waking up in the morning

[noodle]

Becka sleeps in a kennel, and she's recently - like within the last week - developed this new "method" of getting us up in the morning. She used to occasionally whimper, but if it was too early we could just tell her to lay down and she would. Lately, though, she whimpers like mad and swipes her paw up and down the kennel door, which is metal bars. Obviously it's pretty distracting and impossible to sleep through. She will not listen to us to lay back down anymore. And, it's not like she has to go potty super bad so needs to get out, because as soon as we finally let her out, she plops on her back with her paws up to be petted.

Why is she suddenly doing this, and how can we get her to stop? How do your kennelled pups wake you up in the morning? We need her to remember that WE decide when it's time to get up, but obviously her behavior is "rewarded" as such, since you can only listen to that for so long!

thanks (I hope...)

[Carolina]

Well, sorry to tell you, but your baby seems to have find a way to do what she wants when she wants, and that is to be left out and pay attention to her.. how old is she? by the way you describe the situation, she sleeps in a crate in your room?.. well if it is like this, you could put a towel or other kind of cloth to block the view, put it over the entrance.. that should help.. but also you must have to remember not to fall in her "paws" :) .. even if you are mad as hell for being waked up, don't mind her, don't talk to her, completely ignore her while she is whining.. soon enought she will find out that whining and whimpering will get her nowhere.. but be patience and consistent.. not once fall in the game.. or she will never stop doing it.. good luck :)

Carolina :)

[austin]

My dog tried that on a couple of weekends. I get up at 6:30 during the week, and I want to sleep in on weekends. Once the sun came up she knew I should be coming to feed and walk her, and she would start swiping the metal bars and whimpering. We keep the kennell in the living room and I could close all of the adjoining doors so I couldn't hear her. Now that she knows I'll get up when I'm good and ready and not a second before, she has stopped that behavior. If the kennell is in your room, I like Carolina's idea about putting a cloth over it, since the light might be triggering her behavior. If that doesn't work, maybe a plastic crate? Above all, do not react to it in any way or or it will never stop!

[Miabella]

The only thing I have ever found that really wipes out this behavior is simply ignoring it. Do not stir a muscle in your bed, do not say a word. If you cannot take the noise, have ear plugs on your night stand that you can silently slip in. You may not be able to sleep at all, but the key is to pretend like you are sound asleep, dead to the world. If you are consistent about not getting up unless all is silent, you should have this cured in less than a week.

[noodle]

Thanks for the advice - I will try the towel over the door, and we will MAKE ourselves ignore her antics. God help me (and my co-workers!) if it's not cured soon, though (I'm a brat without enough sleep...). I love her to death, but sometimes she can be a real sh**!!

[noodle]

OK - for those of you suggested to completely ignore it until she stopped, and THEN get up... We were held hostage in our bed this morning for like 35 minutes until it stopped so we could get up. There would be maybe a 30 second pause, and then she'd be right back at it. Finally, we were both going to be late for work, so we jumped up after a 15 second break, let her out -- no petting! -- and herded her right out the door for pottying.

So... how long of a silence is adequate for her to realize what we're doing? She's extremely persistent - it's like she's trying to make a jail break!

[Miabella]

As soon as she settles down, 10 or 15 seconds is enough. If you hear her lie back down and be quiet, count to 10 and then get up. Also, I would start this on a weekend, so you have a couple days under your belt before you have to be somewhere at a certain time!

[austin]

Back when Hannah was doing that I was in the same situation, so I tried to use the same theory as in training and only react or reward when I was getting the desired behavior. That meant waiting for that 15-20 second period of silence and then I would get up, but I would never move when there was any noise coming from her crate. Its hard to believe, but it worked for us in a couple of weeks.

[LORHEL]

Well for the last two days, we have been doing this same thing... I don't know what it is.

It started out at 4 am Tues. and she went over to hubby's side of bed and was crying/whining, and then over to mine...I ignored it at first, but then she persisted...well she really did have to go potty, so she raced out the door, and also had an upset stomach earlier, and vomited up the yellow foam...so I gave her a break and after pottying, she ate grass....

So I bring her back in, then at 6, she starts the moaning...and throaty noises...now I know she is not sick, so this is the attention getter, I try ignoring her, telling her to SHHHHHH
give mommy a few more minutes...she persists..

Same thing this morning...She usually sleeps on her sofa out in the front room, and never bothered us before...I definitely have to nip this in the bud, because I do not get back to sleep so easily, and the moaning and sometimes even a short bark, are getting old quick.

It may be that she hasn't been out as much with the heat being so bad...she may be restless.

[sophie's-mom]

My dogs sleep in crates at night, the black wire crates that are VERY annoying to listen to when paws are being scratched against. Anyway, when Sophie would start whining, because she wanted out to play with Ian, I would just (in a very stern voice) say, "KNOCK IT OFF!" If she persisted, I would walk from my bed over to her crate and rap the crate (NOT BANG, just a RAP for a startling noise) and say, "KNOCK IT OFF"

After a couple of times she got the idea that I did NOT like the raking of the crate.

Now when she get ornery I only have to say, "sophie, knock it off" (not even sternly anymore) and she gets quiet again until I'm ready to get up.

:)

[Miabella]

Hi sophie'smom,

Glad you found something that works for you. I've just found that some dogs (just like some kids), prefer negative attention to no attention at all. So even a verbal reprimand can reinforce the behavior. Also, I prefer not to be woken up at all, so I think this approach not only stops the whining once it's started, but also keeps the whining from becoming a daily occurrence in the first place. :)

[LORHEL]

So even a verbal reprimand can reinforce the behavior.

Yes, I found that ignoring doesn't help, nor does me saying "SHHHHHHHHH" or stop it..its all about attention.

Last night, I wake up at 3, this time she is out in our family room barking her head off....I race out there, thinking we've got a prowler, ready for action...here sits my black cat, who she is barking at.... Boy was I hot...I scolded her, and she never bothered me this morning, she was too busy pouting....

Weekends, that door is shut, forget them. :D

[godfreyc]

Mine try this. I only pay attention when it's the "Mom, I REALLY HAVE TO GO THIS TIME" whimper combined with the raking of the crate door. Other than that it's bully for them because my family can sleep through anything ;)

[IRIE'S MAMA]

We just say LAY DOWN in a VERY stern voice. It's pretty amazing, b/c then we hear PLOP and down she goes. It's her way of sayoing "hey are you guys awake yet" NOPE! :)

[mark_sherry]

I had this problem with one of my GSDs, and I got the best advice from my trainer -- no positive attention, no negative attention. Ignore them completely. If the puppy can hold their bladder and bowels, there is no reason he can't conform to your schedule. The key is, you have to make sure that he really doesn't have to use the bathroom, and it sounds like he doesn't. I know it takes a lot of patience and a lot of irritating mornings, but after a while, he'll get the idea that his attempts don't work. There are some things you can do as well to make it easier for him to get through each night. Change his chew toys each night so he doesn't get bored with them, etc.