Have an 11 year old mongrel who is generally a very good and outwardly fit as a fiddle.
Normal routine is he comes up to bed in the evening for a hour or so whilst we read/chat then he happily jumps off the bed and trots downstairs to his bed in the kitchen where he gets shut in for the night. About 6:30 one of us goes down and lets him out and he comes in to bed for half an hour before we all get up. This is a routine of 4+ years.
Recently he started barking a bit early sometimes and I’d go down and tell him it was too early and he’d go back to bed.
This has now progressed to him crying and barking at 4:30 every morning for the last few weeks. He doesn’t need to go outside, there doesn’t seem to be any trigger, it makes no difference if he’s had an extra bedtime walk and he doesn’t seem distressed; he literally just wants to come racing upstairs, jump on the bed, burrow to the bottom and sleep until I force him to get up about 9am!
Grateful for any ideas on a possible cause for this but also how I should react. Tempted to stick my fingers in my ears, let him complain for a few mornings and hope he gets bored of it but I have a lodger and an attached neighbour so not really fair. I’ve tried going down and telling him it’s too early with a cuddle, I’ve told him the same in a very cross voice and he doesn’t care, will start up again 5 mins later.
Spent from 4:30 last night on the sofa next to his bed so everyone else could get some sleep, very tired and grumpy today!