Puppy wakes up so early! Help

[RoSa1719]

Hi all
We’ve got a 4 month old Labrador. She’s great and we love her dearly!
she’s toilet trained, she’s not chewing anything but her toys. We can leave her for periods of time etc. she’s good with the kids, she’s stopped the nipping…..all amazing!
she still jumps up like mad which scares the kids a bit and sometimes knocks them over (any tips for that welcome!)

but what’s really get torn me is the early mornings.
she goes to sleep/bed between 9 and 10pm. She sleeps in our utility room with a baby gate on it. We make sure she’s been outside before we put her away to do any wee or poo. She wakes up anywhere between 4am and 5am I let her out to the toilet, then I put the radio on, I then let her settle on the sofa. I leave the back door open for her, I go back up to bed and she will sleep for another hour ish on the sofa. But then around 5.30ish she wakes up barking and crying for some company.

I can’t ignore her as she will wake the kids up.
Any advice welcome. The early mornings are killing me!

Mine has just woken this minute and went to bed at 8.45

crate covered with black out blond. Super cosy

Blind

So she's waking because she needs to go to the loo? Let her out and then resume your normal nighttime routine. Back to wherever she normally sleeps at night, quiet and dark.

I think by letting her on the sofa, putting on the radio etc, she thinks she's 'got up' and is wondering where everyone else is because she's seeing this as a transition to 'daytime'.

Early mornings: ours did grow out of this and we have trouble getting him up now as he's not keen on going for a walk until about 8am!
But I think it was just time that sorted this.

In terms of jumping up. We've always ignored the puppy until he sits and THEN we give attention. So on entering the room we ignore him until he sits and we go down to his level to praise him. This means he's never really jumped up.

They do get up early for a while, it’s like babies, they don’t really have a concept of night time... and they need they toilet sooner when they’re younger.

They gradually just start getting later if you just let them out and then do nothing interesting until it’s normal getting up time. Personally I’d sleep on the sofa after I’d let her out till then, that way she’s not going to bark for company, but it’s not exciting company she’s got.

Are you putting her to bed because that’s when you go? Because if not, I wouldn’t do that until you’re going to bed, that might stretch waking up time a bit.

I feel your current pain!

I’ve just got a springer pup, she’s 9 weeks and we’ve just had night 4. She goes in her crate in the kitchen at night about 10pm, has woken once the first night about 2am where she did need a wee and poo, but the last 3 mornings she’s been awake at 5am and ready to play! Crate is covered, kitchen has blackout blinds, house is quiet, but of course also by then it’s light outside and no amount of recreating darkness is working!

I’m so tired! And my other adult Spaniel, who is super chilled and sleeps in forever if you let her, is like, ‘it’s too early to play mum….take it away’!

She does then have a good nap at about 630am for a good hour/ 90 mins so I go back to bed with the other dog, who usually also sleeps in the kitchen.

However, I know she’s only a puppy and this is normal for the first few weeks, and as she grows it will get easier.

My adult dogs do that in the summer. Birds awake. Dogs awake. Sorry but a couple of times it’s been before 5!

Does she have a snack before bed? Our DDog is older but has a small snack after her last wee. If she ever misses it for any reason she tends to wake earlier.

A few things to try.

Let her sleep with you. They sleep so much better.

Keep her awake with play and fun then a calming chew or toy for 1.5 - 2 hours before bed.

Bed time snack if she is hungry

Ours slept 10 - 6 until she was about 6 - 7 months then will sleep longer most of the time until 7 or 8 but at the moment is going through an early phase again (6 ish) but it's light and warm and the birds are noisy. She sleeps with us though and often we can give her a fuss and say 'back to bed' gently and she will have another hour.

I think this is normal for puppies (sorry) mine used to do the same, in the end I'd get up at 6ish and doze on the sofa while he jumped around the living room!

I think it got better after he turned 8 months or so, once he didn't wake up needing a wee he'd sleep in later. We also started taking him on a short walk before bed time which helped I think.

Echo what a pp said so repeat the nighttime routine, radio off doors shut put her back in the utility room. If alone on the sofa she will just be confused and wonder where everyone else is.

Barring that settle on the sofa with her and she'll probably sleep for another couple of hours. Not ideal but she will go longer the older she gets.

Everything you describe is normal! I know it's exhausting but hopefully it makes you feel better to know that you're not doing anything wrong.

Dogs are crepuscular which means they're at their most active at dawn and dusk. Ours was awake for the day at 5.30-6am for at least the first four months - no amount of shushing and leaving him in a dark room with the radio on made any difference - he was up and wanting to start his day.

At around six months old he began sleeping in a bit later (around 7am) and now as an adult he'll happily stay in bed until midday given half the chance

Owning a puppy is just like having a newborn baby - it comes with lots of disturbed nights and early mornings. Yes, you may be lucky and get a puppy that sleeps through from day one and who never gets up early, but they're few and far between!

We managed it by going to bed early ourselves and just moving our entire day forward a couple of hours. We also had him sleeping in with us so that we could get him out to the toilet straight away.

Dogs are crepuscular which means they're at their most active at dawn and dusk.

DDog is a lot older but she's never got that memo! She's more of a "I'll have my breakfast, a sniff around the garden, wee/poo and then I'm going back to bed for 2 hours thank you very much!"