Waking Up Early!

[Karen & Zoe]

My GoldenDoodle "ZoeBear" is 5 months old and from the moment I brought her home from the breeders, she started barking at 5:30 am... and will not stop barking!  To the point that the neighbor is making snide comments over the fence!  I have tried everything...playing with her, feeding her, giving her more water, giving her toys...and I keep her up until 10 pm thinking she might sleep a little later in the morning!  HELP!

[Karen & Zoe]

I tried the "QUIET" command for several days and she just barked louder and harder...and you are right...she is not a tiny puppy anymore..and is not in a crate...BUT she is in her pen, so I think I will try the quiet command followed by a loud paper bag noise...maybe the noise will startle her out of the barking mode. I have noticed that when the barking goes on for any length of time, it seems to spiral into barking frenzy! 

It has been over 15 years since I have had a puppy...I suspect I am in dire need of training also!

She is my first doodle, she is going to be huge...standard size, in fact she is huge now.  She weighs over 40lbs now and her bark sounds like she is a 100lb dog!  She is lovely, and gentle and really does look like a bear!  She is a sable..with a black muzzle, gold ears and wavy black hair over a golden undercoat. A real beauty!

Thanks so much for the reply :)

[Adina P]

Does she understand the Quiet command and knows how to obey it? The word 'quiet' could be 'bark' for all she knows unless she has had it trained so she responds how you want her to. Also a command must have teeth (unless you prefer the all positive route) so NOT obeying needs to have an undesireable consequence or else the command is just words into the wind.

[Bonnie and Kona]

The problem is she isn't crated from what I understand anyway.

[Adina P]

Oh...where is she then? I missed that part. I would start crating again because at least that would set up a defined area in which barking is not allowed.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, I may be repeating others, but I crated my dogs in the beginning in our bedroom. They both got very hot in the crate and over a little time, I let them out of the crate in our bedroom and we kept the bedroom door shut. I also run the ceiling fan and a floor fan to circulate the air. When my daughter came to town with her French Bulldog, she slept in the spare bedroom. Her dog is on a much later schedule than mine and my dogs would get up earlier and I would take them out and immediately back to our bedroom and shut the door. We did not let them interact or they would not go back to sleep.

 

When your pup gets up at 5:30 am, I would take her out with very little hoopla to do her business and bring her back to your room and shut the door. I always liked mine to come up in our bed and cuddle and then we all went back to sleep, but I know that is not for everyone and if that does not suit you, put her on a dog bed on your floor or something. I always say "night, night" and as long as I know they do not have to go out, would ignore her.

 

As my dogs have gotten older, I now allow them to sleep where they like. Our bedroom door is open and usually, I find Vern in his crate in the foyer and Fudge behind the sofa in the foyer. They like the cool tile. Good luck!

[Bryce P]

When we got Huff from the breeder he was on a bed at 10:00pm wake at 6:00 am routine. Now we go to bed around 3:00 am and wake at 9:00 am. He sleeps all night and some of the day.