Waking up

[Mary & Madison]

Hello,
Maddy is now 22 weeks, we keep her up until 11, lots of exercise during the day, no water before bed, and she still wakes up 4:30 to 5 am. Help. We are exhausted!!
Thanks.

[Janet & Jaxson]

Jaxson did the same thing until he was about 6 months old. Felt like there was an infant in the house! We thought it was because on weekdays we do wake up early. But on weekends, of course, we don't. We tried taking him out to potty and returning him to his crate. He usually would be good for about an hour before he'd start whining again. Then, when he was about 6 months old, he stopped! He started sleeping until at least 7:00 am! We also cover his crate at night. Etsy has some very nice custom crate covers! Good luck! It probably won't last forever!

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

A couple of questions: Does she sleep in another part of the house, or in your room? Kennel or no kennel? When she gets up does she truly have to potty right away, or does she just want to play?

[Mary & Madison]

Thanks for the reply and questions. Maddy sleeps in a crate, dining room downstairs.. Quiet. She does urinate right away..

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Have you considered putting her crate in your bedroom? Lots of dogs tend to synchronize their sleep/wake cycles with their owners when they sleep in the same room. And, if she does wake up early, she might be more likely to go right back to sleep if she knows you are nearby. She just be a little lonely. :-)

[Cynthia Shoe]

Another thought - what if you wake her up about 3 am for an all business potty and see if she sleeps longer when her bladder isn't full?

[Cynthia Shoe]

Have you tried putting her to bed earlier? I know it sounds counter intuitive but a trainer told us to do that and he sleepsaid much better now. The time change killed us for a week but now we are back to 9pm to 2/3am potty and 6 am wake up. Today he even slept til 6:30 and it felt.magical!

[Laura and Angus]

I feel your pain, we had a mid-night waker for a few months and it was torturous. Additional questions: when do you stop with water in the evening? When do they sleep until after that potty break? I'm wondering if you can't let them wait a little longer each time to get them used to holding it in...like set an alarm clock and then just gradually go down later and later using an alarm clock...

[Sue]

What does the pup do at 4:30am? whine, bark, cry?? We had a little bit of the same problem but we just let Lexee cry it out as she was not really needing to pee....she just wanted to be with us....We increased by 10-15 minute increments and now she waits for us to get up....any time between 6:45 and 8am....She is 6.5 months old and this has been going on for about 2 months....She definitely can hold it for 7-8 hours at night....her last pee is usually 11:30.....