We've messed up - how can we put it right?

[Nix32]

Our 5 month old puppy is used to sleeping in our room. He started in a crate, this developed into sleeping on our bed. He now starts on the bed and moves to the floor. No problem with any of that.

However, in the morning he wakes before our alarm - only a few minutes, not ridiculously early - and wakes us by jumping on us. It's not a great way to wake up - too much of a shock!

How can we stop it happening? Last night we tried putting his blanket outside our door but he just whined. I ended up downstairs with him - he settled brilliantly and didn't bother me at all, but I don't want to do that forever! I don't want to do anything that might trigger separation anxiety.

Stay down stairs with him for a few nights and gradually move back up stairs leaving him there, have him in the crate downstairs while you’re there to stop him following.

You’ll need to work through the whining a bit but you can still do it. What’s he like at being left alone generally?

I had a similar issue with my rescue dog jumping on the bed at the crack of dawn. I found completely ignoring her and pretending to still be asleep worked. She stopped bothering me after a few days. But I had to give her no reaction at all. Now she will still often come into the bedroom but lies on the floor waiting for us to wake up

You'll need to train him to stop by ignoring him completely. That means not reacting, not telling him off, not fussing him or laughing or making a noise or pushing him away - ignoring him.

He needs to learn that behaving like that won't get him any attention. Mine went through a phase of doing it as a puppy. We ignored him (and made sure our room was safe for him to roam) and he got bored eventually and took himself back to bed.

Do you have another bedroom that you could move him into . Our dog sleeps on our bed until about 12:30 / 1 am and then I move him into his own bed . Alternatively give it a few months as he will sleep later as he gets older .