[lindaat]

Our 7-month old dachshund/terrier puppy used to sleep about 10 hours/night, but in the past month, he's gone from waking about 8:00 to waking at 6:00 AM, then 5:30, which quickly became 5:00 AM, and now 4:30 AM. He won't go back to sleep, and I am exhausted. I can't just stick him in his crate because he will bark and yip and wake the other 4 members of the house. Any suggestions?

[rex123]

When he wakes up in the morning, and cries, or whines do you pet him, do you get up with him? If so you could be rewarding his behaviour. Has your feedding schedule for him changed? Are you guys getting up at a different time then before, do you take him out to do his business at the same time as what you used to? If his schedule has not changed then I would suggest that when he does wake up at 4:30am that you do not pet him, nor do you speak to him(as this is a reward), I suggest that you just ignore it. Ignore the bad behaviour and praise the good behaviour!

[lindaat]

Either I or my son gets up and takes him outside, but then we try to go back to sleep, only he won't have anything to do with it. If we don't take him out, he just barks and wakes up the whole house. Nothing has changed, in fact, we started having my husband take him out to do his business about 11:00 PM, thinking that might help him sleep later, but it doesn't make a difference. We do try to ignore him, but once he's up, he's up, and will yap or bark at the cat, or whatever nonsense he can think of, lol.

[Lucky098]

EXERCISE!

Hes no longer an infant baby. Get him out during the day. If you are, get out more.

Also, don't feed into it. I'm sure by now that you know when he has to pee and poo. If he is waking in the middle of the night, take him out to go potty. Be as uninteresting and boring as possible. Praise for potty, then go back to bed and IGNORE HIM. When I have puppies that want to be early birds, I usually cover them and sleep through it. If he is in a crate next to you, you can knock on the top and say "quiet"

When puppies revolt, it can be tough to get them on your schedule. Just be firm with your rules. Make him tired before bed time and ensure that he goes out and pees if that is what he needs to do, but then right back to bed for the both of you. He'll catch on.

[rex123]

I'm just thinking that if he used to be able to last all night without having to use the bathroom, then he should be all right to go the whole night now without using the bathroom. Have you been noticing a difference in his toiletting habbits, or is it only at night? If its only at night The only advice I have is to ignore the behaviour, by taking him out you are basically rewarding the behaviour of him crying in the middle of the night.

[mrjolly11]

We have 7 year old white min. poodle she has started acting like she's hungry late at night and if we don't feed her she will lick one of us till we do. Is it OK to feed her that late or should we justact like we don't shee her.