New Foster Up To Early Howling

[Susanval]

Hi everyone - second greyhound. 4 days in with Edge who is my two year old foster. Problem is he is so dead tired at night he is asleep by 8:30! I have not been waking him up before bed so he sleeps right through until almost 5am in a crate in the living room. I let him out to pee but he is so excited and hungry that I let him eat and drink a bit. This morning I put him back in the crate and went back upstairs and he howled and barked for another 20 minutes. I poked my head down twice and said, "no". Then when he got mostly quiet I came down - darn I was awake!! So tired but want him to sleep until 6 or so. Am I doing this right? Should I wake him up at 10pm before I go to bed to pee??? Help!

Susan

[Roo]

 

Hi everyone - second greyhound. 4 days in with Edge who is my two year old foster. Problem is he is so dead tired at night he is asleep by 8:30! I have not been waking him up before bed so he sleeps right through until almost 5am in a crate in the living room. I let him out to pee but he is so excited and hungry that I let him eat and drink a bit. This morning I put him back in the crate and went back upstairs and he howled and barked for another 20 minutes. I poked my head down twice and said, "no". Then when he got mostly quiet I came down - darn I was awake!! So tired but want him to sleep until 6 or so. Am I doing this right? Should I wake him up at 10pm before I go to bed to pee??? Help!

Susan

 

 

I'd wake him up at 10 so he can pee one last time (and poop, if he needs to) and then ignore the barking and howling in the morning if you can. Don't say "No" - just ignore him. It might take a few days, but he'll learn that carrying on doesn't get him anything.

[Gryffenne]

I would. Greys sleep like cats.

 

If you don't want to wake him at 10, may I suggest NOT feeding him at 5 when he wakes you up to potty? If it is only a quick (and boring) in and out to potty with no food or playtime, he may get the hint that it isn't worth it to get up until you do. (But still having the ability to get out and potty if he needs to)

 

BTW, I do both of the above. A final potty before bed & no breakfast until I say it is breakfast time. Try and wake me all you want! Even get the others in on your evil plan! But you are not getting breakfast until: 1~You're settled down. 2~ The alarm has gone off. 3~I've had a cup of coffee (this is only because I am trying to disassociate leaving the bedroom means foooooooooooooood!!!!)

 

Another idea you can try is to slowly move their time in 5, 10, or 15 minute increments. They go off at 5, you wait until a few minutes (Or until they are settled so that they don't think a Tasmanian devil gets them what they want) to make a move. Once they get used to that time, you move it again, slowly working towards your desired setting.

 

I use this at daylight savings when the clock says it is 5, but the dogs' tummies all say it is 6. I also have used it in the past to retrain potty times when a new hound comes in or because of a shift change at work.

[Guest june]

Mine don't get meals until an hour after I get home from work and half an hour after I get up. It has made things much calmer around here. Good luck!

[Sambuca]

I feed dinner at bedtime for just this reason. It's dinner, walk, bed. They aren't as hungry in the morning so they sleep late. My dogs easily sleep to 10 or later. On occasion they've slept to 2 or 3pm!!! They will wake me up if they need to go out, which is fine.

[NeedlenoseJake]

In my limited experience (just one dog), he calmed down on his own after being in the house awhile. He was in a foster home for about 2 weeks and I think it was only about another 2 weeks before he stopped waking us up and we started waking him up!