Sleep problems

[ElaineH]

Over the last few months Morgan has developed a dreadful sleep pattern. He starts barking any time from 5.30 onwards and will not settle again. It doesn't matter what time we settle the boys down at night, for example the other night we didn't go to bed until after 1.00 but he still started barking before 6.00.

Usually OH will get up to him, make sure he spends a penny and tries to settle him again but he starts off again after about 20 mins. This week OH has been staying up with him once he starts barking, I get a bit more sleep then when I get up OH goes back to bed for a couple of hours.

He used to be so good overnight, letting himself out via the doggy-door if he needed a wee and quiet until we got up. He's recently had a bit of trouble with yeast infection in his ears but this behaviour pre-dates that. He goes back to sleep once he has human company and is happy to wait for his breakfast until 7.30 as usual.

[Jaysmumagain]

I really have no answers, just a couple of thoughts as to possible age and changes, Ollie is 11 now and doing well, but have noticed a couple of habits for instance I posted about how he would not eat out of his dog bowl.  He still will not but does out of a chipped dish like we use and his food is given with me standing close buy faking cleaning and telling him what a good boy he is, hubby does the same if not he will stand back as if he shouldn't touch it or is scared.  He will wake me at 6.40 each morning when he hears the boiler switching on....today I had a lie in to 7.30 and was quite shocked, but I had turned the heating timer off last night as I was really warm.

I have wondered whether his hearing or eyesight is fading, but soon find him trashing my thoughts on that    I do think however that he hears at a different pitch as he reacts to ringing sounds/chimes, ie OH mobile bleep when he gets text messages and some sounds on TV. I wonder if Morgan is hearing something that we can't pick up.  They do seem to have a built in clock and just wondering if there is something around disturbing him.

[ElaineH]

I wonder if Morgan is hearing something that we can't pick up.  They do seem to have a built in clock and just wondering if there is something around disturbing him.

This was our initial thought too, unfortunately, if that is the cause, we've no idea what it could be. If it was Summer and the windows open I'd think it was a neighbour's alarm clock but in any case there's just enough variation in his timing to discount this. Another thought was the man across the road as he's a delivery driver and leaves really early and the lights of his van could be shining into our hall, but they moved 2 weeks ago and Morgan's still doing it. The boiler comes on at 7.00, the paper arrives at 7.30 our mobiles switch on at 8.00 and all laptops etc are off until we need them.

I think his bladder might be wakening him and he's unsure what to do, I'm worried there's a dementia issue here.

[bizzylizzy]

.....could be that the delivery man was the original cause and now its become a pattern, internal body clocks are a strange thing (I read recently that its not a good idea to look at the clock if we have to get up for the loo in the night as it can set up a pattern of waking... )
Hope you can find out and deal with the cause, it could very well be age related without necessarily being dementia. Even we humans can adopt different habits and little ways  as we get older but it doesn‘t mean we‘re dement. My last dog became very stubborn in his later years and his hearing became very selective..
Might it be worth moving his last meal time an hour back or forward, just to see if it has any effect?
Its trial and error really I suppose.