Getting Kevin To Sleep In

[AEB]

Not sure if this is the best place for this but . . . Looking for thoughts on how to get Kevin to let us sleep later. When we first got him (December) he would sleep until 7. He then began getting up at the same time as the alarm even on weekends (6:15). In the past couple months he began getting up shortly before the alarm time (6:08 am) every day. Now, he is getting up at 5:45 and now 5:15am over the past few weeks. It is getting to be exhausting. Sometimes he just lays on the floor in the living room instead of going out. So not sure he needs to go. But we want to go back to sleep so we have to fight and get him outside and he takes his own sweet time. So then we're awake. (Plus now he's skidded-out on the floor coming in and takes coaxing to cross it so it's quite a process). Anyhow, any thoughts or ideas are appreciated. Even sleeping with blackout drapes doesn't help. My husband can't catch-up on his sleep and is losing his patience. Thanks in advance for all replies.

[Guest june]

Is he hungry? If so you can give him a snack at bedtime (nice Milkbone, etc) to maybe carry him through. Also, if my dogs get me up too early I'll get up and let them out and then go back to bed. They usually lay back down for at least an hour and sometimes longer.

june

[Guest Audeamus]

When Gir gets up early, I take him for a quick pee jaunt then I go back to sleep. I'll give him part of his breakfast too and he normally lets me sleep until I wake up.

[AEB]

Is he hungry? If so you can give him a snack at bedtime (nice Milkbone, etc) to maybe carry him through. Also, if my dogs get me up too early I'll get up and let them out and then go back to bed. They usually lay back down for at least an hour and sometimes longer.

june

 

Maybe. He gets a dentastick before bed but could be hungry. He takes at least at least ten minutes to do his walk and you need to get dressed and the whole thing wakes you. It's over once he wakes-up. We're both awake!

[christinepi]

Is ignoring him an option so that he'll eventually give up pestering you? Is there a door you could close? Obviously, if he has to go pee, that's a different situation, but if not, maybe getting him used to being ignored might help?

[phall]

My boy, Star did this. It turned out he was hungry. I'd give him a quick snack when he woke up - 1/2 cup kibble - he'd go back to bed.

 

Now I give him a snack at 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. (half can of food and 1/2 cup kibble) and he sleeps until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. (That's sleeping in for me!).

 

Good luck.

 

Pat

[Batmom]

If you're pretty sure he doesn't have to go out, I'd matter-of-factly direct him back to his bed and refuse to get up until the alarm goes off. That is Joseph's signal. It can take a couple weeks to cement this idea in a dog's head, but if you persevere, it will work. Now I know that if he does get up early, he really has to go and I'd better get him outside.

[GeorgeofNE]

If you're pretty sure he doesn't have to go out, I'd matter-of-factly direct him back to his bed and refuse to get up until the alarm goes off. That is Joseph's signal. It can take a couple weeks to cement this idea in a dog's head, but if you persevere, it will work. Now I know that if he does get up early, he really has to go and I'd better get him outside.

 

Batmom beat me to it, again!

 

He's a morning dog! But if you prefer not to be a morning person, teach him what "go lie down" means. Eventually he'll give up.

 

George woke me up at EXACTLY 4 AM for the first six weeks I had him. Then I realized he was playing me. Took him about three days, but he gave up.

 

I don't feel it's reasonable for a dog who is woken by an alarm Mon-Fri at the same time to "sleep in" on Saturday and Sunday. They're creatures of habit, and he can't count the days of the week. When George wakes me up on Saturday (at exactly 5:20) I take him out (and I have to get dressed, leash him up, down three flights, and out!) and let him piddle, bring him in, feed him, then we both go back to bed.

 

We usually manage to catch another hour or so of sleep, and honestly? That Saturday sleep/snuggle after his outing is one of my favorite hours of the week.

 

And remember: anything that actually REWARDS HIM for waking you (e.g. giving him a Kong, keeping treats by your bed to give him) just makes the problem worse ultimately.

Edited May 13, 2011 by GeorgeofNE

[GreyWrangler]

Red was always an early morning dog. All the advise is sound.

 

for us what kinda worked was to feed him a later dinner and a decent bedtime snack. He was also a phenobarb dog and very hungry.

 

Then dad started to feed him supper around the time he fixed his and Mom's (early bird diners) and that was just not good for the boy, he'd need to get up even earlier to go out.

 

So diner got moved back to 6pm and he got better, still not a sleeping in dog, but better.

 

Harry will sleep in, he to will snuggle.

