Morning Wake Up Call

[Guest Vadersmom]

We just brought home our big boy . His(our) morning starts at 4:30 am. With barking whining and thumping his paws/legs on the bed. Scary and painful for me. We have tried ignoring him and or leading him back to his bed. It works for a few minutes. My main concern with this is I am afraid it's also a bathroom call for him. He's had an accident at different times. . (There will be more questions as we try to understand our kooky hound) thank you

[Houndtime]

Good morning. I think you should place this in a different topic as more people will read it if you put it in a greyhound designated forum topic, such as, training and behavior or everything else greyhound.

 

As an answer; my guys are crated. In the beginning, they would whine in the morning. Now they just wait for us to get up, on most days, that is. Occasionally, they do make a little noise and we will let them out on their terms. We normally are up by 7 AM anyway.

[Jeff]

Is a doggie door an option?

[JAJ2010]

Make sure he pees as late as possible and empties! Then at 4am you come out of that bed like a snarly angry bear. Works every time! In fact my current dogs will snarl at visitors who think wake up time occurs when it's dark out. Saves me the trouble! LOL We do not mess around with our sleep in this house!

 

A more civilized approach, that requires more aim and much more civility than I process before the sun comes up, is to use the squirt bottle.

 

And congrats on your new baby! 😀

[MaryJane]

It takes time but, they will eventually get into the routine of the house - these dogs are all about routines. Most of my fosters would try and wake me early and I would take them out and settle them back in bed after. They would eventually realize that getting up earlier does not mean they get fed earlier. Having an alarm clock might help as they will learn that the alarm going off means that the "humans" get up. Also think about starting to use code words like "too early" or "go back to bed".

 

This is all new to them - give him time to settle and get used to his new home.

[sobesmom]

Take him outside to pee. No fuss, no interaction. Just go out and pee. He's VERY new. He might need to go, as he's getting on a new schedule. It'll level out after a couple days, or weeks. You're lucky a brand-new dog lets you sleep that long.

[Redfishingirl]

Take him outside to pee. No fuss, no interaction. Just go out and pee. He's VERY new. He might need to go, as he's getting on a new schedule. It'll level out after a couple days, or weeks. You're lucky a brand-new dog lets you sleep that long.

I agree. Let him out but no fun playtime. We had quite a few middle of the nights when Chelsea was new, and if we ignored her it usually resulted in us having to break out the carpet cleaner. Now she is a champ at sleeping in

[3greytjoys]

It takes time but, they will eventually get into the routine of the house - these dogs are all about routines. Most of my fosters would try and wake me early and I would take them out and settle them back in bed after.

This is all new to them - give him time to settle and get used to his new home.

 

Ditto. Also, your new hound might have come from a different time zone, and racing kennel operators arrive very early to provide elimination outings and begin their day.

 

Take him outside to pee. No fuss, no interaction. Just go out and pee. He's VERY new. He might need to go, as he's getting on a new schedule. It'll level out after a couple days, or weeks. You're lucky a brand-new dog lets you sleep that long.

 

I agree. Let him out but no fun playtime. We had quite a few middle of the nights when Chelsea was new, and if we ignored her it usually resulted in us having to break out the carpet cleaner. Now she is a champ at sleeping in

 

Agree. Plus as mentioned, crate in your bedroom, or block off or baby-gate a small section of your bedroom to prevent his physical access to your bed. He sounds very happily excited to have joined your family!

 

I'd caution against using a squirt bottle. It's more important for humans to earn their Greyhound's trust with positive interactions. Squirt bottles teach hounds to fear approaching a human. If hounds are squirted while attempting to communicate their need to eliminate, it's more likely to suppress hound's communication attempts resulting in increased potty accidents, and new undesirable behaviors.

[Cricket57]

 

I'd caution against using a squirt bottle. It's more important for humans to earn their Greyhound's trust with positive interactions. Squirt bottles teach hounds to fear approaching a human. If hounds are squirted while attempting to communicate their need to eliminate, it's more likely to suppress hound's communication attempts resulting in increased potty accidents, and new undesirable behaviors.

 

Also, you might want to use the squirt bottle for something GOOD. I use them set on the mist setting to spray our dogs when we're outside in the hot weather. Helps keep them a little cooler.

 

Cricket

[Guest Vadersmom]

We just brought home our big boy . His(our) morning starts at 4:30 am. With barking whining and thumping his paws/legs on the bed. Scary and painful for me. We have tried ignoring him and or leading him back to his bed. It works for a few minutes. My main concern with this is I am afraid it's also a bathroom call for him. He's had an accident at different times. . (There will be more questions as we try to understand our kooky hound) thank you

Good morning. I think you should place this in a different topic as more people will read it if you put it in a greyhound designated forum topic, such as, training and behavior or everything else greyhound.

 

As an answer; my guys are crated. In the beginning, they would whine in the morning. Now they just wait for us to get up, on most days, that is. Occasionally, they do make a little noise and we will let them out on their terms. We normally are up by 7 AM anyway.

I thought I wrote this in the behavior section.

[GeorgeofNE]

No worries, you put it in EXACTLY the right section!

 

This will pass.

 

Get up, take him out, put him back to bed. Don't play, don't give him treats (unless he REALLY had to pee or poop, then you might, if you're still housebreaking). If he tries again to wake you after a short period, just say "go back to sleep" or "quiet" or something. Then ignore him. It will be hard, but there is no other really effective way--it's all about routine and time and patience.

 

Of course I haven't slept past 6 AM in almost 20 years...

[Guest PackMomma]

Our girl Willow was initially waking at 3:30 am every night to go out without fail. The first week or so i took her out and did the big praise party in the yard, so we would get the housebreaking down. After that I started extending the time it took me to respond by about 10-15 min. Once I was sure she could hold it I started setting an alarm for 6: 30. When the alarm went off we would get up go outside do our zoomies and have breakfast. She learned it well, now at 6: 20 she is up but she waits quite well until she hears the first beep then she is making noise to make sure i don't forget that it is time to go.

Edited July 31, 2017 by PackMomma