Help! She Will Not Sleep!

[Katy_3131]

I have a female greyhound named Hinder. We has fostered her off and on for a while last year. She is crazy! However she became very attached to us and we figured as a little time went on she would calm down and slrep through the night. Nope, not happening. She wakes up at 4:30 EVERYDAY, and whines and crys to be out of her crate. We tried having her in our room a few nights, didn't help at all. She was still awake at that hour, and wouldn't settle down until she gets let out. The odd thing is, is that it doesn't matter what time we go to bed. Same time everyday. We have been dealing with this for 5 months. If you dont let her out she cries for the hour before our alarms go off. We are not sleeping well with this extra alarm clock. We wonder if we are not the right house, maybe she needs to be more of an only with someone who doesn't work, or works less or from home. I love her to death, i have never before thought about rehoming a dog. We are just about at our wits end. Even if we spend all day with her and play and hike and make her tired, same thing at 4:30. Does anyone have any suggestions? Help!

 

ETA: we did adopt her in December, so just giving her back isnt a great option.

Edited May 6, 2016 by Katy_3131

[Jessa]

Does she have to sleep in the crate? When we first got Brandy she would do similar things and cry periodically through the night, no matter where we put the crate. We removed the crate and gave her a comfy bed in the corner of our room and she sleeps without a peep through the night until we physically get out of bed. I would say get rid of the crate and see how she does.

[robinw]

Try letting her out of the crate. She probably doesn't need to be in it, and is letting you know. My guys are never crated.

[dante2zoe]

While I have not had this problem, I read somewhere that you can set your alarm to go off at 4:30 or whatever time she awakes. Then, after a few days, set the alarm 10-15 minutes later. Then, a few days after that, later again. The intent is to have her hear the alarm and use that as her cue to awaken and will get up with the external alarm instead of her internal one.

 

I also wonder if it isn't exercise as much as her belly may be empty. Does she get a snack before bed? Just a thought.

[NeedlenoseJake]

Can she have the run of the house instead of just your room?

[Katy_3131]

When she was in our room those few nights...she wasnt crated. I would love to give her run of the house, but she hasnt proven that she won't pee in the house.

 

Belly...this happens even if we feed the dogs at 11pm, i feel like food isn'tisn't an issue.

 

I wonder if she would sleep thru if she was in the bed, but that isn't an option. No dogs on the bed when we are sleeping, wifey says no, and really so do I.

[turbotaina]

Katy a couple of things you can try: give her a *brisk* 20 minute or longer walk before bedtime. I had a foster who was the same way and the only way I could get her through the night was to give her a fast paced walk at like 9 or 10PM. It took enough of the edge off that she'd sleep in a tiny bit.

 

If she's waking up at 4:30 every day, set your alarm for 4:15, then gradually increase it. She should hopefully start using the alarm as her cue to get up.

 

Make sure she's warm at night. She might be waking up because she's chilled. Try putting her to bed with a light coat or PJs and see if that might help.

 

Vet check to make sure she doesn't have a UTI or any medical reason for not sleeping through the night (doubtful, but you never know).

 

Hope this helps!

Edited May 6, 2016 by turbotaina

[greysmom]

She's not waking up just to get *you* up. She's waking up because that's the time she has *always* woken up. They are quite schedule oriented and can tell time quite well! Use the technique described twice above for giving her a new wake up time. Let her fuss until she hears the alarm, then she can get up up. Don't move the alarm time ahead until she iz quiet up until she hears it.

 

Sometimes, you can just tell them to go back to bed and live through the adjustment period in between, but she sounds like she actually has to go out, so you need to work her up to going all night until your alarm goes off.

[Katy_3131]

Katy a couple of things you can try: give her a *brisk* 20 minute or longer walk before bedtime. I had a foster who was the same way and the only way I could get her through the night was to give her a fast paced walk at like 9 or 10PM. It took enough of the edge off that she'd sleep in a tiny bit.