[Guest chimni]

We're in the same boat here. My guess is that it has to do with the sun starting to rise earlier as summer gets closer. But you said you have black-out drapes, so maybe I'm wrong. Back in March, mornings were still pretty gloomy and Sofia wouldn't get up until 6:30 or 7 but over the past 2 weeks she's been waking us up to go pee around 5:20. Are your neighbors getting up earlier - maybe starting a car, opening a garage door, etc? I'm wondering if outside noises have something to do with it?

[Guest zombrie]

Manny did this for a long time - he didn't need to go out and he wasn't hungry, he just wanted us up. After about a month of ignoring him, he stopped.

[winnie]

I don't feel it's reasonable for a dog who is woken by an alarm Mon-Fri at the same time to "sleep in" on Saturday and Sunday. They're creatures of habit, and he can't count the days of the week. When George wakes me up on Saturday (at exactly 5:20) I take him out (and I have to get dressed, leash him up, down three flights, and out!) and let him piddle, bring him in, feed him, then we both go back to bed.

 

So true. Please don't expect your dog to know the difference between a work day and a day off. I've accepted that my dogs want to go outside at 6:30 a.m. regardless of the day. I just deal with it. After the dogs have been outside and had breakfast, we all hang out in the family room so DH can sleep in. I have no trouble napping an extra hour or two on the couch.

 

As for getting up before the alarm... if you ignore them long enough, they'll catch on.

[AEB]

I think it is a combination of things. He is a morning dog. Loves the morning. And now morning comes earlier and earlier. He has a great internal clock. He also knows the time of day Daddy comes home and that he eats. It think the sun coming-up is some of it, the birds singing is another part. I think those birds are the outside noises. But today it was 4:30. It was dark. He had to go this morning. Was not feeling well. And I think some of the recent stuff is not feeling well. We're working on that but the next few days will be rough.

 

He was, however, doing this before the not feeling well. Then, once he is up, he wants us up and he wants breakfast. It is time to play. He knows "go lay down". And if he has been let out he will go lay down for about 20 minutes. If he has been fed it may be an hour. But we hate feeding him at 5am. It's way off schedule. If you ignore him he barks incessantly in a high pitched "girly" bark. It is loud and ear piercing. We then worry he REALLY has to go and you're playing Russian Poolette by ignoring him. He hasn't messed but probably because we make sure we respond to the barking that usually (at other times of the day) means "I have to go". We ignore first but it never works for long. We figure he has to go some, but maybe that's not why he gets up every day. By the way, we do sleep with a closed door. So this is why he paces and barks once he is up he wants out of the room. To pee? To play? I think it depends on the day.

 

As for giving him a snack- I worry it will encourage him to get up early, reward him. And he doesn't do well with dry treats. Even a small one will give him paint peeling gas for the entire day. We wanted to transition him to kibble, but again, a few nuggets would throw things so out of whack that we just stuck with what worked (Honest Kitchen and some meat). Makes tossing him a treat a lot harder because what we give as treats are tiny moist treats. Should I just give him breakfast whenever he gets up? Make it ahead the night before (i do this so we can get back to sleep on weekends and it wouldn't throw him too far off his eating schedule but now that he is getting up every day like this but two hours before he should eat)?

 

I am able to sleep a little later than my husband and would like it if Kevin would too and then we could get up at the same time every day. I would like to get up at 645 everyday. It's like a dream. I'm not asking to sleep til 9. Sadie would let us do that. She'd sleep until whenever we got up. Sleep Kevin!! You do it all day! WHat is so hard about sleeping in the morning???

 

 

 

[DocsDoctor]

If you're pretty sure he doesn't have to go out, I'd matter-of-factly direct him back to his bed and refuse to get up until the alarm goes off. That is Joseph's signal. It can take a couple weeks to cement this idea in a dog's head, but if you persevere, it will work. Now I know that if he does get up early, he really has to go and I'd better get him outside.

 

. Have had this with Doc, too - albeit in the middle of the night. The first time he genuinely needed a loo-break, which was fine, but thereafter it was just him wanting a 'fun' trip out. Eventually I cottoned on, hardened my heart, and firmly told him to go back to bed. It didn't take long to break the habit. Now if he asks (which is almost never) it is because he really does need to go!

 

If you're awake enough check out Kevin's voice and body language, too - with Doc I quite quickly got to know the difference between 'Let's go and see what's happening out in the garden' and 'I really really need a loo-break NOW', even when woken from deep sleep at three in the morning!

