# Wake up time



## Leone'sMom (Jul 5, 2013)

Leo has become an alarm clock.... 5:45 every morning pretty much to the minute. It feels like a habit and not about pee. When he wakes up and gets outside and isn't in a rush to pee. Also his bed time is usually 10:30.... But when it is later... Midnight or one time even 2, he is still up at 5:45. 

Any tricks to break him of this habit? I take his water away around 8 and cover crate with a blanket. 

Thanks!


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Leone'sMom said:


> Leo has become an alarm clock.... 5:45 every morning pretty much to the minute. It feels like a habit and not about pee. When he wakes up and gets outside and isn't in a rush to pee. Also his bed time is usually 10:30.... But when it is later... Midnight or one time even 2, he is still up at 5:45.
> 
> Any tricks to break him of this habit? I take his water away around 8 and cover crate with a blanket.
> 
> Thanks!


Tyler is and has been doing the same thing for months and months now although his preferred time is 4:45-5:00 am and I'm getting pretty tired, especially these past few mornings when it's been a little bit darker. I was going to try ignoring it but am never sure if he really has to go out or not and don't want to take that chance as he is 16 and has had a couple of accidents lately if we go out and and don't return until a little after his afternoon potty break time. I felt so bad because each time the puddle is always right near the back door as if he'd been waiting and no one was there to let him out.

It also doesn't matter what time we go to bed, he's still up bright and early. Actually, it is 5:45 am right now and he went out when he got up today at 5:00, ate breakfast, had his teeth brushed and eyes cleaned, played with his puzzle, gone out again and gone for a short walk and is back in bed for a nap. Boy, does it make for a long day for me! 

Maybe we should get Leo and Tyler together for an early morning play date to wear them out. :bounce:

:help: anyone!


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## Lucy419 (Jun 10, 2013)

I was thinking about this last night....will I EVER get to sleep in ever again? Lol guess not.
I still have Lucy on pads since she is still struggling to enjoy going outside and it is also easier for me for early morning potties so we can go back to sleep. Lucy also wakes up around 5:45am no matter how late we go to sleep. But she is willing to sleep with me after that until I'm ready to wake up.


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## ox3pxo (Sep 29, 2012)

Audrey's alarm clock is around 7am. I'm so glad it's not 5am but they're such habits of creature. On the weekends I sleep in until 9am and she seems fine with it.


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Don't know if it would work but one tip I heard somewhere was that you can set you alarm clock for say 5 - 10 minutes before they typically wake up - do this for a week or so so that the dog connects the alarm with waking. Then move the time forward by about 2 minutes every couple of days. The reasoning is that the dog will associate the alarm sound with getting up and that if you can do this you will eventually be able to work up to a more appropriate wakeup time.


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

That's an interesting method, but it really depends on timing. How old is Leo? A lot of this middle of the night or early waking to pee when their young really is a necessity. I think by at least 6 months they should be holding it through the night, and I think they can even if they are younger. If he's older then 6 months and waking up he might have trained you and only wants attention. If he's not in a rush to pee outside when he goes out I think he's working one over on you. Have you tried ignoring him? Does he go right back to sleep when you bring him back in? I know when Tim has to go he literally runs out the door and goes. Last night he woke me up licking my face, which he never does, and I took him out to pee which he did RIGHT AWAY and he came in and went right back inside and up to bed.


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Charlie is fairly consistent, waking us at around 6.15am. If he wakes us earlier, which sometimes he does at 5.30 or 5.45, then I know he has to pee so I take him out but then put him straight back in his crate - no cuddles and no play. He always settles back down so at least i can snooze for a while before getting up at normal time.


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

Mine are used to getting up at 4 with me to go to work. Maddie just goes right back to bed and Zoey follows me around. On my days off they get up early so I take them out and we just go back to sleep.


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## mack (Jul 2, 2013)

Im in the boat with Suzi. I am up at 5am preparing for work. Mack is up, 2 potty breaks, and breakfast before 6:30 when I leave for work. He normally takes a nap after I leave and back up for a mid morning break before my husband leaves for work. He is only 5 months and is retired for the night by 8/8:30pm. He does very well holding it until the next morning.


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## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

@ 6:00 am my dad takes out Chester to potty, then brings him back in for breakfast, then after breakfast potty again, then brings him back and playtime! Then it's about 7:00 am and usually everyone wakes up.


