I have got to do something about the dog waking the whole house up at 6am!!

[NewMeNewUs]

please help! I have posted about this in the past but at my whitts end now.
our 1 year old Labrador sleeps like a dream but wakes up barking ready for the day anytime from 5.15am! It wakes us all up including my 4yo and 6yo.
we ignore her until my alarm goes off at 6.30am then we go down. But she doesn’t stop! She sleeps downstairs and isn’t allowed upstairs.
our child’s parents evening tonight they voiced concerns as to my daughter being so tired and emotional at school the last month or so. And I am putting it down to the dog waking her up so early every day. It is also really getting to me and my husband. Any advice really appreciated thank you.

sounds like she doesn’t want to be alone. Either let her upstairs to sleep with the rest of the family or someone will have to go down to her when she wakes and snooze on the sofa until it’s time to get up.

Let her on the bed.

Sorted.

Why can't you let your dog upstairs?

So you leave your dog barking for an hour each morning??

Had exactly the same thing with our border collie when she was one, except it was earlier.she now sleeps in our room. Had her own bed, but gravitates onto ours.

Our dog started sleeping in our bedroom when we were away, game changer as she gets up with us. Apart from that you need to get up before she wakes the whole house. What's the point of everyone suffering?

That's gross.

She wants company by the sounds of it!

Dog is lonely and wants to sleep with the family. Surely that's the easy answer?

Now if you can tell me how to stop my bastard cat from waking me up repeatedly from 6am, that'd be great! I go down and give her breakfast, but she just eats a bit and then comes back up to wake me up again (scratching on my bed and shouting) then when I wake up just sits and stares at me... I don't know what she wants!

We have a rescue labrador who would wake up early. He used to sleep downstairs, and as soon as we moved him to the bottom of our bed he settled. He is 3 now and we've had him a year.

Snoring gently now in fact.

Ours sleeps in his bed in our room or on the floor in one of the DC’s rooms.

We leave doors ajar so he quietly hops up onto the end of our bed circa 5.30 and curls up in a ball at our feet. I think he gets both slightly chilly and lonely, but he’ll sleep that way till we get up.

Both my labs are upstairs with us at night, all quiet on the western front.

Us too. You make a dog part of the family then expect them to get that they're not.

Our puppy slept in my son's room from his first night. Like a fucking LOG. We have to wake him up.

I trained my dog not to do this. She is not allowed upstairs for various reasons, and you don't need to apologise for not wanting your dog upstairs either.
At bedtime, she goes out for her last pee, then I put a "calming jacket" on her. In winter this is just a warm dog coat which fastens snugly, but a proper pressure suit would be better.
I make sure curtains are closed and lights off.
If she barks in the night, I go down, minimise engagement, and tell her "no, quiet" in a matter of fact way. No fuss, stroking or any "reward" for the barking. Then back upstairs. If she carries on, I go back down and say "NO!" crossly.
If she needs the loo (I can tell from her body language / bark), fair enough. This is rare nowadays. I put her on the lead to take her out in the garden, so she can't run round, get excited etc, again with minimal engagement.
Have you taught her a command to stop barking in other circumstances? The usual way is, during the day, if she barks, teach her the command "Speak" for this, by saying "Speak" when she's just about to bark, then rewarding her when she does it. When she's got that and will bark on command, you get her to bark, then say "quiet" and reward. . Anyway, when she's learned that, you can use it at night too.

He could be cold?
Mine sleeps till I go down for breakfast at 830am
If he is in our room he would wake us at 6am.
Sods law.
However, on occasion when he was much younger (1?) I used to go down, let him out for a pee at 6am first light, give him half his breakfast, put him back to bed in dark cosy room, and we all slept till a more respectable time. No barking.
So you could try one weekend going down earlier than he wakes, let him out for a pee, give some food and resettle. It's not morning yet cues...

What is he sleeping on/ in ?

I also think habits can reinforce in a death spiral so he probably thinks he is now meant to bark at 6am and keep barking.
You need to break the pattern by replacing with a new and more positive routine.
The dog loved his early morning resettle in our house..it was a treat for him and he was actually quite tired still.
Sometimes he is allowed on our bed too!! But never overnight, only early morning.

Shut her in the kitchen. My cats are not destroying my sleep - I feed them when I get up.

I am blessed with a dog that is a brilliant sleeper ...other bad habits like barking all night in a strange house at slightest noise, and trying to steal croissants...also favourite habit to roll on our duvet and definitely has his spot on the sofa but he is very good at sleeping by himself downstairs at night in his cosy bed and an extra blanket tucked around edge to stop drafts

Dog is lonely and wants to sleep with the family. Surely that's the easy answer?

Not necessarily. Apart from the fact that labs can be quite smelly, some dogs just aren't good roommates. My old boy (a dachshund) fortunately usually slept fine downstairs but on occasion if we had to have him in a bedroom we never got an uninterrupted nights sleep.

We also have a cat shut in kitchen overnight policy (catflap and litter tray)
Dog sleeps in a different room next to cats.

Another one who has her 2 dogs in with her. They are only 2 & 3 but they sleep like logs and are slovenly sods at the weekend. They aren’t a breed particularly known for being lazy either so we’ve lucked out.

Posted from the 1/4 inch I’m left with on the bed ❤️

Your dog is still very young. Would you expect one of your children not to wake early at that age? I don’t mean your dog is your child, I mean she’s very young before the “a dog is not your child” brigade come along.

We have labradors and they sleep until we get up at 7. What we have found in the past is sometimes lighter mornings can make a difference to them waking because they hear birds cheeping and the light comes in earlier in spring.

Do you have a night time routine? What time does she normally settle for the night?

Where does she normally sleep and what does she sleep on?

You say you leave her barking until your alarm goes off, if she’s barking she’s going be disturbing your daughters sleep.

Your dog is probably entering the teenage years too.

Personally I never get annoyed or cross at one of ours. From a very young age we taught the command of a hand signal to stop barking as we live rurally and sometimes it’s ok to have them barking.

I don’t like dogs on the beds as ours are mud monsters, they roll in deer, fox and rabbit shit and swim anywhere there’s water. They’re all sturdy labs too so we wouldn’t all fit in our bed 😂

Does she definitely not need the toilet? Could she be hungry - try leaving her some food? Are you sure there is no noise happening then like the heating coming on? You could try training her with an alarm clock – you can probably find instructions on Google but essentially you set the alarm for just before she wakes up so the alarm clock becomes a predictor of her waking up / cue and then you can move it later and later

Does she need the toilet? What time do you feed her the night before? Is it late so she needs to go poop? Try sending out for loo last thing at night and I'd wait outside the door downstairs and reward when she's quiet / stops barking. Ignore the barking and just reward quiet behaviour