Bad Alarm Clock

[Terrlyn]

So our pup Hurley (17 weeks) has decided that he wants to be our personal alarm clock. He used to sleep through the morning until we woke up (8am), but now he's decided that 7am would be good for him. He is very hungry in the morning and won't stop barking until we feed him. We feed him at 8am and 6pm so there shouldn't be too much of an issue here I dont think. He is simply hungry all the time. This morning he barked for a solid hour before "setttling down"...I use quotations because really he wasn't going to let up until he was fed. We are being very patient and waiting until he stops, but no one likes being barked at for a solid hour when they first wake up. He probably would have continued if we hadn't took him out with his pause to rest his vocal cords.

 

Any ideas on how we can fix this? Or is it really just patience and early morning wake ups until he grows out of this..

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

6 p.m. to 8 a.m. is 14 hours - he has to be starving!!!!  If you want to sleep later then I'd feed his dinner at 8 p.m. and then his breakfast at 8 a.m.  I'm an early riser so my boys are at 6:00 & 6:00.  Good luck.

[Terrlyn]

See I thought that to but he's even started getting agitated at 4:30pm and you can see he's hungry. He circles the kitchen barking and looking at his food. Were already feeding him more then the recommended amount of food because he does seem to be so hungry. I'm assuming he's just needing more because he's expelling so much puppy energy. He's definitely not overweight either.

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

I agree with Jane, it is too long in between meals.

[Heather & Jake]

If he's acting hungry before dinner already you can try feeding him a third meal if you are home and have the time.  We had Jake on the 3 feedings a day puppy schedule until he was almost 7 months old... and if he's eating 3 meals you could spread them out and feed dinner later so he won't be so hungry in the morning.  Same amount of food he's getting now of course, just smaller more frequent meals.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

You mention that when he's getting up at 4:30 he's circling around the kitchen....is he crated at night?

[Terrlyn]

Sorry, I meant 4:30 pm before his dinner time. And yes he's crated at night

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thanks for the clarification.  I'm thinking he's just a really hungry puppy.  My daughter has a Lab puppy about the same age who also seems to be starving all the time.  You might try giving the night meal a little later...but then you do risk him having to potty earlier in the morning.

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

I agree dividing his food into 3 meals a day would probably help him.

[Adina P]

Sounds a bit like my dogs.  They act like they haven't eaten in years and tend to start staring me down and hovering about an hour before their meal without exception.  A few years ago I stopped feeding Rosco breakfast because he started doing the same thing: waking up early and staring at me and getting antsy.  I went to lunch and dinner.  It took 2-3 days to make him realize we were on a new routine and then he was fine with everything.

 

Mine are fed at noon and 5pm.  And they do fine with it but just happen to both be food-a-holics.  So even though there are 5 hours between their two meals, they ACT like it's been all day.

 

I don't think 14 hours is too long for a dog to go without food overnight, necessarily.  Some dogs only eat once daily and are fine.  And this is opposite of most people are advising you, but you might also try moving his breakfast an hour later than 8am.  Try 9...then 10...then 11...then noon and see if that doesn't change his appetite a bit so he can eat only twice daily. 

 

Finally, if he's otherwise fine in his crate, you could also correct his barking.  Give him a firm command to "QUIET' and then get up and bang your hands on his crate or shake it a bit. Then go back to bed.  If he starts again, repeat.  It will only take a few repetitions over 2-3 days (at most I imagine) to get him to quit barking at you.  I describe this in greater detail here in response to a dog whining/yipping when its owner leaves: http://www.doodlekisses.com/xn/detail/2065244:Comment:2437518  and again here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/xn/detail/2065244:Comment:2453627

 

Good luck!  It's totally up to you what you decide to do.  You might find that feeding him a 'snack' later takes care of it.  But with MY dogs...it wouldn't matter what they got how late in the evening...they are READY TO EAT and aren't afraid to show it as soon as the next meal time comes along.

[Terrlyn]

Thank you! That makes me feel better knowing that Hurley isn't the only dog who acts like they haven't been fed in years haha. I'm going to try feeding him an hour after he gets up to make him realize that he doesn't get food right away. Thank you everyone for the advice!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't remember when you switch puppies from three meals a day to two, but young puppies usually need to be fed three times a day.

[Adina P]

I remember it being at about 4 months.  But it's not cut and dry.