Partying At 5:30 A.m.! How To Make It Stop?

[fsugrad]

This is the only problem that we are having with Dakota so far.

He wakes up ready to party around 5:30 a.m. every day. He starts running around, flapping his ears, sticking wet nose on my face, and demanding breakfast.

 

If he could just stay still til about 6:15 or so, that would be wonderful. And yes, that would work on weekends too.

 

We go for a walk every night around 10:30 or 11:00. I usually go to bed around 11:30 or midnight. I let him out back to pee right before I go to sleep. He shouldn't have a problem holding it in from 11:30 pm to 6:15 am, should he? (Toby certainly doesn't, and he's almost 9). Note: when I DO get up after he wakes me up around 5:30, he has no interest in going out to pee. He wants his breakfast.

 

Any suggestions? It doesn't seem like a big time difference, but it would be nice if he could start the party around the time my alarm actually goes off....

 

 

[FiveRoooooers]

You could try waking *him* up at *4:30a* for a couple of mornings and see how he likes it I'm sorry, I don't have any real advice, other than to tell Dakota to go lay down (if you're sure that he really doesn't have to pee). If you're feeding him when he parties at that hour, he's getting what he wants. If he gets a cookie before bedtime, he should be able to wait until you are ready to feed at a reasonable time (yours!).

[greytpups]

Perhaps he needs a snack before bed if he's waking up hungry. I suspect though that if you get up when he start partying, he's training you to get up at 5:30am. What happens if you don't acknowledge him. Have you taught him to go lie down?

 

My alarm goes off at 5am because I run or go to the gym before going to work. Ben and Brooke don't get up because they know DH is the one who takes them for a walk and then they get fed. We've stayed on the routine for well over 8 years so the pups learned not to get up with me because I am leaving without them.

[TheFullHouse]

Mine have been waking me up between 5:00 - 5:30 from the day they arrived. On a rare occasion they will wait until 6:00 but not often. Once one is up, they're all up!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

make a smaller space for your hound, he should not be able to jump up and run around. Then put a pillow over your head and get up at 6:15 like you want. After a week or so he should get the idea. Of course for the next few days it will be a pain in the rump. Do not talk to him, tell him to go to sleep, pet him, move, stir or otherwise act like you are alive. A few days and he should get the message.

 

Chad

[Guest zombrie]

I agree with Chad that you just need to ignore him no matter how tired and/or frustrated you are. Feed him at the time that you would prefer to feed him and don't give into it or else he'll figure out that's what he has to do to get what he wants. He'll learn to adjust his time. Doolin did the same thing at first too.

[Guest SeeJoy]

I feel your pain..my beautiful girl Sofie wants her day to get going at 2:45-3am.

:0

Once she starts walking around my room upstairs, the 3 hounds downstairs take her

que and come to the bottom of the stairs, looking up.

If I don't get downstairs fast enough they start voicing thier happiness )))

Living in a twin, too much "happiness" from the dogs at 3am doesn't sit well with

my neighbors

On weekends I take care of the dogs, walking & feeding and then I go back to bed

[GeorgeofNE]

Here we go again with the "he needs a snack." No, he needs to learn how to wait!

 

Since obviously he doesn't have to go to the bathroom, you need to tough out a few days of making him go back to bed and lay down quietly. Sure, you'll be awake anyway, but lay in your bed and ignore him.

 

George spent the first month with me waking me up at EXACTLY 4 AM. When I finally realized he was playing me, we did a bit of tough love. Took him three days to get the message, and now I sleep in until 5.

 

 

True, that's pretty early, but it beats 4!

[Brandiandwe]

Hmmm. We've just come off Christmas holiday time. Over the holidays, Paige slept til I was ready to get up or until about 7.30. Bliss! DH went back to work yesterday so his alarm went off at 5.30. Guess which little angel was whining as soon as he left the house? Back to early starts for me!

[fsugrad]

OK, we are going to try the tough love approach and see how it works. Thanks everyone.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's the difference between getting 45 more minutes of sleep and having the alarm go off and getting up then vs. being awakened by the partier, feeding him and then lying there staring at the clock for 45 minutes waiting for the alarm to go off.

 

Jan, your suggestion of waking him up at 4:30 a.m. and seeing how HE likes it made me laugh out loud!

[FiveRoooooers]

George, I think the suggestion of a snack is to give a cookie before bedtime. I sometimes like one myself. Unless he is trying to convey ahead of the alarm that he *needs* to go out, for which I will thank him profusely, he can wait for noms.

[Guest snoopycomehome]

When we got Dragon, he got up early for a few weeks. Gypsy was worse...still on 'track time'! She was very vocal about it, so there was a lot of frustration, dh cussing, etc. But they have a dog door so we didn't have to get up.

 

But just like having a new baby awake all night for the first 3 weeks, they came around and now sometimes I get up and they still lazy around in bed! It was painful for awhile (I love my sleep!) but we just had to be patient.

[RaineysMom]

our friends that have 8 greyhounds are awoken at 2:30am every single day. Needless to say they are in bed by 8pm every night

[TINMANPDX]

I wonder if they are used to being turned out at 5:30 AM at the kennel? Elliott had the same time clock when we first got him and we had to work him up to 6:30 AM. We would tell him "Too early! Back to bed!" which is what we still do on the rare occasions he wakes that early.

