Dog waking VERY early

[Thewaterinmajorca]

Help! I have a 5 yo male cocker spaniel and a 18 month old female cockapoo. Both sleep downstairs and have run of the living room/kitchen. The 18 mo has been waking me up progressively earlier and earlier over the last few months by scratching continuously on the living room door so it rattles throughout the house. She always woke around 6ish which wasn’t really a problem as I’m an early riser anyway but then it went to 5 something then 4 something and she is currently waking at 3.30am.
I don’t get up for the day at 3.30, I come downstairs and let both dogs out for the toilet and then turn the lights off and go back to bed. She’ll let me have another 30-60 minutes before she does the same thing again. When I do get up for the day, I sit down on the settee to eat my breakfast and she curls up on my knee and goes straight back to sleep 🙄 She obviously just wants me to be downstairs with her.
I can’t ignore her as I live in a terraced house and I’m scared she will disturb the neighbours. I’ve tried not closing the door and using a safety gate but she just rattles that the same. Over the summer, I thought it might be the light waking her so got a blackout blind but that made no difference at all. I’ve tried different feeding patterns, including leaving food down overnight, in case she’s hungry but nothing has worked. She isn’t waking me up to go out to the toilet as she doesn’t yet signal when she wants to go out plus she still has the odd accident and is completely unbothered about going on the floor. She gets plenty of exercise during the day and I’m home most of the day so she has plenty of interaction. Is there anything that anyone can suggest before I cave in and put both dogs upstairs with me? I really don’t want to but the lack of sleep is killing me.

Have you thought about a crate? We cover our crate with a blanket and he settles about 9.30 and stays quiet until I go in to him at 5.45, or 7.15 on weekends. It's in the kitchen and he often spends time in there during the day too, it's his cosy spot.

I'd be inclined to get a covered crate and crate train her, but in all honesty I've never crate trained an older puppy that's used to having the run of the house so I don't know how easy it is.

Sorry, I should have mentioned, she had a crate when she was a puppy but she used to rattle that too. The early waking & rattling was the reason I took her out of the crate and gave her the run of downstairs, thinking if she had more space she might sleep longer but it made no difference. She would probably go back in the crate without issue as would my older dog but if she’s downstairs, I think she’ll still rattle it. Its worth another try though. If she goes in my bedroom, both dogs will definitely have to go back into crates as I don’t want them on the bed (DD sleeps in with me and there just isn’t room)

I suppose it's a bit like helping your toddler develop independence and resilience - the more you interact with her at night, the more there is to wake up for. Our dog is simply ignored from the moment that blanket goes over the crate! He craves attention but also has learned that if we are ignoring him, such as when eating, he has to be patient. He is in the same room as us but it's not his turn! We have only had him five weeks (rescued at 1 yr old).

Maybe she’s not coping alone at the moment? Could you have her in your room then move her out again when she seems more confident? Sounds like it’s a separation issue and something has worried her. Not unusual in a young dog.

In that case I'd be inclined to put her back in the crate and wear ear plugs!

Our cockapoo does this, such a rascal she just wants to me with us. We do put her in a crate, sometimes she's having it and sometimes she's not and we bring her to bed which we probably shouldn't but actually, I love snuggling her at night, she's warm, doesn't she'd or smell and I luff her do much.

Sorry not much help there, just bring her to bed 😁

Could it be something outside waking her up?

We realised after a few weeks that one of our neighbours had moved to night shifts and was coming home at around 4am and it would wake up the dog

We now leave all the doors open so he can come up and see us if he wants but more often than not, he just goes back down to sleep again now he knows he has the choice.

What would happen if you left the door open?

Perhaps the cold wakes her up and then she’s just lonely , is there any reason why they can’t have a bed in your bedroom .

Are you sure she's not cold?
Is the other dog waking her or bothering her?
Could they sleep in your room or somewhere where they can see you?

We never managed to get past the 3/4 am wakeup. After going to bed at 10 she always wanted to see us around that time before going back to sleep. I cracked from sleep deprivation after months of trying various things and she's now in our room, sleeping until whatever time we choose to get up.

Do you tuck them up op?

Mine is in my room, and still wakes extremely early. I feel like I have nowhere left to go in trying to sort it out!
He barks and whines till we go downstairs, despite it being dark, warm in my room, and I've already taken him out for toilet check etc. I've also tried changing dinner times, snacks before bed etc, but makes no difference. Much to our dismay, he seems programmed for an early start.
Hopefully yours will be more adaptable and the move upstairs (if you do do it) really helps.