Dog waking up early and barking.
Discussion
Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to correct this behaviour? With increasing frequency our dog is waking up very early in the morning and barking continuously until we get up and go to him. For example, yesterday it was 5:45 and today it was 6:30. It's not every day, some days he will sleep until we get up, but it seems to be getting more frequent. He has always done it to some extent, but it used to be just on a weekend if we had an unusually long lie in.
It's been almost daily this week. It is really getting quite stressful. Our approach so far has been to try to ignore it, but he just barks and barks and we have to get up eventually to go get ready for work at which point it will seem to him like he has got his way.
It's been almost daily this week. It is really getting quite stressful. Our approach so far has been to try to ignore it, but he just barks and barks and we have to get up eventually to go get ready for work at which point it will seem to him like he has got his way.
blueST said:
Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to correct this behaviour? With increasing frequency our dog is waking up very early in the morning and barking continuously until we get up and go to him. For example, yesterday it was 5:45 and today it was 6:30. It's not every day, some days he will sleep until we get up, but it seems to be getting more frequent. He has always done it to some extent, but it used to be just on a weekend if we had an unusually long lie in.
It's been almost daily this week. It is really getting quite stressful. Our approach so far has been to try to ignore it, but he just barks and barks and we have to get up eventually to go get ready for work at which point it will seem to him like he has got his way.
What type of house do you live in? If its a semi, then for the sake of your neighbours, then it's not really fare to ignore barking. It's been almost daily this week. It is really getting quite stressful. Our approach so far has been to try to ignore it, but he just barks and barks and we have to get up eventually to go get ready for work at which point it will seem to him like he has got his way.
We have the same problem. Ours gets up at anything from 5 to 6 and most of the time its around 530. I usually go down and sleep on the sofa with him for half an hour. I take him out for his early morning walk at 6.30 on week days anyway. Herbie is a greyhound and unfortunately they are early risers.
The issue you have is actually separation anxiety. One of the things our behaviorist recommended was throwing down a handful of kibble every time you leave the room. It sanitizes the fact that you are leaving him. We did it for a while and then we forgot.
The other tactic is you just leave him to it. The first night we didn't allow us our upstairs, he whined for an hour and then started barking. The next morning it was half an hour and then he started barking. Now he might whine for 10 minutes and then give us what we call a warning bark. Greyhounds are deep chested, so its quite a deep bark. We won't let him bark continuously. Its just not fair on the neighbors, even though have since told us that they sleep through everything including our 1 year old screaming.
Your situation maybe different, but we have a toddler and dog and if we are honest, we struggle to find the energy to dedicate enough time to the training element of dog ownership. If it was just us and the dog, then I think things would be different.
Best of luck and hope you get it solved.
Jasandjules said:
Does he need the toilet?
It's hard to say because we have always put him out In the morning, so he instinctively goes out first thing anyway. What I can say is I haven't noticed him needing to go out more frequently in other scenarios.He always goes out last thing before bed the night before as a routine too.
bakerstreet said:
What type of house do you live in? If its a semi, then for the sake of your neighbours, then it's not really fare to ignore barking.
We have the same problem. Ours gets up at anything from 5 to 6 and most of the time its around 530. I usually go down and sleep on the sofa with him for half an hour. I take him out for his early morning walk at 6.30 on week days anyway. Herbie is a greyhound and unfortunately they are early risers.
The issue you have is actually separation anxiety. One of the things our behaviorist recommended was throwing down a handful of kibble every time you leave the room. It sanitizes the fact that you are leaving him. We did it for a while and then we forgot.
The other tactic is you just leave him to it. The first night we didn't allow us our upstairs, he whined for an hour and then started barking. The next morning it was half an hour and then he started barking. Now he might whine for 10 minutes and then give us what we call a warning bark. Greyhounds are deep chested, so its quite a deep bark. We won't let him bark continuously. Its just not fair on the neighbors, even though have since told us that they sleep through everything including our 1 year old screaming.
Your situation maybe different, but we have a toddler and dog and if we are honest, we struggle to find the energy to dedicate enough time to the training element of dog ownership. If it was just us and the dog, then I think things would be different.
Best of luck and hope you get it solved.
No close neighbours to worry about, just my sanity. The thing, is, he is 3 and a half and this has gone from being virtually no issue to a daily occurrence in quite a short time. There's been no change in routine really. A few possible disturbance could be, we've had a new fridge (maybe it noisier) and it winter, so could he be cold? I might leave the heating on tonight, see if that helps.We have the same problem. Ours gets up at anything from 5 to 6 and most of the time its around 530. I usually go down and sleep on the sofa with him for half an hour. I take him out for his early morning walk at 6.30 on week days anyway. Herbie is a greyhound and unfortunately they are early risers.
The issue you have is actually separation anxiety. One of the things our behaviorist recommended was throwing down a handful of kibble every time you leave the room. It sanitizes the fact that you are leaving him. We did it for a while and then we forgot.
The other tactic is you just leave him to it. The first night we didn't allow us our upstairs, he whined for an hour and then started barking. The next morning it was half an hour and then he started barking. Now he might whine for 10 minutes and then give us what we call a warning bark. Greyhounds are deep chested, so its quite a deep bark. We won't let him bark continuously. Its just not fair on the neighbors, even though have since told us that they sleep through everything including our 1 year old screaming.
Your situation maybe different, but we have a toddler and dog and if we are honest, we struggle to find the energy to dedicate enough time to the training element of dog ownership. If it was just us and the dog, then I think things would be different.
Best of luck and hope you get it solved.
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