How Can I Teach My Dogs Not To Wake Me Up So Early?
Question:
How can I teach my dogs not to wake me up to eat so early in the morning? Our schnoodle jumps on and off the bed starting at 6:00 am until someone finally gets up to feed her. Our work schedule means that we usually get up and feed them between 6:30 and 6:45 so it is very annoying to be woken up earlier than neccessary but don’t know how to make her stop.
ANSWER:
Hi there,
This is an age-old problem and one that is hard to answer. You can try telling them to go lay down but I have never had much success with this ploy. What I have found is that once they learn the behavior, they act as a snooze alarm. They lie down for five minutes and then spring to life again. You tell them to lie down again but five minutes later, they are pestering you yet again! And the cycle continues.
Why not get up, get them outside do their business, feed them and then go back to bed? This will allow you to sleep in the extra amount without having the snooze alarm dog going ‘off’ every five minutes? I realize it is a hassle but getting the chore done and over with keeps the dogs on schedule while affording you a longer sleep in.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix the snooze dog problem for good? Any suggestions are welcome on this one!
Ann
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Well, the obvious (but slowest) answer is to ignore him. The dog learned that he could get their his relief and food at 6am by jumping on and off your bed, so it’s a bit like training a toddler not to throw temper tantrums. Let him jump around all he wants. Even if you can’t get back to sleep, don’t get out of bed until well after he gives in and goes back to his bed. I’d set aside a morning when you don’t have much of a schedule to start with it, but it may take a while to really retrain the behavior. I’ve done this in the past with dogs, but they were both uncommonly easy to train. I tried it with cats but, alas, never worked on them. ;)
Fortunately my dog is lazy and likes to sleep in, but my previous dog (RIP) used to do what you have described. She would trample all over me in the mornings until I got up to feed her. Disrupted sleep is very very annoying.
One solution is to have your dog sleep in a crate at night so that he cannot jump on the bed at all. I crated my dog every night for a couple of months and it was great for both parties… (wow! space to spread out!) The crate is a relaxing place and it sends a strong and clear message about “staying there” until you say it’s time to “wake up”.
To be honest, Daisy is perfect and sleeps until I get up. My problem is with my cat. Just be careful if you do get up at 6 to feed them then they start the process at 5:30 instead. I learned that hard lesson.
I just ignore my cat until it’s feeding time. I’ve never really found a solution, I’ve had her for 10 years, I’ll let you know if something finally works. lol
Yes. Just ignore the dog as if he were not there. I just advise you to pay attention if this is not an emergency. Your dog might have a diarrhea and be really in a hurry to go. So use your judgment.
Daniela Caride
TheDailyTail.com
Why not leave the food out for him before you go to bed if you are feeding dry. Then when he gets up in the morning, the food is already there…unless you are feeding canned or raw. Or, you could freeze a kong with peanut butter and kibble mixed together and give him that. That should keep him busy for at least an hour….although you would have to get up to give it to him.
One of my gang of five has this problem. Most of mine are crated at night,except for the eldest (17) and one who never was trained to a crate. I cover the crate of my early riser. I’ve found that especially in summer, if he sees the “light of day,” he is awake and thinks I should be as well. I’m retired and not getting up before 8 for anyone!! I cover the crate with a dark colored blanket and he sleeps better than some of the others. I also spray the bedding in the crates with lavendar oils. Just enough to scent it all,about an hour before bedtime. Knocks ‘em right out.