Help! My dog always wants to get up before us!

[Hula1974]

Daphne sleeps in a crate next to our bed, always has. On the weekday mornings, we have no problems because the alarm wakes us all up. However, on weekends, she wants to get up much earlier than we'd like. She is 2. When she was a puppy we knew it was because she had to potty. Also, there was a long stretch of time when she was young where I think hunger pangs were waking her up. She'd scarf her breakfast down the minute we got up.

Now that she has gotten older, neither of these things are issues. When we do get up with her after she cries in the morning, she doesn't ring the bell to go potty, she ignores her breakfast. She does however, go right to her toys. She just wants to get up and play!

What can we do to keep her in bed? I don't care if she doesn't stay asleep but I'd like for her to lay there quietly until we decide it's time for us all to get up. We've tried ignoring her but she cries louder and paws at the crate.

So, what we've been doing is taking turns on the weekends with who gets up with her. She alternates between playing her toys and laying outside our bedroom door waiting for the other person to get up. She's just so ready to start her day!

Although we've been dealing with this (barely) we will be TTC soon and I can't imagine being up with a baby, just getting back to sleep and then the dog is ready to get up!

Please help!
(sorry this was long)

[VASLP]

Hey there, just stopping in to say you're not alone!
I wish I had some advise but unfortunately I don't. I'll be anxiously following along for any helpful tidbits! :D

[BonBon06-11-05]

Hello!

I have a doggy named Daphne, too! I don't know if this will work for you, but we trained our dog that when we said "nu-night," it was time for bed. Period. No matter what time of day it is. (My DH and I both work odd hours, somtimes we have to sleep during the day to work at night, sometimes we have to get up at 4am). We started saying this to her right before we'd go to bed. To get her calmed down, I usually sit with her for a few minutes and pet her and say "nu-night." Sometimes, I will leave a toy in the room with her, so if she doesn't sleep right away, she has something to occupy her. (She doesn't need that as much anymore now that she's "used" to our crazy schedules.)

[Hula1974]

BonBon Thanks for the tip. We say something similiar (though we've never tried saying it other times than night). I should add that she has a special bed that goes in her crate at night for sleeping. This is NOT in her crate if she is in it any other time of day. That should trigger something.

[Sarah051504]

Sounds like she's getting bored. What we do with out dog is throw a toy or two or even a bone in his crate so if he wakes up before us and gets bored he has something to do. Just don't put in a squeaky toy :p

[Vegastrtle]

Sounds like she's getting bored. What we do with out dog is throw a toy or two or even a bone in his crate so if he wakes up before us and gets bored he has something to do. Just don't put in a squeaky toy :p

I was going to suggest this as well. We give her a toy or two before bed. We even slipped once and left a squeaky toy in it...no squeaks until we were awake! She's in her crate all day as well. During the day we leave her with toys and a Kong full of frozen wet food (1 can lasts 5 days). It keeps her occupied for the day. Maybe it would work at night too?

Another thing we do is let her out and then go back to bed. She wanders around and eventually finds her way to us and will sleep at the foot of the bed for awhile.

Good luck!

[linekelei]

I have a pup named Daphne, too, and she also refuses to sleep in. It must be in the name!!!! Our other dog would love to sleep all morning, but Daphne refuses to let him (or us) sleep any later than 6 am, weekends included.

[~Lucy]

We have a French Bulldog who also likes to get up before us. We just tell him to go to bed and stay, and he does.

Just out of curiousity, why wouldn't you leave the bed in her crate? Does she just lay on the hard plastic if the bed isn't there?

[TaterBaby]

My DH gets up at 4:30a.m. on weekdays so therefore our dog gets up at 4:30a.m. every day, weekdays AND weekends. So on Saturdays and Sundays, I will get up with him and take him out to do his business. I then set out his food, give him a toy, turn on the TV, and leave him by himself while I go back to sleep with DH. We close the door to our room. Luckily, I have no problems going back to sleep after about 15 minutes of being up. Tater will entertain himself and lie around and not bother us until we're ready to get up several hours later. It works great for us most of the time.
If he just won't let us sleep, I sometimes put him in the garage, which is where he stays while we're at work. Same deal with food and toys and then we let him out when we get up. Good luck!

[Hula1974]

Lucy - when she is in the crate other times she lays on a big squishy towel. However her actual BED is a Burrow Bed. Very different. We thought this would help her realize when it's bed time.

Thanks for all the advice about toys etc. We have had a no-toys-in-the-crate policy and the few times we've tried to give her one of her favorites in there (for a special occasion or emergency) she ignores it.

Any thing else?

[macgirl]

We have a 2 year old Golden. Starting around 7 or 8 months (when we knew the need to potty wasn't waking her up) she would get a firm "Quiet" if she started fussing in her crate. It took a week or so for her to learn it, but even now on the rare occasion that she fusses before we're ready to get up, we tell her "quiet" and she'll make a huffing noise to let us know she's annoyed, but then not another peep. Maybe something like this would work for Daphne. Good luck - I know we treasure our extra sleep on the weekends.