If you’re looking for nature’s alarm clock, the rooster has nothing on the canine. Yes, the rooster boasts a trademark crow that spells “dawn” in any language. However, if roosters are morning bells, dogs are iPhones with paws, long tongues, and no “snooze” button. For a determined pooch, waking their Owner is their chief mission every morning.
This is fine if your pup’s body clock aligns with your daily schedule. After all, what dog lover wouldn’t want to start their day with a lick from their furry friend? For those of you who enjoy a sleep-in, though, your pooch’s early-morning hijinks could be ruining your rest.
However, don’t despair: your dog can learn to respect your treasured lie-ins. Apply these below tips, and your days of waking up early will be behind you!
Draw all curtains closed
At their core, dogs are primal creatures. They depend on the cycles of nature to shape their schedule – which means they often rise when the sun does. By drawing all of your curtains closed of an evening, your pooch won’t be woken by the sunrise. This can buy you precious minutes (or even hours) before you face the prospect of your dog waking you.
Walk them late to tire them out
If you walk your pooch in the mornings, they’re likely to bounce back by the time you’re ready for bed. If, however, you give them a second walk in the evening, they’ll burn through their reserves of pep. The end result? You’ll increase their chances of sleeping like a baby. Similarly, you should leave it as late as possible before taking them out to relieve themselves of an evening. That way, they’ll be less likely to wake you for an early morning bathroom excursion. In fact, why not marry the two? Use your furry friend’s evening bathroom break as an excuse for a late night stroll!
Stand your ground when they try waking you
This tip may seem like the simplest…but it’s actually the hardest. Once you’ve decided on the time you’d like to awaken – say, 7.30am – don’t get out of bed a moment sooner. Your dog might whine, bark, leap on the bed, or tug at the blankets. Unless it’s an emergency, ignore them. As a loving Dog Owner, this act of resistance will oppose every instinct you possess. However, it will teach them that wake-up time is 7.30am – and not a moment earlier.
Once you do finally emerge from bed, don’t feed your pup until they’ve been awake for at least 30 minutes. For optimum results, it’s best if you don’t feed them until you’ve eaten. If you feed them as soon as they’ve woken, they’ll conclude that wake-up time=breakfast. This will encourage them to wake themselves – and you! – as early as they can.
Would you like to make your mornings more relaxed? Book a Dog Walker with Fetch by Mad Paws and let someone else walk your furry friend!
16 comments
My 3 year old female lab wakes we at 05:20 every morning.
I can get no more sleep, but once she has eaten at 6am( I try not to give in earlier )
she then sleeps soundly like a teenager and is actually reluctant to get up when I do about 7:30.
Any advice ?
Thanks
Hi Rose, Just seeing if you got any sound advise? I am currently in that situation.
Thanks, Bridget
My 18 month old pug wakes me between4.30/5.30 , 7 days a week, barking , whingeing jumping up at kitchen door, until I go down,,started to leave him 10 mins before I actually went down but that’s no help, soooooo won’t out, but can I leave him to bark whine, as I don’t need to be up till 7.30 at least , sleep deprived killing me lol
Hi Ann, just curious if you have managed to sort out your pug barking? I ask, as I have a 20 month old rescue pug who barks religiously every morning from 4.15 onwards, she then whines, jumps and scratches. I have tried leaving her but the neighbours are now complaining so I have to get up. If I feed her and let her out, within 10 minutes she is doing it again, I am like a zombie! Desperate for help and advice.
Also curious about this, I have an 18 month old pug and he wakes me up between 4:30am and 5am every single morning because he wants his breakfast. I’ve succumbed to getting up and giving him his food as then he will go back to sleep but I on the other hand am still awake. I can’t remember a time of unbroken sleep and it’s definitely getting to me. I’ve tried walking him late in the evenings, I’ve tried ignoring him (which is practically impossible), I also make him go to the toilet before bed, I just don’t know what to do!
My dog started barking recently at about an hour before I normally get up. This is new and he hasn’t barked in the morning since he was a pup. Last night he barked twice as well. He’s nearly 2 yrs old and has been getting more clingy as well and I assume that might be why. At a loss for what to do?
Mine has been doing the same thing and I am at a loss
I have a 9 month old Boxer who has starting waking me up between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning. She JUST started doing this 2 weeks ago. I don’t know what to do!! I can not ignore her to calm down and go back to sleep because my husband needs his sleep. He has to get up between 5 and 5:30 in the morning. I need HELP!!
We have a 5 month old Shih tau Bichon mix puppy. He goes to bed great in the crate on top of my daughter’s bed.He goes to bed every night at 10:00pm fine. However, he wakes up every night at either 2 or 3 am. She takes him outside to pee or poop. The problem is, when she brings him back to bed, he won’t go back to sleep. He wants to wake me up in my bedroom. He has cried for hours on end until I finally go to him .
I need HELP getting him to either go back to sleep, or to sleep longer through the night.
Does the dog sleep in your room? Have you tried putting them in a different room or in the kitchen in a crate if possible? we have a puppy, who doesnt whine but he does scratch at the crate door when he is awake. But he is out of sight. Perhaps its bcoz he is too young and doesn’t know that we can hear him thru the baby monitor. Is that why he doesn’t bark or whine? He does whine and bark when he sees us nearby if we don’t let him out.
I have a 2 month old Poochon who constantly wakes up at 6:30 ready to play and explore. I feel that as he grows he only gets more and more energy and doesn’t know where to put it. I want to let him whine it out, but he’ll wake up us and our neighbors.
i have a 5 months old maltese she wakes me up at the morning and she totally doesn’t give a crap that i’m sleeping she just keeps biting and licking me now i’ve tried ignoring her and yelling didn’t work i haven’t slept a freaking week i’m going crazy PLEASE HELP
my 5 month teacup yorkie starts to bark at around 3-4 am so then he does his business then he barks until 5 or 6 am when we let him out. any ideas or tricks on how to make him sleep in later and how to get him to stop barking
Going thru the same thing. My 18 month old Yorkie wakes us up around 3 to 4 AM she is in a crate on our bed! She goes in her crate when bedtime around 10 pm goes right to sleep. When she wakes up. I take her to our bathroom open on pee pads. We have coyotes here can not take her to our patio. Then I try putting her back in the crate she barks and barks so I end up getting up feeding her snd she goes back to sleep but I’m awake.
Sleep deprived. Help
i am in the same position, we have a 3-year old resue SHIH-TZU and he is almost the perfect dog had him 10 weeks now, he sleeps in his bed in my bedroom he goes to bed perfectly but from 6 am he will stand up my bed wining i have tried everything but he is insistent and when i give in and go downstairs all he wants to do is play, or he will sit by me on the sofa and go back to sleep, i desperately need some advice, please.
Hi can anyone help. We have a 15 week old golden retriever pup and he goes for he’s last walk around 8:30-9pm and goes to sleep around 10ish. He isn’t in a crate but in a big room under the stairs, which is his bedroom. He wakes up at 2-3am every morning and will not go back to sleep so means I have to sleep on the sofa. I have medical issues and really need my sleep as can’t sleep in the day as have children. Any ideas as if I leave him barking and crying the neighbours I’m sure will not be happy.
Any ideas will be great
Thanks Candy x