Waking very early in the morning?

[hihelloitsnina]

Hello, me again!

Our wonderful 2 year old cocker who has never had problems with sleep has always slept until we woke up etc. However; recently over the past two-three weeks he has been waking up between 4-5am which has been a lot! I normally get up at 6am. We’re unsure if it has been a mix of the light in the mornings and noises from our neighbour and now he’s sort of set in his ways. I was wondering if anyone has any tips to get him to sleep later? We are trying to set an alarm 15 minutes before he wakes to try set him to an alarm so he knows that’s when he wakes up but that isn’t working yet. I’m beginning to do training with him later at night so it tires him out. He gets walked 40+ minutes 3 times a day. Any tips/help would be gladly accepted!!!

[Barry H]

Hi, Nina!  OK, here's my take on this.  I'm presuming pooch isn't in your room at night...

I think something is disturbing the little tyke, most likely light mornings.  So, a bit of re-training is required. Is he barking, whimpering or generally making a nuisance of himself when he wakes?  If so, I'd stand it as long as poss and then see what all the commotion is about.  If it's nothing, then a stern word, back on his bed and leave him till you normally get up.  Repeat as necessary until he's quiet.  Some determination will be required, which won't be too difficult as you'll be in a grumpy mood anyway!  He has to know you mean business.  If he's not being a pain when he wakes, I'd leave him as long as you can increasing the time until you normally get up.  Presumably, this is what you did previously and why you've never had any problems before.

[bizzylizzy]

Hi, Nina!  OK, here's my take on this.  I'm presuming pooch isn't in your room at night...

I think something is disturbing the little tyke, most likely light mornings.  So, a bit of re-training is required. Is he barking, whimpering or generally making a nuisance of himself when he wakes?  If so, I'd stand it as long as poss and then see what all the commotion is about.  If it's nothing, then a stern word, back on his bed and leave him till you normally get up.  Repeat as necessary until he's quiet.  Some determination will be required, which won't be too difficult as you'll be in a grumpy mood anyway!  He has to know you mean business.  If he's not being a pain when he wakes, I'd leave him as long as you can increasing the time until you normally get up.  Presumably, this is what you did previously and why you've never had any problems before.

That's exactly what I was going to write, but Barry beat me to it! 
Linking this with the other post re the crate, I think your little one is just trying to test his boundaries a bit  which is quite natural at his age. Just firmly let him know what he can and can't do and above all be consistent - the old credo of ignoring behaviour you don't want while training (and rewarding) the behaviour you do, is the best way forward IMO. They're actually happier understanding their place, - knowing that you're in charge (nothing to do with dominance or rank) and can be relied upon goes a long way towards helping them relax and feel safe.

[hihelloitsnina]

Hi, Nina!  OK, here's my take on this.  I'm presuming pooch isn't in your room at night...

I think something is disturbing the little tyke, most likely light mornings.  So, a bit of re-training is required. Is he barking, whimpering or generally making a nuisance of himself when he wakes?  If so, I'd stand it as long as poss and then see what all the commotion is about.  If it's nothing, then a stern word, back on his bed and leave him till you normally get up.  Repeat as necessary until he's quiet.  Some determination will be required, which won't be too difficult as you'll be in a grumpy mood anyway!  He has to know you mean business.  If he's not being a pain when he wakes, I'd leave him as long as you can increasing the time until you normally get up.  Presumably, this is what you did previously and why you've never had any problems before.

He is in our room at night, in a crate down at the bottom of the bed. Sorry should have mentioned that!! Thank you so much for this advice

[hihelloitsnina]

Hi, Nina!  OK, here's my take on this.  I'm presuming pooch isn't in your room at night...

I think something is disturbing the little tyke, most likely light mornings.  So, a bit of re-training is required. Is he barking, whimpering or generally making a nuisance of himself when he wakes?  If so, I'd stand it as long as poss and then see what all the commotion is about.  If it's nothing, then a stern word, back on his bed and leave him till you normally get up.  Repeat as necessary until he's quiet.  Some determination will be required, which won't be too difficult as you'll be in a grumpy mood anyway!  He has to know you mean business.  If he's not being a pain when he wakes, I'd leave him as long as you can increasing the time until you normally get up.  Presumably, this is what you did previously and why you've never had any problems before.

That's exactly what I was going to write, but Barry beat me to it! 
Linking this with the other post re the crate, I think your little one is just trying to test his boundaries a bit  which is quite natural at his age. Just firmly let him know what he can and can't do and above all be consistent - the old credo of ignoring behaviour you don't want while training (and rewarding) the behaviour you do, is the best way forward IMO. They're actually happier understanding their place, - knowing that you're in charge (nothing to do with dominance or rank) and can be relied upon goes a long way towards helping them relax and feel safe.

Brilliant, thank you for this! He’s definitely a boundary pusher!!!!!! Thank you!!

[bizzylizzy]

What‘s he likely to do if you just put his bed at the bottom of your bed, (or even just outside your room)? If he‘s not likely to cause any damage (I‘m presuming he‘s out of the destructive stage by now?) or can‘t come to any harm then I‘d be inclined to try without the crate and see what happens. You can still make your bed a no go - just firmly stop any attempt to jump up and reward him for staying in his bed, I‘m sure if you‘re consistant he‘ll get the message soon enough. My dog isn‘t allowed upstairs at all (after 40+ years of marriage we decided we finally deserved the bed to ourselves, so no kids, no dogs! ), he had a crate to start with, then we took the door off so he still had his retreat if he needed it but could also choose to sleep in his bed if he wanted and then we took the crate away altogether. I think he probably often wakes and probably potters around in the night but he doesn‘t disturb us, - we always ignored his wake up whines when he was little, just waited until he‘d gone quiet and then went downstairs ourselves so that he learned that making a noise didn‘t get any response from us at all....
I‘m sure you‘ll get there, cockers are basically very willing to please they just need understand what‘s expected of them and know that No means No! 
Best of luck - hope the move goes well! 

[ips]

Ours is crated in our bedroom, she wakes about 5.45 - 6am. I get up make us a cup of tea and let her out, she lies on bottom of bed and goes back to sleep for another 2hrs.... job done 🤣🤣 rough tough working dog mine 😁

PS
This is not advice or reccomendation, just saying 😏👍