OMG The Racket... !!!

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Indiana is now 5 1/2 months old, and a jolly puppy who loves the sound of her own voice. She barks at the air, at her tail, at us, at her reflection, and at the grass. You get the idea, LOL. She is extremely (!) loud, and her voice is loud and piercing.  Normally, having a dog that likes to bark is, well, normal...She's a dog, it comes with the territory.

However - she has begun waking up earlier and earlier...Even when we put her to bed later (ie, she should sleep longer) exhausted, she continues to increase her wake up time by about half an hour a week. She sleeps two rooms away through a thick glass door, but she is so loud that it honestly doesn't matter, it would still abruptly pull us out of deep sleep.

When she wakes up - she barks her HEAD off, and will not cease unless you come and take her out to let her to do her business, and feed her. We've tried just letting her out and sending her back to bed for a couple hours, but it doesn't work, she'll just begin the cycle all over again until she gets breakfast.

Does anybody have any tips on syncing puppy schedules to their own? I am so tired of waking up at the crack of dawn and having exhausted mornings because our wake ups revolve around Indiana - we are working young professionals and need all the extra sleep we can get and she is just OWNING us right now with pre-dawn BS!!!

To give you an example, last week she was waking up at about 6am every day with a racket of non-stop barking and crying - this morning, Monday, she woke up at 4:45 and would not stop. I let her out to use bathroom (she did both) and then fed her (attempting to prevent another yap fest in an hour). She woke up again at 6 incessantly barking, and then again at 8 (Which is our normal wake up time). We've tried to pre-empt the situation by making sure we get up about half an hour before whatever her current 'wake up time' is but it doesn't work.

I would love an alternative to a muzzle, but I've almost become okay with that idea as it's getting kind of desperate. I am also really worried about our relationship with out neighbors as we live in a coach house and have several houses closely surrounding us - I don't want our neighbors to have to suffer the same nasty wake ups we are and I don't want them unhappy with us.

Help!!! ?

[Jessica Girardot]

You don't want to " reward" her bad behavior ( barking) by letting her out. If she is really barking to go pee, take her out to do so , but put her right back in after. My doodle would insist I feed her very early in the morning also. I would give in at first, but by now, I know she can wait. She's around the same age as your doodle.

Do you cover her crate with a blanket or something to keep it dark? That has helped a lot with keeping my doodle asleep for longer. Maybe keep her in your room as others have suggested? I have " shook" the crate to get her attention and tell her to lay down when she's barking. It works. Hopefully Indiana gets the hang of the sleep routine very soon!

[Jen W]

No new advice here, but a reiteration of others' advice: move her closer to you. My now 7-month old puppy was waking up at 4:30 every morning crying. And like Indiana, she was starting to wake up earlier and earlier. I'd take her out to potty and put her back in her crate but she would keep it up.

One morning when she started up at 3AM and I was feeling completely desperate and on the verge of tears, I told her to do whatever the he11 she wanted, but I was going back to bed. She laid down outside my bedroom door and I don't know if she slept or not, but she was quiet and that was all that mattered. Ever since then, I put her dog bed in the hallway at night, shut my bedroom door and don't hear a peep out of her until whatever time I get up. Fortunately there is a door off of the hallway that closes off the rest of the house.

When I first got her I made a rule that she would not be allowed in my bedroom (a single girl needs some private space ;) but she does just fine outside my door. That seems to be close enough for her and far enough away for me. That was about 6 weeks ago and she has never had an accident. Some mornings I open my door to find her on the dog bed, some mornings she is sleeping on the carpet, some mornings she has her body in the hallway but her head on the cool tile of the bathroom floor. Every morning I wake up having had a good night's sleep and not wanting to send her back to her breeder (which, coincidentally, is in Indiana!)

I hope it is all working out for you!