Dog waking up at the crack of dawn

[diplodocus]

Hi
Wondering if any one has some advice. We have a five year old rescue dog who has never been what you'd call an early riser (used to look at us horrified if we woke her up too early). However, in the last few weeks she's waking up and barking at 5am every morning. She doesn't need to go out and doesn't seem hungry, and I think is just feeling a bit lonely and would like some company. We draw the curtains and put a piece of material loosely over her crate to cut out the light and this helped for a few days but now we're back to the same problem. Any thoughts? We try to ignore her so she's not getting the company she wants (now that we're sure she's not needing to go out) but usually one of the kids gives in after about 30 mins and goes down -to get in some extra gaming time-. DH would never let her sleep in the bedroom, which to me might be one way round it. Any ideas?

Ear plugs and ignore definitely.

Ear plugs and ignore definitely.

Please don't do this. Letting your neighbours be disturbed by your barking dog at 5.30am isn't right. Continuously barking dogs are a real nuisance, especially when they're not yours and there's nothing you can do about it except get increasingly irritated!

Is something happening at that time which disturbs her, perhaps? A fan or a white noise machine could help block any external sounds. I agree with you that it's probably loneliness - could you leave a shirt or something that smells of you in his crate to help comfort him a bit?

You could adopt a middle ground between ingoring the barking and rewarding it. So when she barks take her outside for a 'toilet' break whether she needs one or not. Don't say a word and certainly no fussing. Then put her back on her bed and leave. Repeat as necessary until she understands that night is for sleeping or peeing but it won't result in someone staying. You could also combine it with an alarm so when the alarm goes off it's a welcome fuss and stroke so she knows it's morning and fun time.

Hi
Thanks for the ideas. She's not a needy or clingy dog, which is why it's a bit odd she needs company. Will try putting a bit of clothing in with her though. Earplugs would work OK as we are in a very detached house so she won't disturb the neighbours. I think the birds outside may wake her - we have a very loud dawn chorus (crows!) but as I said it never seems to have bothered her before.

Our dog does this every so often. It's usually when she is coming into season.
Lasts a few weeks then back to normal.

If it's external noise I'd really recommend using a fan (with the added bonus of keeping her cool while it's so hot!).

Hi - thanks. Will try a fan and invest in earplugs for us all. She's been spayed so can't be related to her season, but hopefully it's just a phase.

It's light early at the moment , have you got a fox , badger or similar visiting around that time that she can hear ?