What cracks me up is that he will do all kinds of things to get me out of bed at 6:30-ish (never my husband) like poking me with his cold wet nose or whining pitifully then escalating to barky whines, but once I am up and in the kitchen (he walks behind me, often pushing me along with his nose), he goes back to bed and waits for breakfast!

[fsugrad]

The most frustrating thing is that when I HAVE given in and fed him sometimes (mostly so my poor husband can keep sleeping a bit more) he polishes off his food and then goes right back to bed with a full belly. Little stinker!

[Sambuca]

What time do you feed dinner? Can you try feeding about an hour before bed? Thats what I do with my fosters and by day 2 or 3 they easily sleep until 10 or later. The foster that started that habit was just like Dakota. I started feeding dinner later and because I knew he didn't actually have to go out, I brought a water bottle to bed and would give a quick spray when he started whining for food in the morning. He learned quickly.

[Guest kkaiser104]

Teddi did this for the first few weeks. I slowly worked him up to staying in until 10 or so (If I don't have to get up, otherwise he gets up when I do). When we got up, though, I made him stay up. He ate, I showered, and we were off for a walk. Then when we came home I would go back to bed (with him). Now, he gets a milk bone or two before bed, and he's in bed until I get him up unless it's an emergency and he absolutely has to go potty right this second, in which case we go out and then go back to bed.

 

I had to do the "I'm not awake, leave me alone" facade with Teddi for a few days until he got the message. If I don't get up, he's not getting up either. Good luck!

[fsugrad]

What time do you feed dinner? Can you try feeding about an hour before bed? Thats what I do with my fosters and by day 2 or 3 they easily sleep until 10 or later. The foster that started that habit was just like Dakota. I started feeding dinner later and because I knew he didn't actually have to go out, I brought a water bottle to bed and would give a quick spray when he started whining for food in the morning. He learned quickly.

I usually feed them dinner around 6:00 p.m. or so....I can try to delay dinner some, too.

I could try a water bottle, too. I've never used that before.... lots of suggestions, thanks!

[cleptogrey]

i went thru this w/ emily and to top it off, it was the fall and they changed the clocks a couple of days after she arrived!!!. i was a walking zombie for a month. this too will change....start feeding him dinner later. go w/ 15- 20 min. later every couple of days, take him out later at night as well. rome wasn't built in a day- be patient. make sure the drapes are closed in the room he sleeps in- or cover his crate(like a bird).

[Batmom]

When Joseph came home, he was a slow learner in this respect. What I did was a combination of Chad's tough love and training to the alarm. I started by setting the alarm for @ 15 minutes before I thought Joseph would wake up and fuss, then gradually moved the alarm toward the time *I* wanted to get up. If he woke up before the alarm and fussed, I played opossum and totally ignored him. He learned that we get up when the alarm goes off. In his case it took a couple of weeks because he was waking up at 2:30 - 3:00 a.m. ...... Can I say I do not miss those days? Good luck!

[a_daerr]

No advice, just wanted to say that my guys often try to start parties right BEFORE bed! They are running around the house with toys, playing bitey-face, jumping up and down on the bed, play-bowing, doing zoomies. I'm sure to anyone walking by, my house sounds like a bowling alley. Gotta love those playful hounds

[fsugrad]

Last night/this morning, the party started around 3:00 a.m.! It was so tempting to just get up and let him out, but we had gone for a walk around 11:00 last night, so I knew he didn't really have to pee.

So although it was torture, we did not get up and we ignored him as best we could. This went on for about 40 looong minutes, but eventually he settled back into his bed. The good thing is that once he got back in bed and went back to sleep, we were not awakened again until our alarm went off at 6:15.

 

I had forgotten to reduce the amount of area he has to run around in at night, so he was pacing all around the first floor of our house. But there were no accidents. Like I said, I knew he didn't have to go.

Tonight the plan is to baby gate him into our bedroom with us (this is where they always sleep at night anyway). This way if he does get up, he has limited space to walk or pace around.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

When I say limit his space, I mean LIMIT. My fosters are baby-gated between my wall and bed. Basically about a 5' x 5' space. He can circle and fluff his bed if he wants, but otherwise sleep. I do this because I dont want the foster wandering and stepping on my other hounds and causing trouble. In your case, the less area he has, the less chance of him being anxious and walking around. Just my technique.

[Guest starbuck]

This is why Starbuck is baby gated in the library downstairs. We tried to let her sleep in our bedroom, and we ended up exhausted, cranky, and ready to throw her out a window. She gets to sleep downstairs with her blankets and pajamas and bed and toys, and she has to be quiet until we get up and take her out at the appointed time. I know that there are many people here who advocate dogs sleeping in bedrooms, but it really doesn't work for everyone. (And there's nothing wrong with that.)

[Guest KatyC]

I am having the same problem with Peggy. 5.30am every morning. We have been ignoring her until 6.20 when we get up, but she doesn't really settle for that whole hour. She paces and starts playing with her toys and jumping around!

I'm tired today! So I have no advice, I'm just joining your club!