[Guest Swifthounds]

I don't feel it's reasonable for a dog who is woken by an alarm Mon-Fri at the same time to "sleep in" on Saturday and Sunday. They're creatures of habit, and he can't count the days of the week. When George wakes me up on Saturday (at exactly 5:20) I take him out (and I have to get dressed, leash him up, down three flights, and out!) and let him piddle, bring him in, feed him, then we both go back to bed.

 

So true. Please don't expect your dog to know the difference between a work day and a day off. I've accepted that my dogs want to go outside at 6:30 a.m. regardless of the day. I just deal with it. After the dogs have been outside and had breakfast, we all hang out in the family room so DH can sleep in. I have no trouble napping an extra hour or two on the couch.

 

 

Not really true at all. My dogs get up when I get up and they do not wake me up when I sleep in on the weekends. Over the years I've risen anywhere from 4am to 7am without issue during the week and can sleep several hours past that on the weekend without issue. The only time a dog will wake me is if it's a potty emergency or someone's I'll.

[Guest zaylea]

Batou used to do this thing like he was constantly testing me to see how early he can get me to wake up. He'd stand by my side of the bed and rub up against me, bark at me, etc. I deduced that he didn't need to go potty or anything like that. The solution was to ignore him. I would turn my back to him and lay perfectly still. Eventually he would go back to bed. Gradually he kept waking up later and later until he learned it was ok to wake me up at 8am and no earlier.

 

 

 

Not really true at all. My dogs get up when I get up and they do not wake me up when I sleep in on the weekends. Over the years I've risen anywhere from 4am to 7am without issue during the week and can sleep several hours past that on the weekend without issue. The only time a dog will wake me is if it's a potty emergency or someone's I'll.

 

I think it really depends on the dog. Batou was diligent about waking me up at the same time everyday. Major is indifferent about what time I wake up and doesn't usually bother me.

[winnie]

 

 

Not really true at all. My dogs get up when I get up and they do not wake me up when I sleep in on the weekends. Over the years I've risen anywhere from 4am to 7am without issue during the week and can sleep several hours past that on the weekend without issue. The only time a dog will wake me is if it's a potty emergency or someone's I'll.

 

I think it really depends on the dog. Batou was diligent about waking me up at the same time everyday. Major is indifferent about what time I wake up and doesn't usually bother me.

 

You're right... it does depend. Celeste will sleep all day if we'd let her. I usually have to drag her out of bed in the morning to go outside with the others. Swifthounds... you're very lucky ALL of your dogs are like that! Unfortunately, Celeste is the only one of our four like that. The other three are very schedule driven... especially Darcy who was at the track until she was 6 y/o.

Edited May 13, 2011 by winnie

[christinepi]

I could never sleep with a dog in my bedroom for noise reasons, so it's easy for me to say, but what about closing a door BETWEEN the dog and you? Meaning, he has to sleep in a different room? I'm fortunate in that Tracker actually chose, all by himself, from day one to sleep in the living room, so it's never been a struggle. Maybe that would work to break your dog from his habit (or his crying will break your heart, which is probably more likely, and I sure couldn't handle it...).

[GeorgeofNE]

WHat is so hard about sleeping in the morning???

 

I wish I knew!

 

Although I would have bet everything I own that SOMEONE would chime in and say that their dogs always let them sleep as long as they like (and I was right!) I honestly haven't slept past 6 AM since 1995 when I decided that I'd be a single gal in a condo with a dog!

 

It's fortunate that I am a morning person--but sometimes even I would like to sleep a little bit more.

 

Perhaps part of the problem COULD be that

 

Sleep Kevin!! You do it all day!

 

Maybe Kevin could use a lovely evening walk? You, Kevin, hubby, strolling the neighborhood on a lovely evening? Could be fun! Might tire him out!

 

I hate that high pitched barking--I'm so glad George doesn't do that--George goes for the more direct approach--poking me, flopping down on the bed so he's pretty much laying on top of me, the cute looks, the sad big brown eyes...

[Guest dee]

Don't know if this has any bearing on the wakeup time but in our house we have more than one dog and I think they take their cues from one another. If Micah gets up and starts to wander and the other dogs don't budge he just gets the message and comes back to his bed and catches a few more "z" s. Also,on the occasions that micah starts " talking" to us If it's too early we ignore and fifty percent of the time it works...the other fifty he really has to go.

[Guest Swifthounds]

 

 

Not really true at all. My dogs get up when I get up and they do not wake me up when I sleep in on the weekends. Over the years I've risen anywhere from 4am to 7am without issue during the week and can sleep several hours past that on the weekend without issue. The only time a dog will wake me is if it's a potty emergency or someone's I'll.

