5 Month Old Just Started Barking At 4am

[pomchi]

Hi Guys

I have a five month old puppy and up until 3 nights ago she would go to bed at around 10pm and wake up around 7am, with no barking at all.

however for the last three nights at about 4 am she has started barking ( for about 10 mins), the first two nights we ignored her and then this morning my partner gave in because she barked for two hours straight .

we found that she had pooed in her playpen and this is what had been upsetting her,

she is trained to go inside on pee pads, and has one in her playpen overnight but she usually always waits to go to the bathroom at 7am when she gets up.

We have tried feeding her earlier ( 6pm) so that she will go before bed but she doesnt go.

any ideas on what to do, as we cant have her waking up at 4am every morning and obviously this distresses her :D.

[Genabee]

I would suggest you just get up and take her out, then bring her back to bed. You will probably find she will settle. Don't speak to her at all (other than to use your toilet command) and if you can, avoid turning the lights on. Make sure you are toileting her just before bed too.

Genevieve occasionally wanted to go out in the night too, even though we had mats down for her. She doesn't go inside at all now, even when I am at work. She has learnt to let me know when she wants to go out (usually scratches on the door) and perhaps this is your puppy doing the same thing. You have to acknowledge her telling you she needs to toilet otherwise she won't do it in the future and you will have accidents all over the place.

Take it as a good sign. I know it is a pain to get up to her, but you will probably find it is a turn around in her toilet training progress.

[poodlefan]

Get a dog door.

No dog wants to poo where it sleeps.

[pomchi]

I would suggest you just get up and take her out, then bring her back to bed. You will probably find she will settle. Don't speak to her at all (other than to use your toilet command) and if you can, avoid turning the lights on. Make sure you are toileting her just before bed too.

Genevieve occasionally wanted to go out in the night too, even though we had mats down for her. She doesn't go inside at all now, even when I am at work. She has learnt to let me know when she wants to go out (usually scratches on the door) and perhaps this is your puppy doing the same thing. You have to acknowledge her telling you she needs to toilet otherwise she won't do it in the future and you will have accidents all over the place.

Take it as a good sign. I know it is a pain to get up to her, but you will probably find it is a turn around in her toilet training progress.

The strange thing is she only barks after she has done her business, never in advance so its hard to catch her before she goes, I just don't understand why after three months she doesn't wait till the morning.

I will try and get her to go outside today, see how it goes, thanks for your help

:D

[pomchi]

Get a dog door.

No dog wants to poo where it sleeps.

dog door won't help, since she sleeps in a playpen so unless she can pick a lock or tunnels underneath she doesnt have access to the door :D

[poodlefan]

Get a dog door.

No dog wants to poo where it sleeps.

dog door won't help, since she sleeps in a playpen so unless she can pick a lock or tunnels underneath she doesnt have access to the door :D

How about you give her access to outside via a dog door?

Edited September 16, 2010 by poodlefan

[W Sibs]

My dogs wakes up earlier now that it's the change of season.. Maybe your pup is the same?

I had to so minor adjustments to their morning schedule now.

[pomchi]

My dogs wakes up earlier now that it's the change of season.. Maybe your pup is the same?

I had to so minor adjustments to their morning schedule now.

yeah it could be, we are also going to try keeping her up a bit longer before she falls asleep and maybe a play session, see if it makes any difference, I don't mind getting up a bit earlier to let her out but 4am is a bit crazy.

[W Sibs]

My dogs wakes up earlier now that it's the change of season.. Maybe your pup is the same?

I had to so minor adjustments to their morning schedule now.

yeah it could be, we are also going to try keeping her up a bit longer before she falls asleep and maybe a play session, see if it makes any difference, I don't mind getting up a bit earlier to let her out but 4am is a bit crazy.

We're up at 5am :D We use to be up at 5.30am. Charlie, who use to sleep in to 8am, is up at 6am now. On weekends, we all sleep in till I get out of bed though ;)

I find that keeping my 2 up longer doesn't effect what time they wake up... once they sun is out, Emmy is up. She takes herself outside to do her business, and is back on the bed again and lays there to wait till I wake up.

[aussielover]

I'm up at 5.30am as well.