 

 

So I tried the walk last night, this dog is so strange, it had the opposite effect, she woke up at 3 this morning. :/

[40MphMom]

When MacKenzie was new to our household two years ago we had a similar issue. We tried all of the above. I was so destroyed by lack of sleep I thought I was crazy. One evening I was just exhausted and lay beside her while she fussed at 2 am. I began to lightly stroke her body and my hand slid down her leg and I was startled to feel how cold her leg was. This might be it! I gathered a baby blanket and wrapped her up she slept like a content baby. She was cold, end of story.

 

We hope you find what your sweet girl needs.

[Guest Noosh]

You aren't alone!
We adopted a 19month old, 6 weeks ago. Her waking times are totally random through the night. Sometimes, if we are lucky, she will sleep through til 6.30-7.00am. Although not crated, her bed is close in the hall, outside of our bedroom. We can hear her start to wriggle and jiggle, then the fussing and shaking starts! She needs to pee about 20 seconds after this! Throw on slippers and run to the door! I swear we will have a heart attack, leaping out of bed from a deep sleep...! Around 2.00am and 4.30am are the favoured times- hoping she grows out of this. She is still getting used to pet life, we assume. And she still is a puppy in lots of ways; Emma sure can get into mischief!!
I've read through this topic, and seem to have tried most of the fixes.
Are there any new greyt strategies to get a decent night sleep ??

Edited May 11, 2016 by Noosh

[DofSweetPotatos]

This sounds counter intuitive, bit I would try setting your alarm for a little bit earlier, say a half hour before the normal whine time and get her up and out. Then put her back and try for a little more sleep before your scheduled wake time. Then slowly, over time, ease the alarm time forward until you've broken the scheduled whine time and she wakes when you do.

[SPDoggie]

Our Kingsley was up early every morning when we first got him, but after learning that he really did not *need* to go out, we worked on ignoring him until he learned to sleep later-- which I recall did not take as long as I thought it would.

We just had to get him on a new schedule, not the kennel's schedule.

[Guest Noosh]

You aren't alone!

We adopted a 19month old, 6 weeks ago. Her waking times are totally random through the night. Sometimes, if we are lucky, she will sleep through til 6.30-7.00am. Although not crated, her bed is close in the hall, outside of our bedroom. We can hear her start to wriggle and jiggle, then the fussing and shaking starts! She needs to pee about 20 seconds after this! Throw on slippers and run to the door! I swear we will have a heart attack, leaping out of bed from a deep sleep...! Around 2.00am and 4.30am are the favoured times- hoping she grows out of this. She is still getting used to pet life, we assume. And she still is a puppy in lots of ways; Emma sure can get into mischief!!

I've read through this topic, and seem to have tried most of the fixes.

Are there any new greyt strategies to get a decent night sleep ??

Ok, we are a few weeks on from...

Thankfully, we are having a proper nights sleep! (touch wood!)

We invested in a super snuggly bed for her; and we had a bit of a showdown at 2am one morning, when she refused to come back inside, instead wanting to do zoomies, check out the garden etc. We left her outside for half an hour, until unfortunately heard her leaping about on the deck and having a great time ripping up the BBQ cover! So, hauled her back in, (she sensed I wasn't happy!) and told her firmly, Bed! And sent her back when she got up again. And that seemed to give her the message. And, now that it's winter, Mademoiselle doesn't want to get out of bed in the morning!

We have had some interior wall chewing, exterior window chewing, counter surfing, cushion and bed shredding, despite at least being walked twice daily (40 minutes and 1hr 15min) Kongs, play time, bones, obedience training, all of the usual stuff to try to mitigate her need to chew the wrong items. I think we have to accept that she isn't yet through being a puppy, and it's all part of the ride!

[GeorgeofNE]

George woke up every single day at exactly 4:30 for six months. When I finally realized it was just what he was used to, I told him "go back to sleep" and ignored him. Took a few days, but he gave up.

[XTRAWLD]

Kasey did this for a couple of weeks. We discovered he was going out to eat poop. Blech. After scanning the yard with flashlights and slipping on wet leaves enough was enough and he was never allowed to go outside in the middle of the night like that again. Couple night of hush and go back go sleep and fortunately that did the trick.

 

She could also be lonely and cold in the middle of the night so I think the comfortable bed helps!

 

I like the alarm idea and setting it up in increments though....

Edited June 8, 2016 by XTRAWLD