 

I think it really depends on the dog. Batou was diligent about waking me up at the same time everyday. Major is indifferent about what time I wake up and doesn't usually bother me.

 

Whether the dog might tend to want to wake you, when new to the environment, depends on the dog and can vary. Whether a dog living in your home will wake you before you are ready to rise is entirely an issue of bonding and training.

[AEB]

I am too inept to figure out how to do multiple quotes from different posts! But to address a couple of things mentioned. Locking him out of the room is probably not an option because just putting a gate up so he can see us and is just feet away makes him upset. He hates closed doors. He would not do well if forced to sleep out of the room. I swore no more dogs in the bedroom after Sadie. But, he isn't too disruptive aside from the occasional dream and toenails on the wall. Plus I feel if he is in a confined area he is less likely to mess than if he is roaming the whole house and gives up on trying to wake us.

 

He does it even when he gets longs walks throughout the day (like on weekends). So even if he gets a run and several walks he does this.

 

I really think he is just excited that it's morning and he thinks everyone else should be too.

[BauersMom]

Ignore him. He'll get it. I use a pillow over the head to block out the whining.

 

I also keep all new dogs sequestered to one side of the bed so they don't go wandering around getting into trouble if they are up early, and it also helps me keep an eye on them to figure out if they "have" to get up and out.

[Guest katethegreyt]

Okay, I have an easy dog, and she's my first one, so I'm probably not the best advice giver = )

 

Still, I think the "ignore it" people are generally correct.

 

Our girl has learned that she sleeps when we sleep (even if that is from 9pm-6am or 3am-noon). Sometimes that means she gets to go out at 7am, sometimes that means she doesn't go out until noon. I usually just try to keep her time between bathroom trips at night pretty regular. So if I know I want to sleep in, I'll take her out for an extra break right before bed. She will usually poke her nose in my face if she REALLY needs to go out. We have to go down hallways and elevators to get to a potty spot, so she knows she has to give some advance warning.

 

When we first got her, she ALWAYS wanted to go out when my fiance got up for work (5:30am). I don't think it's fair for me to make him walk her in the morning at 5:30 since he has to get up so much earlier than me, but I also don't think it's "fair" for me to have to wake up either, haha (mostly kidding, it's fair, but I just don't want to do it!) A couple of times in a row, he'd leave early and she'd go to the bathroom in the living room. Oops. So I put her bed right by ours and kept a leash on her at night looped around my arm because I didn't think she REALLY had to go. I think she just thought that was what she was supposed to do - perhaps adjusting from her previous family's schedule/behavior. When she started to get up at 5:30, the leash would catch her and she'd come right back to bed (me saying: "Aoife, back to bed.") I did the leash thing for about 4 nights, and she figured it out. She never got her urgent face on like she does when she really has to go, so I didn't feel mean about it. Also, having spent long days with her on the weekends where I finally had to wake her up after hours and hours to go outside, I know she can generally hold it if she chooses. Obviously this varies some depending on your dog's bladder = )

 

Because I am pretty unwilling to give up my crazy sleeping habits, I got the dog used to it. Our schedule is not always set up for her to get the same potty breaks every single day, and she adjusted beautifully. Right at first I knew she might have some accidents because of our crazy schedule, but she is now accident free. Because she doesn't have an extremely fixed schedule, she is pretty content to wait since we get back to her before things get urgent. I always try to be very diligent about not leaving her too long so that she continues to feel this way.

 

Long story short, every time you get up and let your pup out early, you are rewarding his early wake up call = ) An extra couple of minutes here and there can quickly turn into a half hour or 45 minutes (I had a friend who inadvertently let this happen with her yowling cat and his morning feeding - 6 am turned into 4:30!) He may continue to whine or be obnoxious for the first bit of adjustment, but he should eventually figure out you're not letting him out until it's time. You can usually tell if they really have to go and aren't just pestering you for attention and fun outside time = ) To help him adjust, as others have said, maybe give him a slightly later dinner and pre-bedtime walk?

 

Again, my girl has been easy about EVERYTHING, (and I'm no dog pro) so take my advice with a grain of salt. Still, I think if you can ignore your guilty mom feelings (hard sometimes!) you can probably get him back on a more sleep-friendly schedule = )

[Guest NJgrey]

I don't know if I saw this from the OP, but what time do you go to bed?

 

Ellie more or less wants to get up the same time every day, but depending on what time we last take her out I feel differently about making her go back to her bed. If we go out at 11pm like normal I'm not going to ask her to hold it until 9am, but if we have a late night and she doesn't go out until 1:30am, that's different.