Keeping her up longer at night doesn't really help.

[pomchi]

My dogs wakes up earlier now that it's the change of season.. Maybe your pup is the same?

I had to so minor adjustments to their morning schedule now.

yeah it could be, we are also going to try keeping her up a bit longer before she falls asleep and maybe a play session, see if it makes any difference, I don't mind getting up a bit earlier to let her out but 4am is a bit crazy.

We're up at 5am We use to be up at 5.30am. Charlie, who use to sleep in to 8am, is up at 6am now. On weekends, we all sleep in till I get out of bed though

I find that keeping my 2 up longer doesn't effect what time they wake up... once they sun is out, Emmy is up. She takes herself outside to do her business, and is back on the bed again and lays there to wait till I wake up.

oh no!! I guess we will see how we go tonight, its just a bit hard because like i said she doesn't make a sound until she has done her business, and once she is up she is not keen to go back to sleep, unless someone stays with her.

[W Sibs]

oh no!! I guess we will see how we go tonight, its just a bit hard because like i said she doesn't make a sound until she has done her business, and once she is up she is not keen to go back to sleep, unless someone stays with her.

Take her to bed and have morning cuddles

Morning cuddles are the best way to start a day

[jazawayaya]

oh no!! I guess we will see how we go tonight, its just a bit hard because like i said she doesn't make a sound until she has done her business, and once she is up she is not keen to go back to sleep, unless someone stays with her.

Take her to bed and have morning cuddles

Morning cuddles are the best way to start a day

hmmmmm I have to disagree lol

Having a whippet who insists on either being on top of you or under you is not the best start to the day!

[W Sibs]

oh no!! I guess we will see how we go tonight, its just a bit hard because like i said she doesn't make a sound until she has done her business, and once she is up she is not keen to go back to sleep, unless someone stays with her.

Take her to bed and have morning cuddles ;)

Morning cuddles are the best way to start a day

hmmmmm I have to disagree lol

Having a whippet who insists on either being on top of you or under you is not the best start to the day!

[poodlefan]

hmmmmm I have to disagree lol

Having a whippet who insists on either being on top of you or under you is not the best start to the day!

I was about to post:

Until you wake up with a Whippet wrapped around your head or with its bum in your face.

[W Sibs]

hmmmmm I have to disagree lol

Having a whippet who insists on either being on top of you or under you is not the best start to the day!

I was about to post:

Until you wake up with a Whippet wrapped around your head or with its bum in your face.

The more i hear about whippets the more I'm starting to warm up to them... they sound like clowns!

Sorry pomchi for hijacking your thread!

[dancinbcs]

Don't feed her earlier, feed her later. A puppy needs approx 9-10 hours to digest a meal before they need to poop, so feeding earlier makes the problem worse. Most will be stimulated to go just after a meal 15-30 minutes, then not again until 9 or 10 hours later. In older dogs the time frame extends to about 12 hours so the worst thing you can do is feed any dog in the afternoon if you want it to hold on through the night.

[pomchi]

Don't feed her earlier, feed her later. A puppy needs approx 9-10 hours to digest a meal before they need to poop, so feeding earlier makes the problem worse. Most will be stimulated to go just after a meal 15-30 minutes, then not again until 9 or 10 hours later. In older dogs the time frame extends to about 12 hours so the worst thing you can do is feed any dog in the afternoon if you want it to hold on through the night.

okay thanks, i will try that tonight, last night we fed her early and she went at 3:15am

[aussielover]

I feed Mindy at around 4pm and she hold on until morning.

She woke me up to go outside last night at 1.30am though because she was given some left overs which obviously did not agree with her. I'm just glad she let me know she wanted to go out as I have carpet in my room!

[W Sibs]

I feed Mindy at around 4pm and she hold on until morning.

She woke me up to go outside last night at 1.30am though because she was given some left overs which obviously did not agree with her. I'm just glad she let me know she wanted to go out as I have carpet in my room!

maybe it's a smaller breed thing?

It's kinda a rare thing that my 2 are fed before 8pm but that's because I only fed them whenever I feel like feeding them And, I usually feel like that when I'm having a down time and just want to sit on the couch by myself for 10 minutes...