Getting Up At 4 Am.... To Play!

[Guest GreyKlee]

Hello. I'm new to this forum. I just adopted a small (~50 lb) red fawn greyhound, Freya, about four days ago. She's my first grey. So far the home introduction has been good, and she's remarkably well-behaved. One behavior quite puzzles me though, and I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions/has seen this before.

 

Un-surprisingly, Freya gets up in the middle of the night to ask to go out (whimpers and pacing). I oblige her, and then she settles down. I assume eventually she'll be able to make it through the night. However, the last two nights she hops up at 4 am, wanders through the room once, and then begins to play bow and bark! It seems she wants me and my small dog, an Alaskan Klee Kai, to pop out of bed and play. When she does this, I immediately hop out of bed, tell her a firm "no", and lead her back to her bed and wait for her to lie down, then praise her. Sometimes she'll pop up a few times before settling. Any suggestions on why she might be doing this? Am I handling this in a greyhound-worthy way?

 

My working theory is that she just gets bored sleeping through the night. We've had temps in the negatives for several days, so she may just be stir crazy since we've had to limit outside activity.... We're starting to get daily walks in, so maybe that will help?

[NeylasMom]

She's on track time. She'll adjust over time. In the meantime, you're better off ignoring her completely instead of what you're doing. Any attention - even if it's to scold her and get her resettled on her bed is attention and likely to reinforce the behavior. If you need to, crate her to have her sleep in an x-pen for the time being so it's easier to ignore her antics when she starts them.

 

What time is she asking to go out at night to potty? She really should be able to hold it overnight if she's an adult dog. Again, a crate or x-pen may help and make sure she potties right before bed (if you have a yard, go out with her to make sure she's going).

[Beachbum1]

Maybe take away water after 9:00 PM.

 

Also, she could be cold. Try dropping a light baby blanket over her when she goes to sleep?

[Guest GreyKlee]

Ok, all that makes sense. Thanks for the advice! I'll x-pen her overnight, ignore her attempts at getting my attention and see how she does. She starts asking sometimes around 1 am to go out. I've moved her night time feeding up to 6 pm and have started taking her water away at least 2 hours before bed. I've started ignoring her requests to go out in the middle of the night too, because now I think it's just a way to get me up to interact with her and not necessarily a request. No messes, so she can definitely hold it. Hopefully this combination will help!

[GeorgeofNE]

I wouldn't take her water away. And frankly, cold temps are really not a good excuse for not walking the dog. Particulary one you've had for less than a week. Put a coat on the dog, bundle up, and head out! You don't need to stay out for hours, but 15 minutes is dooable. I know--I've been doing it 5X a day for the past 20 years, and I bet I'm way older than you are!

[Feisty49]

Just curious: What time is her last out before going to bed? I assume it's late enough that as others above say, she can hold it. She's seeking attention. A dog new to a household, especially a Greyhound recently off the track not used to his/her own humans, is like a child: they'll do anything for attention. Don't train her to expect she'll get it whenever she acts up. Good luck!

[Guest Noosh]

Hello. I'm new to this forum. I just adopted a small (~50 lb) red fawn greyhound, Freya, about four days ago. She's my first grey. So far the home introduction has been good, and she's remarkably well-behaved. One behavior quite puzzles me though, and I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions/has seen this before.

 

Un-surprisingly, Freya gets up in the middle of the night to ask to go out (whimpers and pacing). I oblige her, and then she settles down. I assume eventually she'll be able to make it through the night. However, the last two nights she hops up at 4 am, wanders through the room once, and then begins to play bow and bark! It seems she wants me and my small dog, an Alaskan Klee Kai, to pop out of bed and play. When she does this, I immediately hop out of bed, tell her a firm "no", and lead her back to her bed and wait for her to lie down, then praise her. Sometimes she'll pop up a few times before settling. Any suggestions on why she might be doing this? Am I handling this in a greyhound-worthy way?

 

My working theory is that she just gets bored sleeping through the night. We've had temps in the negatives for several days, so she may just be stir crazy since we've had to limit outside activity.... We're starting to get daily walks in, so maybe that will help?

 

This sounds familiar! Our newly adopted girl slept through the night for a few weeks, then started the 2am and 4am wanderings and wanting to go outside. It took us a week of being scammed into midnight playtime to catch on to this jig! She really was getting up to mischief too.

We were firm but fair- when she finally came back inside, I firmly sent her back to bed. Twice. But that was the end of those shenanigans. They so know!