My dog thinks his job is to get us up in the morning.

turnitround

We have a Cocker Spaniel who is brilliant in most ways but he seems to have a clock in his head for everything. 
Gets fed twice a day and will prompt hubby when its feeding time by standing in front of him and tapping on his foot. Knows when son is due home from work and will place himself at the back door waiting for him. Bang on 8pm he gets a biscuit and will always be sat in front of hubby spot on 8 o clock.
All good, but-

He is very demanding in a morning when he decided it is time to get up. About 18 months ago we moved house. before this he was fine and never bothered us when were in bed. Then about 12 months ago he started to tap on the bedroom door every day at 5.45am on the dot. Hubby has always been an early riser so just got up with him. Then a few months ago he decided that 5.45 was no longer a good time and started tapping the door at 5.15. 
Now he has started to do it at 4.30am. 

We have tried everything but if we ignore him he begins to barks loudly non stop and apart from the fact that we have 2 shift workers who don't appreciate the barking we also don't want him disturbing the neighbours.

We have tried going to bed earlier/later, he is let out last thing before we go to bed and if we wake in the night he is always let out for a wee.
We have tried getting up and letting him out then going back to bed (this works at 2am, 3am, 4am but once it is 4.30 that's it) There are no toileting issues and he is not doing it for food, its just a case of 'I want to get up now so you must also get up'.


Tried leaving all internal doors open so he has the run of the house and also tried putting his bed in our room to see if he settles better. When we go to bed he is brilliant, just a simple 'In your bed' and he gets in and settles down. Till 4.30!.  The room is cool and quiet and the blinds keep strong light out. Doesn't matter what time we go to bed its always the same early morning call. Normally he will respond to 'Quiet' when he is barking but not when he wants us out of bed. 
Its like having a young child on Xmas morning except its every day.

Any suggestions please

HampshireH

Have you left him downstairs in one room?

Free reign of the house may be the issue.

74jax

Is it too light? 

stig

When is he fed? We had something similar, shifting a meal till later in the evening helped.

turnitround

Thanks for the replies.

It's not too light as we have a blind and curtains at the window. 
 Before we moved house we left him downstairs in one room and he was fine. Since we moved he wont stay downstairs alone. If we try he scratches the door to get upstairs. 

We first had his bed on the landing and that was ok at first but then he started scratching and tapping our bedroom door so we started leaving it open so he could get in. He then started to go to sleep on the bedroom floor so we put his bed in a corner of the room thinking he would be more secure. He sleeps fine till he decides its morning.

We never had a problem before we moved house.

turnitround

stig said:

When is he fed? We had something similar, shifting a meal till later in the evening helped.

Thank you but we have tried that as well. Hubby was feeding him at 6am then 6pm but we have tried leaving the last feed till 7.30pm but it makes no difference. 
When hubby gets up with him he doesnt feed him. He makes a brew and then sits on the couch and the dog will happily curl up next to him and go back to sleep

KxMx

Unfortunately your dog has learnt how to get what he wants- one of you up when he is ready.

I think you may have to tough it out with ignoring him and the barking - I'm sure if you have an apologetic word with neighbours to pre warn them, they will understand.

How long did you try ignoring him before? 

Katiehound

I'm just wondering if you could say something like 'Go back to bed' (very low stern voice not a happy airy one!) and if he stays there for even a minute or two give him a teeny reward. Next day try to build the time up etc....i know, tedious but worth a try

The 'Send away to bed' is a useful command anyway- part of the Good Citizen KC programme but not sure if it is in the Silver or Gold level.

sheramber

Is there something that wakens him. One of mine started  wakening at 4am.After a few weeks I discovered a milkman delivered to our street at 3.45am and the noise he made was what disturbed her. Neither of the two other dogs woke.  Another one was wakened by the birds early morning chorus. 

Spendless

My mongrel is 1/4 cocker spaniel with many of their traits. He is also VERY light sensitive. For us it's at the other end of the day when he can decide he wants to play and the way we have to  get him to settle is to turn off every light we have switched on. I know you've said it's not the light because you have both blind and curtain but you've also mentioned moving house. Does the sun rise on a different part of the house to what it did in your old place? Has the early shifting changed since it's been BST? Is there a glow of light coming from charging mobile phones on bedside cabinets? I would at least eliminate light being the issue by putting him in a completely blackout spot and see what happens  

Murphybear

Change the time of his watch by a couple of hours