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## Dory (Jan 4, 2012)

Quincy starts trying to wake me up sometimes at 4:30. Usually, he'll snuggle up with me for about an hour and then he's ready to get up for the day lol. Early mornings have become my new normal. I really thinks he wakes me up early because he's usually zonked out by 8pm. He plays hard and is always on the go, so he's conked out early in the evening. There certainly are days when I wish he would just stay up later so we can sleep in, but even on those rare evenings when he's up later than usual, he still gets up early. Part of me thinks he's hungry more than anything.


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## PiedPiper (Apr 30, 2013)

I would let him up to pee. Keep everything very quiet, and mellow. As soon as he pees, back to bed. He will complain the first few days because he's used to getting his own way, but he should figure out that it's still sleep time and hopefully he'll stop getting up early to pee.


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## narci (Sep 6, 2011)

I guess I'm lucky, we have to pry Oreo out of bed in the mornings.

He loves his sleep.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Leone'sMom said:


> Leo has become an alarm clock.... 5:45 every morning pretty much to the minute. It feels like a habit and not about pee. When he wakes up and gets outside and isn't in a rush to pee. Also his bed time is usually 10:30.... But when it is later... Midnight or one time even 2, he is still up at 5:45.
> 
> Any tricks to break him of this habit? I take his water away around 8 and cover crate with a blanket.
> 
> Thanks!


are you answering his call.? how old is he?


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

It's difficult to know whether to try leaving a puppy for a bit longer, or whether that'll end up with them not being able to wait; Cuba is 5 months old today, and is now sleeping in her ex pen, with a litter box, downstairs. I get up at 4:45 and there is nothing in the litter box; I take her out and she immediately pees, followed immediately by a poo. Then she goes happily back into her pen and I go back upstairs for another hour's sleep (if I'm lucky!). If I leave coming down until 5:00 then she will have peed, and sometimes poo-ed in her box. So that seems, for now, to be her limit and, as with others, is not based on what time she goes to bed - sometimes it's 9:30, sometimes up to about 11:00. Perhaps the next step is to work towards adding just a few minutes to the morning time - 4:50 for a night or two, then 4:55 etc. until a reasonable time is eventually reached. Maybe that will be easier for her to understand that she is not going to be left for any major amount longer...??


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## azcolaw (Jul 19, 2013)

narci said:


> I guess I'm lucky, we have to pry Oreo out of bed in the mornings.
> 
> He loves his sleep.


Ginny and Griffin are both late sleepers, too. They usually do not wake up until 9:00 a.m. or later.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Oh, how I envy you guys with late-sleeping-in-dogs. Let them lie! I got up at my usual 4:45 this morning and came down to a lake of pee (ok, I know it's a Very Small Lake - at this point I am deeply grateful that I do NOT have a Great Dane!) and poo on the floor in her ex pen; at least the small lake was in the litter box. I took her out and she did another pee. I don't think I've ever known a small dog pee so much - she hadn't drunk anything since 8:00pm the previous evening. And, yes, I've checked for any infection and there is none. NEVER MIND. She's still a baby. We expect far more of our dogs than we do of human babies - at least those of us who don't put them in nappies. How are they meant to understand what we humans require of them in our non-canine world into which they are supposed to fit? I think it's unhelpful to say, as they do in so many puppy books, that this, that, or the other MUST happen by a certain time, that deadlines are so vital, that ONE mistake constitutes a major disaster, that every puppy MUST have done such and such by whenever. There are FAR too many variables in all our lives, and in our puppies' physiological and neurological make up to be as dictatorial as many writers on the subject appear to be, and I've read LOTS!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

My boys use to be awake at 6am every day ( I did not need an alarm) and I do not need to wake up in the mornings. I work nights. Lately, the boys are not waking me up in the mornings. This morning I was able to sleep till 9:45am, potty time for boys, then the boys were fed. I was a really surprised they let me sleep that long, I will be back off to bed shortly, it is 10:45am now and the boys are with me now. 

There is hope for late morning sleepers, but if you are awake early during the week for work, you can forget about it on the weekends.....unless, you do the potty thing, feed your Havs.....then, go back to bed.


