Waking Me Up At 5:30 Or Earlier

[Guest HoundyGirl]

Gus, who I got Memorial Day weekend, is doing really well. He's even roached a few times, until he flipped over on the other side. Anyway, he thinks we should get up between 5 and 5:30 am by barking and whining. I'd like to shoot for 6 most days, 7 on the weekends. Here's my approach. I'm setting the alarm clock for 5:30. I'm hoping he'll eventually start to understand that we get up when the alarm clock goes off. Then, I hope gradually to push the alarm back little by little. Will this work to reset his internal alarm clock?

 

I have a medical condition for which I need a lot of sleep, so in order to do this I'm going to bed at 8:30. It's been pretty rough on me having to get up early so much. I guess what I'm asking is will he adapt to a later wake-up time eventually or am I going to be getting up between 5 and 5:30 indefinitely?

 

Thanks!

[TheFullHouse]

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck! Mine get up at 6:00 a.m. 7 days a week. I get up, feed them and we all go back to bed.

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

Is he waking you up for a reason? Is he hungry or need to go outside? I have a dog door so I don't have to let mine out and for the most part they leave me alone but when it's summer and it's light out super early, they get up too. Winter it's great because they sleep in with me. Maybe the alarm will work for you - hope so!!

[Guest bigbrindlebunny]

Yeah it should, that's how I got my boy's clock reset. The first few months were exhausting as I worked him back in small increments from 4:30 to 7:00 am.

 

We do his last walk at around 10-11:00 pm, so I found myself taking a nap from about 8-10:00 pm, stumbling outside with him for the last call and then going back to bed. It was worth it though, he is such a good boy today. If I'm not up by around 7:30 am he'll start making noises he knows will wake me up, like shaking himself, but other than that he always waits for the alarm. I'm also able to move it around without repercussions. One day I may need to get up at 5:30 am, the next day 7:00 am. It's all good.

 

You have to stay tough. In the days when Pete would wake me up at dawn, I would turn on the light and the TV but not get out of bed. I would watch TV until the alarm went off and only THEN would I get up and get dressed to go out. If you're up and in the same room as him, he's not likely to pee inside. When the alarm rang I would sit up and hold it in the air for a few seconds looking at him, then I'd get moving. I started by setting the alarm clock at 4:15 am, and moved it back in 10 or 15 minute increments every few days.

 

I found the idea for this on GreyTalk as a newbie, it worked like a charm.

 

 

 

 

 

[GeorgeofNE]

I personally think it's a bit much to expect a dog to be on one schedule Mon-Fri, and another on weekends--but I'm an early riser anyway. I'm like Jilly's Full House on weekends; we get up at our regular time (5:30) and I take him out, feed him, and we go back to bed.

 

I get up at 5:30 because I give George a 40 minute walk every day before I go to work.

 

Is he getting enough exercise? If you expect him to sleep until 6 or even later, he may need to go out later than your current bed time.

[arandomchic]

I guess it would depend on when his last potty break was for the evening. If it's 8:30pm when you go to bed, I'd say it might be difficult for him to hold it much longer than he currently is (assuming the reason he wakes you is to go out). If he's going out later than that, I would think a gradual change would work.

 

I wonder if dogs can be early birds or night owls just like people? If so, it's also possible he's just an early riser.

 

For us, we're up by 5:45am every morning and last potty break is around 10pm. Molly doesn't know the difference between Tuesday and Saturday, so we just keep it routine all week. Besides, if I have the opportunity to sleep in (like today when I took the day off), she always seems to wake me up 15 minutes earlier than normal. The stinker.

[Guest tbrodzel]

When I first adopted Brynna she would wake me up at all hours, mostly between 4:30 am and 6:00 am. If my parents were out of town it was even worse, she would wake me up repeatedly in the night. Sometimes she had to go potty, sometimes I think she was hungry and other times just lonely. So I started taking her potty right before I go to bed and feed her a little bit. This helped a little, she wouldn't wake me as early.

 

Honestly what helped the most was time. She has been with us for 7 months and in the last month or 2 she has really changed. She goes to bed earlier, sleeps in later and rarely wakes me up. I figured it just took her a while to change her schedule from that of the track life to home life.

 

So I hope you can hang in there and know that it should get better with time.

 

-Tori & Brynna

 

*added later:

Yeah, now I have to make Brynna get up to eat and go potty before I go to work. ha ha Sometimes I get jealous cause after she eats and goes potty she lays back down for her morning nap.

Edited July 4, 2010 by tbrodzel

[Magdalyn58]

Teddy did this, too. Then we realized that he was just really hungry and wanted to eat. Now we give him a snack late at night, usually half a peanut butter sandwich, when my DH goes to bed. It has really worked well. Since we have been doing this, instead of whining and crying at 5 AM, he sleeps in and holds off his antics until 7-7:30 AM on the days we don't have to get up at 6:00 AM. When we do have to get up at 6 AM, now we have to wake HIM up!

[Guest Energy11]

Ours are up EVERY morning at 4 a.m. We have tried everything to make it later, but they just won't give up, and with five, it is overwhelming. Oakly will jump up and down and bark constantly, too.

 

We are both retired, so we just get up, feed them, let them out, and back to bed. And ... people wonder why I get up between 8:30-9, and Dh 9:30?

 

They get as much exercise as possible with the heat. We have been able to walk them on the property the last three mornings, but after today, I doubt it! The heat and humidity is on the way back! Can't wait!

[Guest jaws4evr]

Setting the alarm clock is a great idea, and gradually moving it back.

 

Also can you get up early, ie 5:30, let the dog out to potty, give him breakfast, and then go back to bed? We get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, BUT on the weekend after potty and breakfast DH and I go back to bed, and the dogs are free to do what they choose... which is also go back to bed! It works pretty well for us, I don't have a medical condition requiring sleep (other than total non-functioning without a very early bed time ), so we're in bed a rather long time as well.

[Guest Swifthounds]

I personally think it's a bit much to expect a dog to be on one schedule Mon-Fri, and another on weekends--but I'm an early riser anyway. I'm like Jilly's Full House on weekends; we get up at our regular time (5:30) and I take him out, feed him, and we go back to bed.

 

All of mine have adapted to having a different schedule for weekdays and weekends - and that has ranged anywhere from 4:30 to 7:30 am. No one has ever had difficulty telling the difference.

 

Generally speaking, my hounds do NOT wake me unless they need something (potty, they're ill, etc.). They know if you wake me, you get to deal with me.

[Guest HoundyGirl]

Well, he actually let me sleep a little later than 5:30 this weekend. But this morning it was back to 5:30 with the alarm waking us up. I will persist in waking up at 5:30 and keep training him to wake up with the alarm. I might also try giving him a snack before bed as some of you have mentioned. Thanks!

[rschultz]

sounds like u have a good plan.. try to let him out the latest u can..also, it would be difficult to teach a different weekend time, most dogs can't do that. good luck