16 Week Puppy Wakes Up At 4am And Won't Go Back To Sleep

[springer11]

Hi,

I am the owner of a 16 week awesome Springer who is the best dog until he wakes up at 4am and won't go back to sleep!!

We have him in a soft crate in the laundry with access to the garage for water/toilet etc however he wakes up in the middle of the night and is very difficult to settle down again. We have tried taking him outside to toilet etc but he never needs to go he just plops down at our feet as if to go to sleep again. We have also tried moving his crate to a different location and treating him when he settles down however as soon as we leave him again he just barks and barks and barks and as we live in a duplex we find it hard to ignore him and let him bark as we are conscious of the neighbours etc

We normally go to bed at around 10:30-11:30 and have tried keeping him awake all the way up until bedtime but it doesn't work.

This behaviour also occurs when he is outside and we are inside or if we are upstairs and he has no access to upstairs.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

[poodlefan]

Hi,

I am the owner of a 16 week awesome Springer who is the best dog until he wakes up at 4am and won't go back to sleep!!

We have him in a soft crate in the laundry with access to the garage for water/toilet etc however he wakes up in the middle of the night and is very difficult to settle down again. We have tried taking him outside to toilet etc but he never needs to go he just plops down at our feet as if to go to sleep again. We have also tried moving his crate to a different location and treating him when he settles down however as soon as we leave him again he just barks and barks and barks and as we live in a duplex we find it hard to ignore him and let him bark as we are conscious of the neighbours etc

We normally go to bed at around 10:30-11:30 and have tried keeping him awake all the way up until bedtime but it doesn't work.

This behaviour also occurs when he is outside and we are inside or if we are upstairs and he has no access to upstairs.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

As I see it you've got two options to deal with this. It's attention seeking behaviour.

1. Tough it out and ignore it. If barking doesn't get your attention, he will eventually quit. How long before he does so will depend on your ability NOT to reward the behaviour (by giving him attention when he does it) and his temperament. However at 16 weeks, one pitstop during the night is to be expected.

2. Move his sleeping position to be closer to you. That's what he wants. You're living with a social animal and its natural for them to sleep with their pack. If you move his crate to the bedroom, my guess is he'd be a lot quieter.

Have you tried covering the crate? Often pups wake at dawn. Keeping the crate darker may delay waking.

How does he access water at night if its in the garage and he's locked in a soft crate in the laundry?

Is the laundry cold? Laundries are heat sinks. I'd never sleep a dog in one in a colder climate.

Edited February 17, 2010 by poodlefan

[PoppyDog]

You just described life with our 12 week old CKCS X!!! She has been waking at 1am, 2am, 3am and thinking sleep time is over! She sleeps in our ensuite and is close to us so I think its an attention seeking thing now as we gave in a few times and put her out in the tiled area with her bed, toys and the T.V on for company! Anyway...last night we got tough, she stayed up with my fiance, he took her out JUST before he came to bed and she slept until 5.30am!!! Yay!!!

My vet reccomended lifting her water at around 7 or 8 each night so that she wasn't drinking and needing to pee every couple of hours so that may of helped too! Good luck! I can't wait till our puppy learns to sleep in! LOL!

[poodlefan]

You just described life with our 12 week old CKCS X!!! She has been waking at 1am, 2am, 3am and thinking sleep time is over! She sleeps in our ensuite and is close to us so I think its an attention seeking thing now as we gave in a few times and put her out in the tiled area with her bed, toys and the T.V on for company! Anyway...last night we got tough, she stayed up with my fiance, he took her out JUST before he came to bed and she slept until 5.30am!!! Yay!!!

My vet reccomended lifting her water at around 7 or 8 each night so that she wasn't drinking and needing to pee every couple of hours so that may of helped too! Good luck! I can't wait till our puppy learns to sleep in! LOL!

I'd never do that or at least not that early. If they're drinking its because they need to. You're talking about depriving a dog of water for up to 10 hours.

