Early Morning Survey

[shonajoy]

I'm having a bit of a battle with the Woodster at the moment over early morning wake-up!  This has been brought to a head this week by my H being abroad on business and me having to cope on my own (and I'm in rehearsal so I'm not getting to bed until midnight) ... I digress.

What time does your dog(s) wake up in the morning?  Do you let them out immediately or do you let them moan/winge/bark?

Woody can hear our (delightful!) neighbours who have six month old twin boys (even though we're an end terrace) and when they wake up at 5am - he wakes up - and we wake up ... you're getting the picture here eh?!  I want to ignore him and get up when I'm good and ready but my H INSISTS on getting up almost immediately.  And so this week W has been going mad - barking/howling/crying - you name it.  I'm very close to completely losing the plot.

Any ideas?  Advice?  Is it possible for me to train him to play quietly until a more reasonable hour - 7.30 would be a luxury!!!

Thanks for reading!

Jo xxx

[snapback]118672[/snapback]

Indie(18 months) sleeps as long as we want him to, even if we've had a lie in till 10 or so!

Hamish (9months) on the other hand, wakse up at 6am sharp every morning, seems to have his internal clock set then, and won't go back to sleep. Goes nuts instead!

[Elisa]

Gotta say Im really lucky too.  Bailey has a last walk between 10-11pm and thats him until I get up.  7am thurs & fri (when Im working), 8am other weekdays, and at the weekend about 9 (but has been known to be a bit later  :: )

He goes out for his walk and then his straight back to bed ! I think the house could fall down and he still wouldnt get up, unless I did first!  

[Allison]

I think you will find as the dogs get older they tend to sleep as long as you do, we have a dog door in our kitchen so Sally can use this!!! however she seems to stay in bed as long as we do, or she comes onto or INTO our bed about 6am and sleeps till we wake up. !!!!!!! At weekends we tend to wake up and get up at 9 and thats also fine by her.  

[crazyspaniels]

Bilbo would sleep all day, if OH goes to work and lets the dogs into bed then he would stay there all day.

[kookie]

Alfie's always the 1st up, bouncing round on the bed and 'wuffing'.
Starts about 6am. I get up then Cleo will get up too. I go down and let them all out for a wee. Al chases the birds and possibly wakes up all the neighbours, Cleo goes out for a wee. Livvy stumbles down the stairs with her eys tightly closed, goes and has a wee, still with her eyes closed, then goes back up to bed!
Alfie by now is bouncing off the walls demanding his breakfast.
They all have their brekkie, Livvy still with her eyes all screwed up. Al and Cleo will now go out, Livvy goes back upstairs to bed!

[izzy&dave]

dont know if anyone else does this but dillon sleeps in our room with us'1 cause we also have a cat(breezer)who he's not very fond of and visa versa and 2 because if he's with us we know what he's up to

[kookie]

our 3 sleep in our bedroom, or should that be me and mark sleep in THEIR bedroom.

[Megan]

I'm having a bit of a battle with the Woodster at the moment over early morning wake-up!  This has been brought to a head this week by my H being abroad on business and me having to cope on my own (and I'm in rehearsal so I'm not getting to bed until midnight) ... I digress.

What time does your dog(s) wake up in the morning?  Do you let them out immediately or do you let them moan/winge/bark?

Woody can hear our (delightful!) neighbours who have six month old twin boys (even though we're an end terrace) and when they wake up at 5am - he wakes up - and we wake up ... you're getting the picture here eh?!  I want to ignore him and get up when I'm good and ready but my H INSISTS on getting up almost immediately.  And so this week W has been going mad - barking/howling/crying - you name it.  I'm very close to completely losing the plot.

Any ideas?  Advice?  Is it possible for me to train him to play quietly until a more reasonable hour - 7.30 would be a luxury!!!

Thanks for reading!

Jo xxx

[snapback]118672[/snapback]

[Megan]

At last I have found someone who gets up at the same hour I do. Fizz is my one year old cocker who is only just going through the night. I have found it is a company thing.

At first we put her in a covered cage in our bedroom moving onto the landing it is only the past month that she sleeps in the kitchen but in a dark cage, still wakes up early....

Prehaps by covering the cage this may help, it did me as she felt more secure.

Good luck

Lindsey x

[JoHarborne]

Unfortunately Woody has a pen not a cage so we can't cover him.  

I'm having a bad day today - came back from an hour out of the house to find him incredibly distressed - he'd jumped up and down so much, his whole pen had shifted and he'd been shredding a paper that had obviously fallen off the table and into his reach.  I could hear him barking frantically as I walked up the garden path.  Felt really guilty having left him but I really needed a break from his constant wingeing.  I think a lot of the problems are because my H is away and this is the first time in six months and it has unsettled Woody.

So many of you have told me about your own dogs and your own experiences and I have to be honest - it's made me even more unsatisfied with the current state of play with Woody.  Why can't he sleep through and be "tipped out of his bed" like so many of your babies?

What am I doing wrong?  Wow - isn't sleep deprivation and PMT a heady combination?!?!!     Where's the hormonal tearful icon when you need it?!  Or the Hideously Feeling Sorry For Myself one?!  

[Annette]

I think it is just that you are exhausted to be honest.

Try counting just how many of us are or have been where you are now, and compare with how many have to "tip them out" in the mornings. My impression is that most of us struggle with this at the beginning, and some of us just have to struggle harder or for longer. But I bet there are some things our little insomniacs do better than the sleepers!!

You were right to get out. But as he was so distressed today, try leaving him alone in another part of the house for very short periods at first (less than 5 minutes) gradually building up over the next few weeks. I'm sure he will figure out eventually that you always come back!


Try not to let guilt creep in, our pups don't! And it is good to get him used to being on his own for short periods both day and night.


Hang on in there!

I had a bad few minutes during the walk home from school, but then Buddy was so cute a few minutes again that he has me in the palm of his paw (?) once again!


Oh! Just saw the PMT bit....that's where I was the other week when my in-laws were here. Bad isn't it, on top of the lack of sleep. Well at least that bit of it will be over in a few days Hon

[Colin]

Jo - have you considered allowing him to sleep in his pen in your bedroom at night ? It might make a difference.

[Mary]

I've no idea what time Lottie wakes up.  Whatever time we happen to get up she'll be sat at the lounge door waiting for us to greet her  

She doesn't bark or cry to wake us.  I've no idea where she sleeps either   She has the run of the downstairs so sometimes when we go to bed she is flat out on the sofas yet other times she's in her basket  I'm sure she must move about in the night.

Whatever she does she's always excited to see us, whatever time we emerge

[suzysu]

Georgie and Daisy are both crated.  During the week (when I work) the girls are up with me at  about 6.30am  

At the weekend, when I like a sleep in    :: , Georgie would stay in her cage all day and wait for me, bless her, but Daisy gets fed up at about 9am and starts to scrabble her bed and I can hear her scratching on the plastic base of the cage   but I guess thats not too bad anyway  

[Sprout's]

Titus has to be up and out by 7:15. He's better than an alarm clock.


Jane