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## misstray (Feb 6, 2011)

Brody got up early when he slept in his crate. Once he started sleeping with me (at around 5 or 6 months) then he started sleeping in. He'd sleep in until noon if I didn't get up. During the week when I get up to go to work, lots of times he just steals my spot and goes back to sleep! ha ha

I do keep my bedroom door cracked open a bit, so if he needs to go out and use the bathroom he has access to his tray. He rarely does though.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

I'd love to have Cuba sleep on my bed, but given her predilection for peeing on bedding I don't think I'm there yet - I REALLY don't fancy waking up in a pee-soaked bed!!! I miss Tycho (my Coton) sleeping in my room with me but have banished him downstairs to keep Cuba company. She's still in her ex pen with her litter box for emergencies. I could just let her use the box and have a lie in sometimes but I'm trying to get her into the habit of holding on till I get up and let her out. Sometimes it works, sometimes she has used the box anyway, even if I get up at 4:45. I guess it'll all get easier with time. It's certainly far, far harder, this housetraining business, than I ever had with either of my two Cotons. Perhaps I was just extra lucky with them. I can't, at the moment, see an end in sight to Cuba's peeing-on-fabric habit, but I imagine it will eventually cease to be a problem. Otherwise goodness knows how on earth I am going to manage - I wouldn't be able to take her anywhere, which would be tragic!


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

My last post was only 13 days ago and a lot has changed: I was still getting up at 4:45 until three days ago, but there had been no pees or poos in the night and she seemed SO sleepy when I took her out that I braved changing the get-up time to 5:30 two days ago, and to 6:00 this morning. So far so good. She was awake when I'd come down but waiting for me, it seemed, because she was VERY keen to get out and pee/poo. So if she really is waiting now then that's a huge bit of progress. I still haven't dared give her a bed to sleep on for fear that she'll pee on it, but am hopeful that she'll learn that too in time....


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Hey Lalla that's great news. Isn't it amazing how they suddenly catch on to things. What is your usual get-up time? Charlie rarely goes beyond 6.15am but then is quite happy to snuggle on our bed and go back to sleep - the only time he's allowed on our bed.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Jack use to be my alarm clock at 6am every morning. Now at 3 years old, he is letting me sleep later till I wake up around 8:30am. I work nights, so I am going to bed pretty late, like around 3am. I wake up for a brief time ...about 2 hours, then go back to bed. 

No more 6am alarm clocks from Jack! Yahooooooooo!


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Ruthiec said:


> Hey Lalla that's great news. Isn't it amazing how they suddenly catch on to things. What is your usual get-up time? Charlie rarely goes beyond 6.15am but then is quite happy to snuggle on our bed and go back to sleep - the only time he's allowed on our bed.


I get up at around 6 am anyway, so life is vastly improved!! Trying to get back to sleep between 4:45 (my get up time with Cuba for weeks and weeks) and 6:00 is a pointless exercise (for me) - I just lie there and worry about all the things there are to worry about!! On Sunday (yesterday) I did bring Cuba back to bed with me for a lie-in, which was SO snuggy and nice. Luxury! She'd just peed and poo-ed in the garden so I figured I was pretty safe against her peeing in my bed!! She cuddled up next to me, went straight to sleep, and we didn't get up till 7:30. Perfect! This morning, at 6:00, we saw a fox in our middle-of-town (Oxford) garden, but it didn't seem interested in us and took off over the wall.


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

I never used to get up so early but now Charlie is fairly consistent I'm up at around 6am most mornings to take him out. That's when the sky is light and the sun is just coming up. It's a wonderful time to give thanks to God for such beauty and such a lovely little dog. Another reason to be so joyful that we have Charlie.

......... Then we go back to bed for an hour


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

I haven't dared post my latest news any sooner, for fear of jinxing the progress, but I've now managed a week of Cuba actually sleeping in her own bed!! And not peeing in it!!! I suddenly had this brainwave to give her a fake-fur bed, in the hopes that a totally different kind of fabric might let her know that this was not a place for peeing, maybe even reminding her that fur is like snuggling up with her mother, or siblings...I don't think she ever peed on them!! And it seems to have worked. I take it out of her ex pen whenever she is in it in the day time, and at night she sleeps snug as a bug in a rug in her furry bed. We still have the occasional accident, though not bed-related, when she is in the 'conservatory' room by the back garden door - there was a big puddle on the floor the other day. But mostly she is perfectly good at using a litter box if for any reason she can't go outside (pouring rain, I'm out for a short time). And she's not great at pooing in the litter box, which is getting to be a bit of a worry. But I suppose she will eventually learn all these weird rules! 

