Dog wakes at 5 every morning

theoldbreed

Hi all,
This is not for me this is in behalf of my parents. They rescued a little dog back in November. He is about one year old. He's a mix of collie and pointer I think, hard to know. He is a great little dog, very playful, affectionate etc and like all pups he has plenty of energy.
As the title suggests he wakes at five or half past every morning. This sounds trivial but they are pretty tired at this stage.
He gets plenty of long walks and stimulation. He sleeps upstairs in their room too so when he wakes they wake. He runs up and down the stairs. He's adorable tbh.
Just looking for some advice for them please?
Thank you

muddypaws

What time does he go to bed? What time do they feed him? Is he housetrained? When he wakes, do they let him out to the toilet?

theoldbreed

muddypaws wrote: »

What time does he go to bed? What time do they feed him? Is he housetrained? When he wakes, do they let him out to the toilet?

After eleven, feed him lastly around six. Yes he is housetrained and he is let out to pee when he gets up.

deadlybuzzman

If the dog was exercised a bit harder it might help. I was told a tip by a fella that really knew his stuff as regards dogs that bringing dogs for walks is all good and well but a human will never tire out a high energy dog by walking alone.
What this guy used to do was bring them out with a tennis ball and play fetch. If they don't figure out the bringing the ball back bit just use 2 balls and keep throwing them in opposite directions.
20 or 30 mins of sprinting should make them more inclined to sleep. Our dog sleeps up to 18 hours a day on the days she's not in doggy daycare running all the other dogs into the ground

Senna

Maybe stating the obvious but would you not just let him sleep in a closed room at the back of the house, he'll come up stairs at 5am because he can, if he can't he'll be forced to go back to sleep and wait till someone else wakes up.

Elemonator

Yeah, I'd agree with the other poster about exercise. Probably needs to get out more for walks. I'm like a little madra myself, I always wake up if I don't go to the gym

sillysmiles

For a dog that young I would definitely consider leaving him in a separate room if he is disturbing their sleep.
Unless he is needing to go out to the toilet at that time? In which case, I would be making sure he is getting a pee stop last thing before bed.

theoldbreed

Thanks guys. He gets for two long walks a day and will rest no problem, it just seems to be the early morning.
If you leave him alone to sleep, it was tried, he barks or he goes exploring. He opened bread bin and ate two loaves of bread, took a heavy lid off container for eggs and ate ten eggs and eggshells, pulls the recycling bin apart....
He goes to toilet right before bed every night.
I'll suggest playing fetch etc

Hooked

OP I'm not being smart at all here... I just wanted to say that reading your posts above about him eating and being destructive, is the very reason I have our 2 dogs crated in the house at night.

I'd go insane if your folks situation was my own. A good nights sleep is so important! Dogs are smart. And this dog knows he'll get his way in the current set up.

Would there be a possibility of crate training him?

Also - I go running with mine and have a dog scooter and bike with attachment. The nights we go on either are the nights they sleep best. Maybe an idea to also up the (already good) exercise?

muddypaws

It doesn't sound like it is lack of exercise, do they do any mental stimulation with him, such as training, mind games etc? Although, if he sleeps through until 5am, he's probably just got used to getting up, and if his humans then get up and give him attention, he thinks its great, so he'll keep doing it.

I know that it would be a real pain, but would your parents be able to get up around 3 or 4 am maybe, before he wakes up, let him out to the toilet, then back in, and just straight back to bed. No real interaction with him, just let him out, then back to quietly sleeping, he may not settle at first, but hopefully will start to learn. Then they can elongate the time they get up, so then get up at 4.30am, do the same, then 5am, do the same, 5.30am etc, trying to establish a pattern.

If he won't settle after going out, again, not the easiest thing, but hopefully would only be short term, maybe set their alarm for 4.45am, so again, they are chosing when to wake up, and then thats it, they are up for the day. He will learn that it is up to his humans when bedtime is over, and again they can then start setting the alarm later and later. Whilst it is still dark at that time in the morning at the moment, the birds may be starting to stir, and so he hears them? Or do they live near a milking farm, or maybe a factory that changes shift around that time? I'm just wondering if there is some outside noise that he can hear.

A bit of a personal thing, but if either of your parents get up around then to go to the toilet (just thinking that older gentlemen sometimes change their toilet habits as they age), he may be seeing it as an indication that its time to get up.

Can they put a babygate across the top of the stairs, or keep the bedroom door shut, so that he can't run up and down them playing? He may just really enjoy it, wakes up and thinks its play time.

Another thing to possibly try, if they keep a coolbox in their room, with a frozen kong in it, when he wakes up, give him the kong, so that he settles back down on his bed - if they can sleep through the chewing and slurping.

borderlinemeath

I'd also give a handful of food at bedtime. If he last gets fed at 6pm it's 11 hours later and I'd say he's waking up hungry. Dogs stomachs are incredibly acidic and they can start churning up when empty. Just take a little bit from his evening portion and hold it back til bedtime.

theoldbreed

Thanks guys, would crate training help do you think?
No they are both quite fit and healthy so wouldn't be up and down to toilet. He will lick your face and paw at you if you ignore him. He is adorable but the sleep thing is getting tough. I had him while they were on holidays and he was the same. I have a retriever that will sleep his brains out so it was very different lol.
Sometimes he pees and goes back to bed for an hour but their sleep is still disrupted and it's tough.

Latatian

I would do crate training. I've a dog who sleeps in the room with me but in a crate, that could help with the barking? Since he knows he's not alone? I had a couple nights where she cried all night to begin with, but now she settles down quite happily once it's bedtime and not a peep out of her until you open the door in the morning.

I would do more exercise too bearing in mind that exercise must be physical as well as mental. A few games, three training sessions of 5 mins each every day, putting him through his tricks and commands when you're doing the dishes or when the ads are on tv, could help a lot. You can also hide toys and get him to find them, name the toys and teach him to bring the ones by name etc. Fetch is also good, and walks, but the more of these you incorporate the more 'balanced' it will be and the more likely you are to hit on different things that will help the problem. If a dog only has one exciting thing in their life- fetch or whatever- they're more prone to get obsessed with it.

Dubl07

Perhaps try crate training or a settle command. I keep a small bag of kibble in a drawer near the bed. My dog knows that 'lie down and go to sleep' is not a suggestion at 6am unless she's desperate for the loo. I reward her very stroppy sighs once she has flounced dramatically back down amidst huffs and puffs.

Cocolola

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I'd also give a handful of food at bedtime. If he last gets fed at 6pm it's 11 hours later and I'd say he's waking up hungry. Dogs stomachs are incredibly acidic and they can start churning up when empty. Just take a little bit from his evening portion and hold it back til bedtime.

I'd try this too OP, it's what we have to do with our fella. He gets his last meal at around 6 or 7 and if he doesn't get a bedtime snack, he'll puke up some sort of bile substance during the night. So we just keep a little bag of kibble in the bedroom and give him a handful when we're getting in to bed. He settles down for the night happily then.

Gael23

Your Dog always slept outdoors at night , he was in all day but out at night.
When he got older we let him in and he work at almost exactly 5am. We always just put it down to aging bu never really knew a cause. This lasted from when he was 11 to when we lost him at 15

theoldbreed

They have tried the treats in a drawer and when he wakes he is told to settle and he gets a treat. Seems to be working, he has had to be woken up the last few days 😀