How can I stop my new grey barking at 5am?

[HazeyJ]

I know it's common behaviour for greys to be a bit whiny or barky in the morning. However, my new boy is 35kg and he will jump onto me and bark right in my face. He sleeps mostly on a bed in my room and then comes onto my bed to sleep at about 3am. He gets restless about 5ish, then starts whining and then moves onto barking. I know I need to ignore the behaviour so that he learns not to do it, but I'm wondering if it will work if I put him out into the hall when he starts barking? That way I can easily ignore him and he might get the picture? 

I physically can't ignore it if he's on top of my in my face, but I've also heard that reacting at all is negative, so will it work against me if I shut him into the hall?? He's still new so I want him to feel safe and sleep in the room with me....just for a little bit longer each morning preferably!

Help!

 

[Kathy02]

I haven't dealt with this issue myself, but I've read suggestions that you start getting up a little earlier than he does and starting the day before he has a chance to start getting restless and whining/barking. You can gradually push back the time you get up by a couple minutes a day until you've gotten to whatever time you'd like.

[ramonaghan]

9 hours ago, Kathy02 said:

I haven't dealt with this issue myself, but I've read suggestions that you start getting up a little earlier than he does and starting the day before he has a chance to start getting restless and whining/barking. You can gradually push back the time you get up by a couple minutes a day until you've gotten to whatever time you'd like.

Yes, this is the advice I've seen as well, though haven't had to use it personally. Use an alarm clock and gradually set it a few minutes later until you reach your preferred time. So, you'd start by setting it at 5, then after a few days to 5:05, 5:10, etc. He'll learn to associate the sound with the start of the day. It's a long process but seems to work for people.

Edited October 5, 2020 by ramonaghan

[longboyz100]

I am working through early wake ups with a bit of barking too. A few things that have helped so far;

• Brisk 10/15 min walk and wee/poo very last thing at night before
• Blacked out room completely 
• Sending back to their bed until the alarm goes late

Good luck, a difficult (and tiring!) issue

[VivaStPauli]

Just chiming in with a bit of optimism re: the alarm method! I had this issue when I adopted Pauli back in July, and the alarm trick worked for me. The first couple of weeks were tough, pushing the time back 5-10 minutes every few days, but by the time we got to 6am, it was easy to get to 6:30, then 7, and now she lets me sleep in until 8am and doesn't even mind if I hit the snooze button  

A couple of other things I did that might have helped (based on helpful suggestions from past threads by the amazing people in this forum):

- Bedtime snack (her last half-cup of kibble) to keep her full through the night.

- I pushed her breakfast back to 8am (my goal wake-up time), and when the alarm went off at 5:30 or whenever, I just took her out for a quick potty break then went back to sleep until breakfast time (or tried to at least, i.e. laid down with lights off and ignored her). She tended to be very hyper and playful in the morning, so my goal was to make mornings as boring as possible so she wouldn't be quite so excited to get up. (This was really tough right at the beginning but as she started to get more used to the routine she would settle back down and it let me get a little bit extra sleep + sanity!!)

Wishing you luck, you'll make it through this! 

[zimsmom]

Black out curtains are a fabulous idea!!

[HazeyJ]

Thanks everyone! 

 

I thought I'd test out the 'ignore until it's time for me to wake up' thing - might take a few weeks but he will eventually get the picture that his whining will do nothing to get me up! He's a really bouncy boy in the morning too and I've found that even if I take him out, when I bring him back in he's really playful and won't settle down. I have apologised to all of my poor neighbours for what's coming! 

I'll check back here to let you know how it goes. Can't wait to feel human again and actually get a full night of sleep.