[Dogsfevr]

springers can be very vocal & do love there humans.

I agree with poodlefan .

he is only a baby & whilst you need to set a routine you also need to instill confidience so your pup settles with age,not get worse with age

[mrs tornsocks]

Hi,

I am the owner of a 16 week awesome Springer who is the best dog until he wakes up at 4am and won't go back to sleep!!

We have him in a soft crate in the laundry with access to the garage for water/toilet etc however he wakes up in the middle of the night and is very difficult to settle down again. We have tried taking him outside to toilet etc but he never needs to go he just plops down at our feet as if to go to sleep again. We have also tried moving his crate to a different location and treating him when he settles down however as soon as we leave him again he just barks and barks and barks and as we live in a duplex we find it hard to ignore him and let him bark as we are conscious of the neighbours etc

We normally go to bed at around 10:30-11:30 and have tried keeping him awake all the way up until bedtime but it doesn't work.

This behaviour also occurs when he is outside and we are inside or if we are upstairs and he has no access to upstairs.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

If you can't keep him awake until 10.30 or so, what time is he going to bed ?

It sounds like you need to get him tuned to YOUR routine --- how long have you had him and has this behaviour jsut started ?

[springer11]

Firstly people thanks for the responses!!

We've had him for 8 weeks...

We keep him up until we go to bed, however sometimes he falls asleep on his futon in the loungeroom whilst we're watching TV late at night...

Haven't tried covering the crate yet, laundry isn't cold. He sleeps in the laundry in his crate but not zipped in, the other side of the laundry leads to the garage which we keep open for him to access water/toilet etc.

[thornliegirl]

Hi Springer, here's my input... tough it out.

We got Chester about 4 weeks ago now and we (actually, me) made the silly mistake of giving in to him (as we were also conscious of the neigbours) after the OH leaves for work at 4am. I did it twice and from then on it made his crying SO SO SO much worse.......and now he sleeps on the bed and whines if he's on the floor, not physically ON the bed So unless you want pup on the bed with you... tough it out.

Good Luck

[luffy4688]

If you do decide to tough it out and ignore the barking I guess you could try talking to the neighbours and tell them it's only temporary and you're working on it. You could bring your puppy over as well and it'll work even better if they fall in love with him.

[poochmad]

Oh god, how I do remember this very thing. Henschke (now 20 months) would get up as a pup and then was awake and wanting to play. At first I would play with him thinking it would tire him out (with eyeballs hanging out my head), but then I got tired of that and just put him back and ignored him. Sure he moaned a bit, actually more than a bit, LOL, but after a while he stopped.

[Cazwah]

Oh how awful, I know how it is to be sleep deprived. What works for us (with our 16wk mini dach) is that when he first wakes up and whines, usually around 5am (sometimes before), we ignore it and he usually settles down after a few mins. Then he wakes up and whines around 5.30 or 6, usually that is okay as we get up for work around then. On the weekends however (no such thing in doggy life) it is tricky. I find that if I get up at the 5.30 whining session and toilet him then make him a couple of kongs with his kibble and a bit of wet dog food it will keep him quiet and put him back to sleep (most times) for at least an extra hour. If he goes back to sleep he won't wake up sometimes for a couple of hours- bliss!! Also I find once he's been toileted and fed and got a bit of attention, being in his crate with the door on helps him to settle down better than if he's in his play-pen. Of course I'm up anyway not long after, but especially on the weekend I appreciate any extra time asleep. Maybe the kongs would work for you too?

PS- also, when he was younger and I thought he might actually be scared that he was alone etc I would get up and just walk past the crate/playpen so he could see me, without talking to him. It always stopped him temporarily and at least I knew that he knew we were in the house with him. During the day I would totally ignore any whining and then I would reward him for being quiet in his crate and that really worked very quickly to help him settle down in there. Even waiting for a second's pause seemed to work. Best of luck!