Will not sleep past 4:30am

[jmiles]

My 5 and a half month old rehomed puppy will not sleep past 4:30am. No matter what time we put him to bed at night. He usually starts winding down around 8pm and is out like a light by 8:30. Monday we kept him up (was not an easy task) until 9:30pm and it did not make any difference.

It is not like it is anywhere near light yet that early, but it is like clockwork. We take him out to go to the bathroom and try to get him to go back in his grate, but he is just up for the day, but he can nap later and not have to go to work like the rest of the sleeping household. If we do get him in hir crate, he just cries and cries, then he will finally calm down, but we have to get up at 5:45, so it is barely worth the trouble.

My husband and I have been taking turns getting up, but it is getting old for sure. Any suggestions?

[combats2001]

We had the same when we first had Suki, although she was only 6 weeks old. We basically tried to keep her awake more during the day where possible and put her to bed when we went to bed at 10 o'clock ish, after 7 weeks she now goes to sleep when we do and wakes up at 5am everyday for the toilet and a 20 min run round in the garden. She soon goes back to her bed to sleep but we've had to build up to this over 7 weeks from getting up every few hours.

Try and put him to bed a little later than he is used to like you are but build it up slowly and be persistent as it will take time especially if his previous owners didn't have a routine for him.

[Val (Zebedee)]

Has he been like this since you got him? Do you know anything about his previous circumstances? It may be his body clock has been "programmed" from his previous home to be up then ... have you tried taking him out for a walk later in the evening? Do you have a cover / blanket over the cage to make a more secure den?

[Sarah]

try waking him up earlier - say 3am take him out to potty and then get him back in his crate

[jmiles]

We tired putting a blanket over the top, but he finds it fun to try to pull the fabric though the slates, which ends up ripping the blanket. He sometimes does get up to go the bathroom at 2:30/3am, and we get him back to bed, but then he is up again at 4:30. I am not sure what his routine was before we got him, he was in 3 fosters over the course of a month, so he was most likely all over the place.

My hope is as he gets older he will be able to stay up later and have his bladder hold more. His 8.5 month old sister can go up to 8 hours now overnight.

[lyra]

Lyra used to get up like clockwork at 6 am, which is a lot better than 4:30, but still early. Eventually she seemed to grow out of it, but I think the biggest turning point is that because we knew she had just been outside to go to the bathroom, we could ignore her crying. You may have to get up at 5:45, but if you invest in some ear plugs, sleeping in an extra hour is nice. Hopefully after a while he will realize that whining isn't effective.

We also used to have a towel/shirt in her crate to keep her more comfortable, but when she was a younger pup she would just rip them to shreds. We now have a flat, cheap dog bed in her crate, and I think this actually helps her sleep longer. She usually passes out between 9 and 9:30 and is good until I take her out at 6, then she goes back to bed until it's time for her breakfast (between 7:30 and 8).

[nrgore@yahoo.co.uk]

We had simular problem with ours we had them crated downstairs and every night they would wake up either during the night or very early and no matter what we did we couldn't get them to go through the night.

then we took them upstairs in our room and weve had no problems since that was 4 months ago they go up with us about 9.30/ 10.00ish and usually dont hear a think till we get up

We dont allow them upstairs at any other time though so they know that if they go up its sleep time a no playing

I think he may be wakeing up early to make sure youve not left him thats why we think ours kept getting us up

[HuskyCouture]

try putting him to sleep later and maybe take him for a long night walk before bed to wear him down so he sleeps longer.

[Kaje]

Aurora likes to wake me up every morning at either 4:30 or 5:30. I don't really mind getting up at 5:30 since it actually gives me a bit of time to relax before going to work, but 4:30 is a little much. After she goes outside and pottys, I bring her right back inside before she starts to run around and get herself amped up, put her back in the crate with a treat or toy and go back to bed. I keep her crate right beside the bed, so if she does start crying I just poke my fingers in and pet her till she quiets down.

At first I tried takeing her out of the csage and letting her sleep in the bed, but that was a mistake, she just chewed on me for a while then hopped down and on the floor and whined at me.

So yeah, cut back on his napping during the day, put him to bed when you go to bed, put him straight back in his crate after he goes to the bathroom, just try to ignore his crying and eventually it'll be routine for him.

I need to work on the ignoreing bit myself

[KERNOWHUSKIES]

Been there done that !!! U just have 2 b forceful, say bed n ignore, i know its hard but if u dont u will be run ragged, n yeh ear plugs r good