Does anyone have any experience with poo-eating? Is there another thread somewhere where this truly unattractive habit is discussed? Sorry to bring it up here, but I can't seem to find it anywhere else. Maybe no-one can quite face the discussion?! Or maybe no-one has experienced it. Yuk. I never have before. I think I understand that it comes from mother dogs tidying up their 'nests', that it is a good evolutionary adaptation against pups being found by predators, and that puppies sometime copy it. Far from being disgusted, we should be thinking what dear, tidy little clearer-uppers they are. I must say I find it fairly difficult to be so thrilled by such a behaviour!


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Lalla,
Great news about Cuba, yes it does get easier. Remind me of that when I'm pulling my hair out with our second coming home the end of October.

Timmy is not a poop eater but if you search *coprophagia* you will find a bunch of threads, you're not the only one! Good luck


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

thanks, JaboJenny! Yes, I'll remind you as will, no doubt, many others! I'll check out the poo threads, lucky me!


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## Regina (Mar 9, 2013)

Not to hijack this thread, but Jenny you are getting a new baby/buddy for you and Timmy? Where did I miss that thread. Great to hear the good news Lalla, only proof that it does get easier.


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Great news Lalla, it's always good to get the pee situation under control. 

The only poo experience I have is that Charlie started taking the cat's poo out of her litter tray and dropping it on the rug to play with - I think he ate a little as well. So we've now moved the cat's litter tray into our spare bathroom which is almost never used; the door is wedged so that Suki can fit in but Charlie can't - no more poo on the rug


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Lalla said:


> I haven't dared post my latest news any sooner, for fear of jinxing the progress, but I've now managed a week of Cuba actually sleeping in her own bed!! And not peeing in it!!! I suddenly had this brainwave to give her a fake-fur bed, in the hopes that a totally different kind of fabric might let her know that this was not a place for peeing, maybe even reminding her that fur is like snuggling up with her mother, or siblings...I don't think she ever peed on them!! And it seems to have worked. I take it out of her ex pen whenever she is in it in the day time, and at night she sleeps snug as a bug in a rug in her furry bed. We still have the occasional accident, though not bed-related, when she is in the 'conservatory' room by the back garden door - there was a big puddle on the floor the other day. But mostly she is perfectly good at using a litter box if for any reason she can't go outside (pouring rain, I'm out for a short time). And she's not great at pooing in the litter box, which is getting to be a bit of a worry. But I suppose she will eventually learn all these weird rules!
> 
> Does anyone have any experience with poo-eating? Is there another thread somewhere where this truly unattractive habit is discussed? Sorry to bring it up here, but I can't seem to find it anywhere else. Maybe no-one can quite face the discussion?! Or maybe no-one has experienced it. Yuk. I never have before. I think I understand that it comes from mother dogs tidying up their 'nests', that it is a good evolutionary adaptation against pups being found by predators, and that puppies sometime copy it. Far from being disgusted, we should be thinking what dear, tidy little clearer-uppers they are. I must say I find it fairly difficult to be so thrilled by such a behaviour!


Glad to hear you discovered the secret of not having Cuba pee in her bed and I'm sure the puddles on the floor will soon be a thing of the past too. Patience!

Unfortunately I, too, had the poo-eating thing with Tyler from the time he was a puppy. I tried every remedy there was and nothing helped. It went on for years and I found it to be so disgusting. The only way I could stop it was to run out everytime I saw him squatting and scoop it up before he had a chance. Finally, a couple of years ago, and, yes it took that long, a change of food seemed to cure his urge. It's such a nice change. Best of luck, Lalla!


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Regina said:


> Not to hijack this thread, but Jenny you are getting a new baby/buddy for you and Timmy? Where did I miss that thread.


Thanks Regina, I think it got lost in between a couple threads. Don't worry you'll be sick of hearing from me come the end of October.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Ruthiec said:


> Great news Lalla, it's always good to get the pee situation under control.
> 
> The only poo experience I have is that Charlie started taking the cat's poo out of her litter tray and dropping it on the rug to play with - I think he ate a little as well. So we've now moved the cat's litter tray into our spare bathroom which is almost never used; the door is wedged so that Suki can fit in but Charlie can't - no more poo on the rug


Don't want to hijack this thread with poo, Ruth, so I'll reply on your Charlie's diary thread....


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