Lou Waking Up At 1:00Am

[msjpk]

Lou is driving me crazy as he gets up at approx. 1:00am each morning- I let him out to potty and instruct him back to his bed and cover him with blanket.

10 minutes later, he starts whining and wants to go out again or will play bow and bark (which is his way of telling me he wants to eat). It's as if he gets hungry at this time in morning. I do give him a snack around 7:00pm which consists of less than a handful of kibble.

I don't want to fed him at 1:00am as this will be what is expected each night.

Any inputs or suggestions please.

[Guest dizzyLu72]

How old is Lou?? Any health issues?? When my dalmatian got older/elderly he lost track of time.. we would go out 1-2 times in the middle of the night and he started to want breakfast around 4 am (I usually fed him around 6am). I would grant his wishes of going out due to his age and his weak bladder and bowels so figured tossing some kibble his way wasn't going to hurt.

However if Lou isn't that old.. it could just be some manipulation on his part. How long has this behavior been going on?

[Magdalyn58]

Teddy was doing the same thing at 2 AM, every morning. We figured that he might be hungry, so we gave him 1/2 of a PB sandwich on whole grain bread around 11:30 PM. We have been doing that ever since and he sleeps right through the night now.

[TheFullHouse]

You might consider a nice size snack at around 10:00. That may tide him over and let him and you sleep.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

What is his normal breakfast and dinner time?

 

Might push back the snack a bit later then 7 and that could help him rest through the night.

My guess is he has figured that at 1am you will get up and let him out and maybe even a cookie? If so he's training you well. And I'm not picking on you in the least over that cause my hounds have me trained as well.

 

Breakfast/dinner then snacks, snacks, snacks......... or they drive me crazy

[Guest lizmego]

Might want to rule out a urinary track infection (UTI). Dell, 12 yo grey, was also getting up at 1:30am and wanting to go to the bathroom. He had a UTI. After antibiotics, he's back to sleeping through the night.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Perhaps he's chilly.

Nixon wears his little light weight fleece coat nearly 24/7 these days. He had his jammies on all weekend and yesterday as it was really cold up here.

 

Our Bridge Dobergirl would wake up if she moved around in her sleep and her blanket came off. Putting her fleece on kept her warm even if the blanket slipped off. Then Ijust clued in and kept the lightweight coat on aalmost full time.

[msjpk]

Lou is 9 and this begone about a month now. He is on Kirkland brand kibble but I reall do suspect he wakes up hungry. Maybe this food is not holding him?, is that possible? I have been adding cottage cheese to his kibble also.

[GeorgeofNE]

Snacks? Wow. I'm not letting George read this! If I fed him every time he wanted a snack...he'd be fat as a pony and I'd be broke!

 

Is it possible that he's not getting his usual exercise with the winter weather? Is he not staying out as long at last potty? Unless he REALLY can't hold it from bedtime until 1 PM (doubtful, unless he's ill) I'd be inclined to tell him to go lie down and go back to sleep, not give everything his heart desires.

[Guest june]

No snacks in our house either. The girls get fed twice daily: 6am and 6pm. Occasionally one will need to go out a bit earlier than usual (say 5:30 instead of 6), but if this happens more than occasionally, or I notice someone is getting up during the night and drinking and needing to go out I will pick up the water about 7pm and put it back down when I get up. That usually does the trick.

The girls absolutly do NOT get to read this post

june

Edited January 19, 2011 by june

[cleptogrey]

felix was doing that, he was cold(our nite time tempt is 58)and wanted to get into bed w/ us. that just doesn't work- allergies and he refuses to sleep at the bottom of the bed. i had to curl up at the foot of the bed and wake up w/ aches and pains in every joint . (the occasional visit isn't bad, if i take my zertec i can handle it). we gave him a warm down vest, a comforter and moved his bed to the warmer side of the room. then the sound of the heat was waking him up(forced hot air- he was close to a heat vent). so....out came the faithful crate. one night of whimpering and a couple of shots w/ the plant spray and we are all sleeping the night.

 

when they don't get out to exercise as much due to weather conditions that throw them off as well, but felix was getting a good workout in the yard and we schlep the dogs up(30 min. drive) to another town's plowed unsalted dirt road at martha stewart's house. the 5 mile uphill walk usually poops both hounds out.

 

blanket him up, maybe feed him later- but make sure he has enough time to potty- and jammies or a light coat and don't forget the exercise - or mental stimulation to tucker him out.

 

good luck, i feel your pain...pain in running around in a cold house letting him out and not getting back to sleep!

[cleptogrey]

SO, WHAT'S UP....ARE BOTH OF YOU SLEEPING THE NIGHT????

