 month old puppy to get up a bit later?

[sahbear]

Dpuppy is 8 mm months and lovely, but she has always woken earlier than we would like. I can cope in the short term, but in the long term I would like an extra hours sleep 😴.
She sleeps in dining room and free run of the kitchen. Kitchen door is shut.
She goes to bed happily and sleeps well till 5.40.
I don't want her upstairs as that is the cat's puppy-free world.
At 5.40 she wakes s by scratching the kitchen door. She doesn't stop if you ignore her.
We usually go down and tell her to go back in her basket which she does for a few min, then scratches again. The scratching is loud enough to wake us and I worry about waking next door neighbours.
How can I get her to sleep an hour later in the long term?

Is she waking you up just to be with you or to go to the toilet? If the latter then take her out for a toilet break a bit later at night.

If the former could you put a baby gate across the kitchen rather than shut the door to see if that stops the scratching.

I have similar issues since we moved from a crate in the kitchen to a bed on the floor in the bedroom but I just direct him back to bed until it's time to get up and he is getting better but it's a long process.

Hi, Unfortunately she can jump the stair gate. We used to have have one across the dining room door, but took it down when she was clambering over it. I guess we could consider an extra tall one.
She wants to be with us. Not desperate for a wee as she is more interested in looking for the cat, dh and children than going in the garden. She wakes up then no matter how late we try to keep her up.

I can close the baby gate as well as the door which is behind the baby gate. Would this be something you could do to make it harder for her to scratch the door.

I have seen advice on setting an alarm before they get up and then slowly moving the time/alarm back every few days so the dog starts to associate an alarm for time to get up but I haven't tried this myself.

We bought a thunder vest for the fireworks season and our dog slept like a baby when she was wearing it so now she has it on every night.

With DDog, it's all a case of more exercise = more sleep = less of a pain in the arse

How much walking is she getting, and is it off lead? It's been SO much easier to tire DDog out since we mastered recall

Our dog is now 13 months and wakes when we do now but it was very early when she was younger. It's just been a gradual change, we never did anything!! She does sleep beside our bed though.

We went through this at a similar age with our puppy. Turns out he was just waking up REALLY hungry (at its worst he would wake up and start wretching, which can be a sign of hunger). We gradually adjusted his meal times to 8am and 8pm, and have left them like that (he is now just over a year old), and he is much happier. Some days he wakes up between 7am but that's no big deal most days it's around 7.45, and very occasionally my puppy alarm clock fails and I have slept in until 9am (oops!!).

Hi Thanks for suggestions. Puppy's not hungry. She's often got food left down she hasn't eaten, and does gollop up her breakfast.
I think you are right Fessmess in that we are just going to need to wait for her to grow up.
I would just love a proper night's sleep. She's worth it though!

Sorry meant doesn't gollop up her breakfast.

A big disaster this morning, in that I assumed it was 5.40 (like normal) when puppy starts scratching the kitchen door. Got up, put her back to bed for half an hour (while I dozed on the sofa) and let her get up. Turns out it's only 5.35 now! Which means it must have been 4.40. I will try looking at the clock next time.... It also means she has decided to push it earlier rather than later 😰

Your pup needs more exercise. Take her someplace where she can be offlead and allow her to go mental. If she will chase, use balls and teach her to retrieve. Scentwork exercises are also very useful in tiring her little brain. She has to go to bed tired.

Small dogs have small bladders, what breed is your pup.
What time is her last opportunity to relieve herself?
My Tibetan spaniel adult male goes out for the last time about 1030pm, awakes about 0630 never past 7.
My neighbor walks her dogs in the summer at 6am...which wakes my dogs as they are very sensitive to dogs within a wide radius.

Hi, She is a Springer Spaniel cross, so she is clever and energetic. However I am wary of giving her too much exercise for her growing joints. She has 2 off lead walks a day (3 shortish ones yesterday). And mostly chases leaves and other dogs. We could probably extend her walks a bit. I really don't think she needs a wee as she doesn't rush outside. Last wee at 10 ish, so not that long till 4.40!!!

Also she is back to sleep now (on my feet). Ideally I'd like to be getting up now, rather than 2 hours ago.

Have you checked the heating or noises that could be waking her up.

She also goes to sleep early. Zonked in the lounge by 8, and need to wake her up for a wee and get her in her basket. I tried late night walks but she wasn't that keen and neither was I.

Heating is off in the night. I don't hear anything till she wakes us. We live in a semi, but the dining room is the detached side. No obvious noises apart from puppy ones.

Could the room be getting cold?

There is something about 4ish. My dog will happily wake a bit and then go back to sleep. Mine actually stayed in his bed until 5 today which is a success. I do think that being at day care yesterday helped but also that I have been redirecting back to his bed each time.

Have you tried a crate? A crate is pretty hard to scratch

Could be cold.... The heating is on till we go to bed.
I think it is a bit late for a crate (8m) and we decided against one when she was smaller.
I think she has been on Dogsnet to plan getting up an hour earlier!
I think with darker mornings and evenings she is getting a bit less exercise. I will try increasing a bit.

My dog sleeps for longer when warm and next to another heartbeat

She would definitely sleep later in my bed, but that's not happening. She normally sleeps well between 10.30 and 5.40 (her favorite time).

Out for a long walk now