my dog doubles as an alarm clock

giftgrub

recently got a new hound...rescued him from a shelter....very well behaved placid house trained...but he has this thing about waking up every morning at 8 am...and barking

we keep him in the kitchen at night but as soon as the barking starts i have to haul my sorry ass out of bed and let him upstairs into the bedroom where he promptly falls asleep on the floor!!

any suggestions on how i could keep him asleep for longer?

seamus

Try getting up when he barks, letting him out to go to the toilet, whatever, then putting him back into bed, and going back to bed yourself. Try it for a week, and he may get the message.

Sarky

Pff, you're lucky. My dog wakes me up by jumping onto my bed, stamping on me, and biting anything not covered by blankets.

Your dog probably just got into the routine of barking around 8am, whether it was in the shelter or from before that. Most dogs are suckers for routine. He'll get used to the way things are done soon enough. Remember though, by responding to his barking he's getting exactly what he wants- attention. What you're doing right now doesn't sound like it would discourage him from barking. EVERY dog wants to go to sleep on your bed.

Doper Than U

Yep I have to agree, by getting up and letting him come upstairs to fall asleep, you've just rewarded his barking. He thinks "Wow, I'm so great... they love it when I do that , I should do it every morning"... and so the cycle goes on and on...

Clearly when he barks, he is looking for attention, because there's no problem with him if he's happy to come upstairs and fall asleep. If he doesn't need to go to the toilet, then I'd let him bark, just ignore it. Try this for a few weeks.. he should get out of the habit. If he DOES need to go to the toilet, then let him out, and then put him straight back to bed... his own bed.