[msjpk]

Lou is continuing this habit and it is like clock work - 2:00am he is up, I let him out in yard, he lays down and I cover him and then the whining starts. He will get up again and walk past his dish and then lick his chops. Definite sign of hunger. I will not feed him at that time as it will start that habit.

I give him his snack at 7:00pm and I try to hold him off until 9:00pm

 

Is it possible his food is not holding him? Kirkland brand, chicken.

 

Any ideas???

[BatterseaBrindl]

I still would consider that he might be cold.

Put some jammies on him for a few nights. Covering him with a blanket will not keep him warm if he moves around ... the blanket will just fall off.

 

Does he actually have to 'go' when you put him out at 2am?

 

Giving in to his crying in the middle of the night will only confirm to him that this behaviour is acceptable.

Be very firm and insist he go lay back down.

No need to get out of your bed...just tell him to go lay down and do not give in.

 

I know...easier said than done...but your persistence will pay off!

 

This will take a few nights, as he is now in the habit of waking up in the middle of the night.

 

If you are still conviced that he is hungry at 2am, give him a peanut butter sandwich whenever he goes out for his pre-bedtime pee.

 

edited to say...

Sorry if I sound mean!

Edited February 4, 2011 by BatterseaBrindl

[Ragsysmum]

Sounds like he's just hungry. I feed at 6.30am and 5.30pm with a few small biscuitas or a handful of normal kibble right at bedtime, 10.30pm. For years now this has been the routine with all our own dogs an many fosters and we never have problems with night time disturbance, except for turning round and settling back down again. Mine also have access to water 24/7 and I would never deprive them except on vets advice, but it has never caused a problem with sleeping through the night.

[tydyelady]

What time do you feed him dinner, if he is getting snack at 7PM? Perhaps moving the whole feeding schedule later? Or as others have suggested, a snack later, right before bed.

We feed on a later routine. Brecky is about 8-9 AM. We don't usually get up til 7:30 during the week. After we get home from work and Opie has his walk, pee and poo, he gets a turkey neck piece (around 6pm). Dinner is usually about 8-8:30 pm. If we are out late on the weekends (DH is in a band, so we could get home 2-3 AM occasionally on a Sat nite) we are hungry and have a snack, so Opie is usually given something then too. Maybe 1/2 cup kibble. We adjust down his dinner if we know we are going to do this, so he doesn't get too much food. Oh, and FYI, he is also on the Kirkland food. I don't think its the food, it sounds more like when you are feeding him.

[cleptogrey]

now when he goes out, exactly what is he doing? pee, poop, wander ???? if he is going potty it could be the food going thru him at that hr.... and now it's a habit. if you don't want to change foods, how about adding some carbs to his dinner, baked potato or rice and see if that holds him and do feed him much later. dinner maybe a half an hr before bed giving him time to potty and then hopefully he will need to go out in the morning. try the water gun/plant spray response to his crying if you can stomach that, some people just can't but it should deter his behavior. it sounds like a bad habit at this point. keep us updated.

[msjpk]

We were out last night so his snack was pushed to 7:30, he did wake up to go potty, sometime pee and sometime poop- but he went back to sleep, and stayed asleep until 5:30am

 

He definitely is hungrey, wondering if I should change food, he is on Kirlind chicken/rice with some cottage cheese added.

[Batmom]

How is his weight?

 

When Joseph first came home and established that he got up too early even for me , I gritted my teeth and set the alarm for @ 1/2 hour before I expected him to wake up. Took him out for potty but did not feed until regular feeding time. Oooooooh-so-gradually moved the alarm up to the time when I wanted to get up. If he gets up before that, he gets a "lie down" altho if he's very insistent and has been fussing, licking, etc. for a bit, or if the time is really unusual, I will take him out. Still won't feed until regular time. These days, unless he really has to go, he generally stays asleep until @ 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. I can live with that.

[kickchick2000]

Milky Way(10.5) gets up every single night at 2:15am and has for several months now. I know why, he kicks off his blanket gets a bit chilly and that makes him have to pee. If the blankets stay on him we are good, if not it's to the potty, re-cover, and back to sleep. I guess he was me trained, if "I'm cold all I need to do is wake mommy up and she will fix it but I have to pee first"

[Walliered]

How about warm pajamas?

[JJNg]

Scanned through the rest of the posts, and maybe I missed it, but is Lou fed once or twice a day, and what time are his regular meals? What time do you go to bed?

 

I feed 2 meals, roughly 10-12 hrs apart (usually breakfast around 9 am, dinner around 7:30-8 pm). Immediately before bedtime, my dogs all go outside, I make sure they do their business, and they get a snack when they come in.

 

How long has Lou been on the Kirklands? Did anything change about your routine around a month ago around the time this behavior started? Does he act more hungry than usual at other times during the day?