How to stop early waker?

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Oscar's now almost 5 months old. He sleeps in a crate at night and for the past month or two doesn't get up mid-night anymore for potty. He usually wakes up at about 5 or 5:30 every day. Which I can deal with because it gives me time to spend with him and take him for our morning walk during the week before work. However, for some unknown reason about 1-3x a week (usually on the damn weekend ) he'll wake up at like 3 or 4 am. We take him outside to do his business and then promptly put him back into his crate to go back to sleep, it does NOT happen. We've tried EVERYTHING we can possibly think of. We tried 100x just letting him whine/cry it out..he doesn't care, he'll go 2 hours straight. We tried taking him down stairs to his "room" where he goes while we're at work and he'll bark and try and rip the door down. We've also tried just giving him a chew and closing him into our bedroom with us....it's dog in face. I think we've pretty much exhausted putting him back in his crate and letting him freak out but we keep doing it anyways because we don't know what else to do. We've let him do it for hours, given him stuffed kongs, his favorite chews, toys etc...nothing quiets him. What ends up happening is that after 2+ hours one of us just gets up with him because the other needs to get some stinking sleep and it's usually his normal wake up time anyways.

I can't just let him out into the backyard because he's too young to be unsupervised etc.

He's been doing this since we got him, every single time we've put him back into his crate and not let him out until his "usual" wake up time.

Does anyone have a) any idea why the heck he's doing this AND why it's 1-3x a week only? AND sometimes we've gone like 2 weeks with no early wake ups. It just doesn't make sense. b) any suggestions? Anything we're doing wrong?

As I sit here with 4 hours sleep losing my mind! LOL

Thanks!
Julie

[scooterjohansen]

Originally Posted by VANCOUVERISLANDROT

I can't just let him out into the backyard because he's too young to be unsupervised etc.


Julie

I just need to ask what is unsafe about your backyard?

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Well it's not unsafe for a specific reason, it's fenced etc BUT he'll eat anything/everything that he comes across. He's horrible for eating chunks of dried grass which in turn he pukes up and he's also teething so it's open chew season. We just had a brand new deck built and I don't trust that he won't take a knaw at that if bored. It's also pitch black at that hour and I can guarantee he'll sit out there and bark at everything and anything (our yard backs onto greenspace/forest). Let alone the raccoons getting him at this age....

[Judi W]

At this age he is more than old enough to wait until the normal wake up time. Quit rewarding him for waking up by taking him out at all. Most dogs sleep a few hours, wake up for a while, sleep some more and so on. That does not mean they have to go out. You've taught him that is what will happen if when he wakes up, he manages to wake you as well.

Make sure he has relieved himself before going to bed, and don't respond to his wakefullness until your normal 5 or 5:30 wake up time.

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

[quote=Judi W]At this age he is more than old enough to wait until the normal wake up time. Quit rewarding him for waking up by taking him out at all. Most dogs sleep a few hours, wake up for a while, sleep some more and so on. That does not mean they have to go out. You've taught him that is what will happen if when he wakes up, he manages to wake you as well.

Make sure he has relieved himself before going to bed, and don't respond to his wakefullness until your normal 5 or 5:30 wake up time.[/QUOTE

aaaaaaaaaah! So he won't have an accident if we let him cry it out for 2 hours? So he thinks if he keeps crying that I'm going to come back and let him out again?

[scooterjohansen]

Thats good news. Are racoons really a threat to a 5 month old Rott? I know they can be mean. It would be great to have a new deck. Is there anyway you can make a fence for your pup. Like a big crate outside?.The other question I have is on the nights he won't go back to sleep, what time do you go to bed? Is it any different from the other times.Have you noticed your pup dreaming when he is alseep?

[scooterjohansen]

[quote=VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Originally Posted by Judi W

aaaaaaaaaah! So he won't have an accident if we let him cry it out for 2 hours? So he thinks if he keeps crying that I'm going to come back and let him out again?

He may well have an accident. But sooner or later the cryin is going to stop.

[Judi W]

Originally Posted by VANCOUVERISLANDROT

aaaaaaaaaah! So he won't have an accident if we let him cry it out for 2 hours? So he thinks if he keeps crying that I'm going to come back and let him out again?

He is doing what you taught him to do. Make noise, get taken out. Unless he is ill, you should not be letting him out in the middle of the night in the first place. He is no longer an infant who cannot wait through the night.

[dmoniz]

I think at this point to crying and carring on would get a bang on the crate and a big old knock it off from me.

[scooterjohansen]

Why would you bang on the crate? What is that going to do apart form scare the living daylights out of the dog? Just curious

[gomer9855]

Lets them know you've had enough! Puppy screaming in the crate when it knows better would result in a metal dog dish and me pretending the crate was a drum!

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Originally Posted by scooterjohansen

Thats good news. Are racoons really a threat to a 5 month old Rott? I know they can be mean. It would be great to have a new deck. Is there anyway you can make a fence for your pup. Like a big crate outside?.The other question I have is on the nights he won't go back to sleep, what time do you go to bed? Is it any different from the other times.Have you noticed your pup dreaming when he is alseep?

Raccoons can be super nasty and if they get ahold of your dog (I don't care how big it is) they will shred them and cause SERIOUS injury. I don't think a 5 m/o would know better to stay away? Well the whole yard is fenced in and I don't really want to have a "pen" back there for him. He goes in the yard all the time, it's just supervised. And I can guarantee that if I did build a pen he'd scream out there all morning. My neighbors wouldn't be too happy that's for sure. I just think that 5 m/o is still too young to just have free roam of the yard at 4 a.m. in the dark. Once he's a few months older then I'll start allowing him to roam the yard alone.

As for going to bed time....it's usually the same and there's no rhyme or reason to the early wake ups. We've gone to bed 2 hours early before and he's slept until 5:30! haha! Go figure?!

I've seen him do the puppy dreams when he's napping during the day. The running feet, soft whimper/barks etc. I wouldn't see him in the night to know if he does it then too though. Does this mean something?

Julie

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Originally Posted by gomer9855

Lets them know you've had enough! Puppy screaming in the crate when it knows better would result in a metal dog dish and me pretending the crate was a drum!

Seriously?! I don't think I'd do that. Do you honestly think the dog knows the reason you're banging the bowl is because he's barking? I'm not sure I think he would...

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by VANCOUVERISLANDROT

Seriously?! I don't think I'd do that. Do you honestly think the dog knows the reason you're banging the bowl is because he's barking? I'm not sure I think he would...

Do you plan on getting up during the night with your pup for the next year??? Maybe it's time to change what you are doing since he has you trained so well.
Can you try covering up his crate with a sheet? Maybe just leave the front part uncovered??
In all honestly if I still had to listen to a puppy screaming in his crate at 5 months of age during the middle of the night....I would rap the crate with a bowl and probably spew some choice swear words too...

He is more then old enough to be sleeping all night in his crate...from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m....unless he has some medical problem or an upset tummy.
Don't let him drink much water before bed....a few gulps is fine...make sure that he goes outside and his bladder is empty...and off to bed he goes.

Gina

[dmoniz]

Originally Posted by VANCOUVERISLANDROT

Seriously?! I don't think I'd do that. Do you honestly think the dog knows the reason you're banging the bowl is because he's barking? I'm not sure I think he would...

I used my hand with one solid bang and said "quiet go to bed!" Only had to do it once. It just puts emphasis that you mean business. It scares them enough to get them to be quiet and stay that way.