Our routine is, I get up at 540am. I walk her and then put her in the crate, take a shower, then feed her and let her play in the yard for a while.
I leave at 730 am and put her in the crate. My DH gets home around 4 and lets her out. He sometimes has class so when he does, he lets her out and then puts her back in the crate. When I get home between 7-8pm, I take her on a long walk. When we get back, she is usually still very active and wants to play until we go to bed at 11.
I don't know what to do anymore.....I am exercising her as much as I can and between having a stressful job and a very long commute each day, I don't need to be getting up in the middle of the night. She knows that when she barks I will come downstairs. So, my DH and I have been letting her bark but of course that disturbs us.
How do I train her to not bark in the wee hours???
Sassyz75
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
She might need more activity... I'm sure all she does between 7.30 and 4 is sleep.. that is a lot of sleep for anyone
Maybe it's time to find a walker- that can take her out an hour or something?
glinda_goodwitch
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
Does DH work close to home? If he does, then we can come home and walk her on his lunch hour. I know people who did that when they had a puppy. Also, could he bring the dog to work? This sounds like a silly question, but you mentioned your FH goes to class. I'm in grad school, and i see a fair amount of people bring their dogs on campus. Its easier if he has an office or a space that is his own. That way Casey will be more stimulated during the day, and tired at night. Don't know if that'll work for you, but I thought I'd suggest it. Good luck!
MrsTC
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
My next door neighbor has a dog walker. I may look into that.
regi
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
why is she in a crate??
MrsTC
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
she is still in the crate because she is only 10 months and is still chewing everything....
bluegrl24ny
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
you're doing the right thing by keeping her in the crate during the day, even though it's a long time. She's still a baby and it's the safest place for her when she can't be supervised. I think the dog walker idea might be worth looking into if it will help her and YOU sllep more soundly. It sounds like she has you trained to answer her when she barks, and is testing you to see how far she can push it! Dogs are sneaky little things sometimes! The only way to get her to unlearn this behavior is unfortunatly - to ignore it. Unless she is barking to get up bc of a medical problem, at 10 months she should be sleeping through the night - so you don't need to get her out as soon as she barks. Casey needs to be reminded that YOU decide when she comes out of the crate, not the other way around. In the meantime, wear earplugs to bed or try to tune her out. When Golem was a baby, his barking in the crate used to break my heart, but you have to be strong! Good luck!! We all need our sleep, every precious minute counts!!!
btrflygrl
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
I say ignore her...let her bark. Don't let her dominate you.....if you let her out whenever she barks, she'll bark whenever she wants out. She's still a puppy and it's going to be between ages 1-2 years when they start to calm down
regi
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
Posted by MrsTC
she is still in the crate because she is only 10 months and is still chewing everything....
Okay. I just don't believe in them.
Kelly9904
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
I agree that ignoring her is the best way to remedy the issue. The other day DH heard Lucy whining, so he got up and fed her at 5 am! I was so mad at him, because then for the next 3 days she kept getting up earlier than normal (normally she gets fed when the alarm goes off at 6:35) Well for those 3 days when she began to whine I would get up and she would run out of our room and I would close the door and just ignore her! After those 3 days life is back to normal! This AM i could hear her walking around (she likes to patrol) but she didnt bother us until she heard the alarm.
bluegrl24ny
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
Jen, how was Casey this morning? Up early again or did you try to ignore her? Hope you got some sleep!!!
MrsTC
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
Posted by bluegrl24ny
Jen, how was Casey this morning? Up early again or did you try to ignore her? Hope you got some sleep!!!
My mom told me to throw a blanket over the top of the crate to make it more 'cavelike' and secure....and she didn't whine! Keeping my fingers crossed!
bluegrl24ny
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Re: 4:20 am. It's getting earlier every day...
hooray!!! I totally forgot about the blanket over the crate too! It's like with birds I guess, if they can't see what they're missing, they forget about it? We did that with Golem to make his 'den' more cozy, and now we actually have a cover that slips right over the crate with windows and a door flap He loves it now, some mornings we can't get him OUT! Glad to hear it's working for you, tell that crazy girl of yours to get some sleep!!
