SED

He is very much a people dog - we love the fact vizslas are such friendly dogs! We didn't anticipate that he'd be so demonstrative and cuddly - ours too is the largest lap dog I've ever come across (nor have I come across a big dog so happy to be picked up and carried around by his dad)! Thanks for all of the advice - the more I think about it the more I think it might a combination of the end of daylight saving and Murray's anticipation of seeing us in the morning. Fingers crossed he'll grow out of it - it could be worse, he could cry all night instead!

A couple of those Scmackos 'Marrowbones' fit perfectly inside a large puppy Kong. May get too easy to get out quickly though.

He is reliably toilet trained and we've tried letting him out to see if he needs to go and he usually doesn't - I think what he really wants is human company and attention. I'd be happy for him to sleep outside my only concern is that Canberra can be so cold overnight in winter and vizslas have such a short coat - perhaps a good dog rug for winter is the answer. I'm certain the problem is currently exacerbated by the fact he was desexed last week and has had to be confined and kept quiet (ha ha, hysterical laughter) for the last week with no walks! But he did start scratching on the door prior to this. What gets me is that he was really good in the laundry for the first few months and has only in the last 6 weeks started the scratching thing.

Our six month old vizsla has recently started waking up at 5.30am every morning and scratching on the laundry door. We've been training him to be quiet before we open the door and let him out but this only seems to work when he can hear we're up and about and not when we're trying to sleep! So far, we've tried doing fun things in the laundry (like eating dinner and keeping his toy box in there), ignoring him ("controlled crying" if you will), getting up and comforting him before putting him back in his bed in the laundry, leaving the laundry door open (then he just scratches on our bedroom door) and putting him outside (he's quiet for about half an hour before barking persistently). He is perfectly fine outside on his own during the day - the problem just seems to be the laundry overnight. We think our next step will be to put a radio on quietly and see if this helps but I'd be very grateful for any other suggestions! I notice there are a few aromatherapy/pheromone calming therapies on the market but I'm a bit sceptical - does any have any experience with these?