Morning time

[natalieanddukey]

Hello everyone.
My name is Natalie and I have a 17 week Cavalier King charles spaniel called Dukey.
He is a fantastic dog who has adjusted to life with us well, we have socialised him well and he learns fast. However we have one little problem!
There is something that me and my husband need to teach him but dont know where to start!!
In the morning he usually wakes up at around 6.30-7.00am and we go down and let him out as he cries until we do so.
As its early we usually bring him back up to bed with us and we all go back to sleep. We have tried putting him back in his crate after his morning toilet but he is sooo excited and howls until we let him out again. We are afraid of upsetting the new neighbours - hence why he comes back to bed with us.
The last few days, he has been waking at around 5.30 and we are worried that he is liking getting into bed with us too much. How do we train him to wake up, go to the toilet and then go back in his bed and slepp until we get up?
Any ideas or advise would be great!!!
Thank you so much.
Natalie

 

[Doberluv]

It is a dilemma when you have neighbors to think about, but there's no way around it. If you reinforce (reward) a behavior, it will increase the likelihood of it being repeated. In addition, by letting him cry and cry and carry on for a long time and THEN....letting him out of his crate, he is learning that not only if he cries, he'll be let out but if he cries for a very long time, he will be let out. So, simply stopping letting him out (ignoring him) will take an even longer time to to have an affect, as it has always worked for him before to carry on for a long time. The only way to teach him that howling won't work is to make sure it doesn't. It usually takes about two weeks for a behavior to be modified or counter conditioned.

The only other thing I can suggest is to bring his crate in your room with you and place it along side your bed. This way, he's with his "pack" in the pack's den and will probably feel safer and not so isolated. This is a more natural way for a social animal like a dog. However, if he whines or howls, you must still ignore. I have found that one or two words of reassurance without a highly sympathetic tone, like... a happy, "you're OK, go to bed" actually helps some dogs. It is attention, but it works with my dogs sometimes to say one or two words, just once and then ignore. The dog will know you're right there and that you are aware of him, but that your rule is that he needs to go back to bed after going out to pee.

A Kong with something stuffed in it may help eleviate boredom.

If you stick to your guns and be a clear leader to your dog; calm, kind, teaching effectively, consistant, setting rules and boundaries and following through, he'll learn to follow you and your rules.

Good luck.

 

[natalieanddukey]

Thank you so much for getting back to me. Your advice is really great!
Its so hard but Im willing to try anything and everything and give up all my time doing if needs be.
A friend has told me of a way that she trained her puppy to go back to bed in the morning, do you think this is worth a try....
She gets up when her puppy cries and lets it out for a pee, then she puts the puppy back in the crate with a kong but stayed in the living room so the puppy didnt feel alone. Each day she stayed in the room a little less time until one day she let puppy out for a pee, put puppy back in the crate puppy went back to sleep.
I really dont mind Dukey waking at around 7, my only problem is that its getting ealrier everyday. This morning it was 5am.
Thanks again. Natalie

 

[telestar_1]

ANY PICS yet???

and congrats and good luck with your dog

 

[Doberluv]

I really dont mind Dukey waking at around 7, my only problem is that its getting ealrier everyday. This morning it was 5am.

Well....puppies are kind of like having an new born baby in the house. You don't get as much sleep. They wake up early. Gradually, as he grows and has better bladder control, he'll probably sleep a little later. If you let him romp, run and play later at night for a while, he may get a little more tired. Maybe it will make him sleep later. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. LOL.

 

[natalieanddukey]

Thanks for your reply.
The last couple of mornings have been much better. He has woke around 5.30 but he has gone out for a pee and then back in his crate with a kong. He has then woke up again at around 7 which is great.
I know I just need to be patient and stick with it. Im sure he will get it eventually. He is clever, I think I just forget that he is still young.
I will try and put some photos on. He is so cute so I will definately try.

Doberluv, I read one of your earlier posts about housebreaking with the bell and peanut better and I love it!!!! I am constantly letting Dukey out so he doesnt really have the chance to go in the house but Im going to try that for when he wants to let me know. ITS GREAT!!!!

