Early riser dog

ladyholly

Our 11 year border Collie has always been an early riser but recently it has got ridiculous 4.58am this morning. We are retired so don't want to be up that early. Has anyone any suggestions what we can do to make him sleep later. He sleeps in the bedroom. 

MovingForwards

Can you provide a typical daily routine with him, food, toilet, walk timings as there may be something to be adjusted.

My cat tries to get me up at 3am when I've not left her enough food overnight or she ate it too early when we have gone to bed.

mcpitman

At 11 years old, like humans, the bladder gets a little weaker and the urge to pee in the night increases.

Are they out "for the loo" before bed?

ladyholly

He gets his last walk about 10pm but my husband is usually up until at least 2am. He has tried letting him out o taking him for a short walk before he goes to bed but he isn't interested. We have also tried giving him supper which he ate (of course) but it made no difference. We have also tried just letting him into the garden when he gets up and us going back to bed but he doesn't settle.
Routine is breakfast and short walk when he gets upabout 15mins. His main walk is about 1pm which is anything between 40min and1 1/2hours depending on weather. This is mainly off lead. Then he is out at 10pm for approx 20mins. Today I am going to try giving him an extra late morning walk somewhere he doesn't know. The idea being he pulls like a tractor in new places so there will be training incorporated into his walk so he gets the mental work as well.
We will see if that helps. 

ladyholly

I should have added that although he likes chasing balls he is getting a bit arthritic so we limit that. He isn't interested in toys or playing at home. even when treats are involved he only does it for the food and tries to circumvent the game to get the treat. 

ladyholly

Well I took him out this morning but it didn't go quite as planned as I had a fall. I was OK other than a scraped knee but it left me shaken and breathless so I had to cut it a bit short. We were out about 30minutes and I worked him as well as I could. We will see what happens in the next day or two. I will try not to fall over tomorrow. 

peb

Oh no, yes - do not want you to build a fall into the routine

MovingForwards

Hope you're ok, take it easy for a few days as it's a bit of a shock too.

sevenhills

ladyholly said:

He gets his last walk about 10pm but my husband is usually up until at least 2am. He has tried letting him out o taking him for a short walk before he goes to bed but he isn't interested.

If he is in charge, he will want to go for a walk when it suits him. It shouldn't work like that though.

ladyholly

sevenhills said:

If he is in charge, he will want to go for a walk when it suits him. It shouldn't work like that though.

Personally I would just put his lead on and insist he goes, He has never refused a walk from me but my dh isnt as stubborn as me. I would say he is not a normal BC. He shows no interest in livestock, is very stubborn which makes training hard, he can appear as thick as two short planks on the other hand he has the collie stare down to a T, can be very focused on what he wants to do to the point he doesnt hear instructions although very responsive when not on his own business and is intensely loyal to my husband to the point he totally ignores me if we are out together.

He was a 6 year old rescue when we adopted him and I think his original owner spoilt him rotten and he wasnt socialised properly so could be aggresive and inappropriate with other dogs. He once nearly tipped a small dog over sniffing his bottom too hard. That we have sorted and there is now only one dog he reacts to and that dog is one that almost every other round here dog reacts to. He even has a couple of doggy friends now.

If we can just sort this getting up so early we will be happy. It has only started in the last 3 weeks or so and I have no idea why. He isnt desperate for a wee and isnt bothered to even go in the garden.

Savvy_Sue

It's a long time since I've lived with a dog, but I'm thinking back to when the boys were small ... and I was NOT a very attentive mother any time before 7 am ... 

They learned that they weren't going to get a lot of attention before I'd woken up. And I learned to distract the eldest on his way out of his bedroom - leaving broken up jigsaw puzzles along his route did the trick, to a certain extent, although he got VERY good at doing jigsaws ... and it wouldn't have worked with all children because it was only the eldest who couldn't leave a puzzle in pieces, it HAD to be done! 

Anyway, enough rambling. Would he be amenable to going and playing by himself? Particular toy / kong which is not on offer all the time? 

There's even a Doggy TV channel now, isn't there? Yes, and also freely available on YouTube if you google.