Dog waking early

[BridgeFarmKefir]

I know we're not the first people to have this issue but we're very tired and wondering if there's a trick we're missing.

We have a 9mo WCS. He has slept through the night until about 6.30-7am from the age of about 5 months. However, in the last month he's been waking earlier and earlier - 4.45-5.30am.

He's crated downstairs. He's always liked the crate. The rooms are dark, he has a cover over the crate, we put on white noise. When he wakes he's not wanting to pee and he's not hungry. He's physically fine. He gets his first walk of the day at about 7.30 - it's an hour mostly off lead in the woods. He also gets another 30-45min walk in the evening.

The added complication is the neighbours who have complained about his barking in the morning. The most we've ever let him bark is a couple of minutes, but they seem particularly sensitive to it. They complained they could hear him at 7.15am the other day which feels to me a reasonable time and a normal part of living in a busy residential area, but they don't see it that way. Because of this, letting him bark isn't an option right now. However, I'm fairly sure that we're not helping the problem by going to him as soon as he barks.

Letting him into our room also isn't an option - our room and bed is small, and we're currently also dealing with a 3 year old who doesn't want to sleep in her own bed. There would physically be no room for him.

I think I'm probably clutching at straws but if anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful. The lack of sleep/ disturbance is affecting all of us, and it's impacting my relationship with DDog which just makes me sad.

I personally hate crates. I wouldn’t want to be so restricted when I sleep, and I often find my own dog fully stretched out, with his belly in the air, in the night.
Are the lighter mornings waking him ? If so, get a blackout blind and curtains in the room.
Is your heating clicking on and waking him ?
Maybe it’s the wildlife waking earlier disturbing him.

It sounds counterproductive but you need to set an alarm so you wake up before he does. It needs to be loud enough so he can hear it.

Basically, you need to condition him to get up when the alarm goes off, not beforehand. So at first that will involve you waking up at silly o'clock, but gradually you can push the time back (as he'll associate the alarm with your appearance and fun/breakfast).

You need to be waking him up, not the other way around. He needs to learn that barking won't get you up - the alarm gets you up.

Cockers are smart dogs so he should make the association pretty quickly

We always crated our spaniel but when she got to 6 months she got super fidgety and started getting us up early. We stopped using the crate but left her bedding in the same place and now she’s got more space to spread out she’s back to sleeping through.
We had an xl dog crate which should be plenty big enough but she is just so long now. Could you try without the crate so he can move about?

Sorry no suggestions just that I sympathise. We've a nearly 6 month old whippet who sleeps in his crate next to our bed, ( the only time he's crated) as he gets into everything. And wakes between 3 and 5 because he wants a cuddle. And he will bark and bark and whine. And as like you we've got the worry of neighbours.

But it is likely he knows you'll come to him, have you left him toys so he could potentially entertain himself if he does wake?

Thanks all for your replies. Really appreciate it. In terms of him not being in the crate, I just don't trust him. He's an adolescent dickhead at the moment, into everything, stealing for attention, chewing.

The alarm idea is something we could try. (Probably starting at 4.30am...) and yes, he's certainly not stupid, so should pick up on the idea quickly. We definitely can't go on as we are.

The room he's in is dark - there are shutters on the windows and he has the crate cover. But we've moved him to the living room to be further from the neighbours, which is at the front of the house so he's probably hearing more noises (milkman, people chatting in the street at 3am 🙄) Also, it's under our bedroom and I feel like the smallest move we make, like rolling over in bed, disturbs him. I find myself lying stock still scared to move. (!)

Solidarity to anyone going through the same thing!

We have the same at the moment. I think it’s the birds waking him up and I’m hopeful that the clocks going forwards tonight will help. We’ve tried getting rid of the crate but he wants to be in it 🤷‍♀️. He can certainly stretch out and move about in it as he never sleeps curled up. He doesn’t bark but he scratches at the bottom of his crate lazily with one paw 😂luckily that only wakes me up not DH or DS as I’m a much lighter sleeper.

Same here! Sleeps great in the crate. Actually good in the house so we tried leaving him on sofa but he barked til we put him into his bed!!

Weirdly started waking a bit later this week(?) but it coincides with going to X2 bigger meals not x3 smaller ones. Think his tummy is just fuller for longer!

FawkesPup is 9 months old.

@LadyCatStark I think the clocks go forward next weekend not tonight!

@DisappearingGirl yeah I realised that this morning when I also realised it’s not Mother’s Day today 😂🙈.

On the plus side, Billy woke up at 6am but went back to sleep and slept til 8:30 which I thought was the old 7:30 but it’s not 😂.

@LadyCatStark well that sounds ok! To be honest right now I'd be ecstatic if Bruce slept until 6am 😆