I'm at my wits end! Stew keeps getting me up every night at 4 am.

[Jess & Stewart]

I've been away from apt for the past month, living at my dad's. Mostly due to the holidays but also because my classes I was taking are over & I'm still unemployed.

Stew has started waking me up practically every night at 4 am to go out. I try to ignore him every night until he's quiet but inevitably end up taking him out. Just now I ignored the whining for 15 minutes & he stopped whining, went back to sleep. Of course now I'm up & thinking "hell I'll just take him out" so I get up, try to get his attention & fail. So I just leave my bedroom & go downstairs to get his leash & shoes while trying to get him to come. Of course a minute later when I'm looking through the fridge getting a piece of cheese to lure him downstairs, I hear him come downstairs. I walk to the door, he follows, sits, harness goes out & we go out. I'm pretty pissed at this point. He pees then walks around & snifs the air a few time but just stands around so I bring him back in bc it's cold & I'm not waiting for him to find a spot to poop. I bring him in & he lays back down. Then sits up and stares at me until I say "free" to release him to his spot on the bed.

(I'm trying desperately to keep him off my bed & we've gotten him trained too well to sit & wait for s command bc he will sit and stare at you without wavering until you say free instead of just giving the hell up & laying back down)

Stew eats breakfast & dinner usually at normal times although some days I've given him his whole meal 1x/day at 6 pm. I give unlimited water too but he usually does drink much after 10pm. I always take him out every night around 11:30-12. Some nights he goes (1&2) and I think he won't need to go at 4 but he wakes me up anyway to go (usually 1, sometimes 2). Other nights he ends up holding it all night when he didn't go a final time before bed. I DONT want this to start happening when I go back to my apt especially bc it's cold out & Stew doesn't go on command & I live in Philly alone & really hate being out with him later.

(I also am sure a trainer would tell me I'm not handling him right but I usually don't want him to think I give in to the whining bc he's got issues with that & I've got to be creative to get his damn attention, another issue).

Geez, sorry I wrote a novel. You can tell I'm tired & sick of this & getting annoyed with the little things that keep adding up about Stew. I can't wait until it's warm enough so I can walk (have no car) to training classes so I can have help getting a handle on how to handle Stew. Sometimes, I get so annoyed with the little things I begin to think I've been a horrible owner & Stew should know how to be more attentive to me.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Our Vern never sleeps through the night and he is five. Since he always potties when I take him out, I feel compelled to take him out. I know it is not much help and I am sure Vern has me trained, but I can't sleep thinking he needs to go out. I also never withhold water and never will. Good luck.

[Adina P]

OMD Laurie, Rosco will do the same. But I feel no such compulsion to mess with my sleep :)

[Jess & Stewart]

Laurie- that's exactly why I felt the need to get up after he went back to sleep, although in hindsight, I should have let him be. What's frustrating the most is that I'll take him out late (11:30-12) and instead of holding it all night and having us wake up at a normal time (like 8-8:30 am), he'll wake me up at 4am, then I can't fall back asleep and will be up for awhile, so I end up sleeping in later (10-11 am). It makes me feel groggy, like I slept too much. 

I keep telling him if only he could hold it, we could get up at normal times and it wouldn't be long for him to hold it, but he looks at me like I'm a lunatic LOL. 

I'm hoping to brake him of this because I may finally have a job again soon and we'll need to go back to normal  hours (11 pm to 7 am). 

[Oliver & Elizabeth]

Same here. I don't withhold water, and about three to four nights a week, I'm awakened by a little paw tapping me and a furry face looking at me from a few inches away--I can't resist. I take him out and he always pees. It's my fault, I created a (very cute) beast! :)

I know you don't want him on the bed, so maybe he's just doing this for attention or be has he's having a hard time sleeping through the night. I would try to get him more excersize before bed so he sleeps soundly through the night--our bedtime favorite is fetch down the stairs! Good luck!

[Adina P]

Ignore the whining. Or tell him to knock it off. Then put in ear plugs and try to go to sleep.
You could also set an alarm at 4am and then gradually make it 30 min later until it is the time you want.
As for being on the bed, if you don't want him on your bed, don't ever let him up. If you give in sometimes, he's going to keep bugging you about it. Our dogs don't sleep in or on our bed and they are fine

[Jess & Stewart]

Earplugs are a good idea. I think I have some lying around. Yeah, breaking habits is so hard. He's gotten better so I guess I just need to keep at it. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I wonder if someone in your building is on a new schedule?

My neighbor changes schedules each week.  So, once a month, for a full week, he leaves for work at 4 am.  

It does wake up Spud and he sleeps really sound.  

It could be noises he is just not used to hearing.

If you are unemployed, is it that bad?   I know when I am not working I tend to to immediately adapt to a night schedule. A nocturnal.

I think others have given you good suggestions but honestly, I think it will pass 

[Jess & Stewart]

I'm at my dad's right now & he lives South Jersey in a house on 2 acres. I'm not sure he's hearing noises although there was a storm earlier in the night. Stew did do this a few nights when we were still in my apartment but then it stopped. I'm hoping it passes before I go back to my apartment this weekend. 

It's not so bad, just getting very annoying. When I do go back to work (hopefully this month), it'll probably be a rude awakening for Stew :(

During the day it seems he has a steel bladder and never really rings to go out, so I'm surprised that he pees and sometimes poops at 12 pm, 4 am and 9-10 am. Seems like a lot. He is starting once again to eat all his food morning and night at a specified time so I figured it would be easier to know when he'd go. 

He goes for a yearly checkout/shots this Friday, so maybe I'll ask the vet too, 

[Tara]

You've gotten good advice as to the early waking.

As for building attention, I've found kikopup on youtube to be a good starting point.  I've seen my pups attentiveness increase greatly using her techniques.  For free training advice in general, youtube is a great resource--zak george, kikopup and training positive are my favorites. 

[Jess & Stewart]

Thanks, I'll look into this! He's practically a velcro doodle but has periods where he just doesn't listen and will sit/stand staring at me without doing anything or he'll ignore me and high value treats (cheese) entirely. It would be nice to increase his attentiveness. 

Man, I can't wait until I can afford training again!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We dog-sat our daughter's new rescue and apparently she needs to go out once or twice a night or she poops. I figured this out the hard way! UGH!  This has not been an endearing factor in my getting to know her and next time we dog sit, she will be crated and I will simply deal with it in the morning if she doesn't hold it.  I totally understand you not wanting to go out alone when you get back to your apartment. If you are going to feed him only once a day, Perhaps having that meal be in the evening isn't the best timing?  I know if I dog sit this dog again, she will have dinner at noon!  As some others stated their dogs really want to go out at night. 

[Jess & Stewart]

For the past week, we've gotten back on a schedule of morning and night dinner. I switch his food with every bag and switched last week back to fish/sweet potato instead of chicken. He gobbles it up as soon as I put it down with a small amount of water to make it fragrant. He used to barely touch the chicken and I needed to coax him to eat the whole 1 1/4 cups at night. Maybe the schedule will start becoming more consistent. 

Yep- I like living up north but hate this time of the year. I almost can't believe I got through potty training in December last year. It's so dark and dreary, it's hard to want to do much. Can't wait for daylight savings in March!