 

[Carolyn]

Congratulations on your new puppy would love to see some pics when you get a chance. Oh the joys of having a puppy. To be honest I've not had a puppy for years. I know also as well as the wonderful advice you've recieved so far, it comes down to routine. This will be established in time. It was put perfectly before, when someone said having a puppy is like having a baby. Your sleep will disappear for a while lol.

When we got Max, although he wasn't a puppy he still wasn't used to "our" routine initially. He would wake early, we'd put him out for toilies, and he would think it was time to get up. We've had him 14mths now and it took him as doberluv said mabye about 2 weeks to learn that he wasn't going to be getting us up at 5am willy nilly lol. What we did was also as doberluv suggested, and used like a phrase or word such as "not yet" go back to sleep. Or "It's not time yet". After a few days Max would curl up back on his blankie and realize he wasn't getting up until we did lol. Puppies of course can't hold their bowels and bladder, as an adult dog can. I agree also that ignoring is the best weapon, otherwise your bub will learn if he cries, he will get what he wants.

It's all so very exciting albeit hard work. Hang in there, be firm and you will get there in the end

Carolyn

 

[Fran27]

I think you need to let him out when he cries in the morning. At that age he probably needs to go out after a long night in his crate. So let him out, then put him back in his crate and ignore him if he cries. He should understand eventually that he will get his outside time but will have to go back to his crate after. It took a bit with my dogs, but it worked in the end.

That being said, don't expect a dog that sleeps in his crate to sleep in much in the morning. Mine always woke me up before 8 when they slept in their crate at night, whether by crying or by just making too much noise moving around. Even now that they sleep in the bedroom with us, they still regularly jump on the bed at 8am to wake us up, or they just make so much noise that we wake up anyway.

 

[natalieanddukey]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your help and advice.
Dukey is doing really good. Over the last couple of mornings he has woken up at around 5.30 and gone to the toilet and then straight back to bed. He has started crying again at about 6 but I have just shouted down from upstairs a firm 'be quiet' and he doesnt make another peep!
this morning my alarm went off at 7 and I was about to get up when I heard him cry. when he didnt stop, I said a firm 'be quiet' and after 5-10 mins of no noise, I let him out.
Does everyone think this is ok and that we are on course?
I am so proud of him.
I do have one question, telestar_1 maybe you will know.
Dukey always has tear marks by his eyes and they always seem quite runny. From other cavaliers that I have seen I believe that it is common for them, however do you know of any ways to stop this, or to stop it from staining the fur near their eyes?
One more question (last one promise!! ......As the weather is getting nicer here now I have been taking him on quite big walks in the park where we have been walking for quite a while and running with his ball and playing but someone I know said that puppies shouldnt have long walks. Does anyone know how long I should be walking him for?
Thanks everyone!!

 

[laneyandme]

hi.
i just wanted to say that i had the same problem with my puppy and it was causing a huge problem with my partner too. he really needs his sleep and the dog was waking up at 4am to go pee. i have to work early so my partner would wake up to let laney out, but ahhhh! it just WAS NOT working. we were both soooooo tired and thus crabby. anyway, someone suggested putting her in a difffernt room and letting her wait it out (laney's almost 5mths). so we did, but at that time she was sick and so she pooped all over her crate ( ahhhhhh! i felt awful!), so i ended up sleeping in the different room with her for a while. when i could tell she could sleep until about 6 am (that's when i get up for work) without messing her crate, i brought the crate back in our room. the first few nights were noisy, but now she's doing okay. it's such a relief! we are all doing much better.
i did notice too that when she wakes up she doesn't seem to have to go pee immediately. i think she wants out because she's hungry, so i'm experimenting with her dinner feeding time. usually i feed her around 5:30pm, but i'm trying later. it seems to help her hang on in the morning.
anyway, it sounds like it's working out for you and to me it sounds like you're on the right track. good luck to you! take care.

 

[natalieanddukey]

Hi,

Ah, Im glad that you are getting sorted with sleep too. Hope it continues to work for you....x
We are doing much better too, this morning Dukey woke up at 7, he had his pee and then slept till 8. Its working great.
I will try and put some photos on........