Dog crying outside bedroom door early morning

catkins

My dog is 7 and has always been well behaved. He is very clean and if ever he needs the garden in the night he comes up and cries at the bedroom door. This hardly ever happens though (maybe once every 3 or so months).

Anyway when we had the couple of warm days he came up about 4 am and cried. I let him into the garden but he just laid outside. I guess he was hot although I did not think it was that hot inside. He is black and longhaired so he really does suffer with the heat.

Since then every morning he comes up between 4 and 4.30 am and cries outside the door. I have taken to either just shouting to him to lay down or letting him in and then telling him to lay down. He does then lay down and, I think, sleeps until I get up.

I normally get up at 5.30 and walk him about 6.15 for at least an hour. Because he is waking me at 4 I cannot get back to sleep and am starting to feel tired. Most days I am having to have a nap in the afternoon which is something I do not want to do. The days I work I am struggling at work feeling really tired.

Has anyone any ideas? I have tried closing the curtains and leaving no lights on as I thought it might have been as soon as it gets light he wakes and thinks it is time to go out but that is not working. Myself or OH walk him quite late at night (about 11pm or later) to try and ensure he does not need to pee or poo overnight.

It is so annoying that another hour or so and I will be up anyway. I cannot understand why it is almost the same time every morning. I don't hear anything that could be waking him and I am quite a light sleeper.

pamelab21

this happened with our first lhasa apso, she used to sleep in the kitchen in her bed without a problem until she was about the same age as yours and then she would not settle at night. We tried everything to try and keep her sleeping in the kitchen, after about a week of disturbed nights we stopped shutting her in the kitchen and let her into the room to sleep in despair (not on the bed I might add) she slept in her own bed at the bottom of my mum and dads bed and that was the last she complained. She slept in the same place until she died aged 14 years
We still don't know if something scared her to make her do this and I know some people will say do not give in, but it made life easier in our house and she was no hassle after that.

Hope you get some sleep soon.

Cassa

Hi,

Just a thought - is it because it getting light earlier? Dog wakes as soon as it's light (4.30am ish) and you're getting up at your normal time - dog wondering what's happening?

My dog sleeps in living room and comes to wake me as soon as it's light which is getting earlier and earlier.

edit: Sorry just read through your post properly - looks like you already dis-counted that!

suki1964

Any of your neighbours leaving for work early? Milkman coming early?

Do you really object to having the dog in the bedroom? If you dont then Id just leave the door open and let him come in. My own dog usually shows up in the early hours cos hes got cold. He spends the night moving around the house sleeping where suits, hall, kitchen, bathroom, sofa - my bed

catkins

I don't mind my dog sleeping in the bedroom. In fact we used to leave the door open and he could choose where he slept. He would sometimes spend the whole night in the bedroom and other times just part of the night (he never got on the bed).

The trouble is our cat also comes in and not only does he insist on laying on my legs but he also scratches the wallpaper really badly. We repapered abouit 3 months ago and the wallpaper was pretty expensive. Since then we have closed the door when we go to bed. Our dog has not seemed to mind but, as I say, just lately he is being a bit of a pain.

We did leave the door open last night and he came up about 4.30 and just laid down but the cat was a pain and kept be awake a lot of the night!!!

I am hoping it is just because it gets light early and that when it starts getting light later he won't wake me so early.

mjburton

One of my dogs sleeps in the bedroom. He wasn't supposed to but he can open the doors (although not now we have knobs rather than handles!). He also cries if he needs to go out in the night occasionally.

Dogs soon clock onto how to make you do what they want. Is it that he has realised, by doing this a few nights in a row, that he can get you to let him into the bedroom which is a highly priviledged place to sleep? If you are sure he is not needing to go to the loo try to ignore him for a couple of nights so he rediscovers that he cannot get away with this.

Or let him sleep in the bedroom if it's not a problem!

HC_2

If, as you say, he is completely clean, I might try ignoring him until a decent time. It could be just the light waking him.

It's hard to ignore a crying dog (as a crying baby!) but it could be just habit.

If you think he's hot, would a fan help in the place where he likes to sleep best?

But if it were me, I would grit my teeth and ignore him until he gets used to the lack of response.

(This from a woman who has 5 dogs, the eldest of which sleeps in her bed and gets cuddled all night... I'm definitely not one to talk.)

happytails

My 10month dobermann Rosie does this!

I have 5 dogs - all are perfect at night apart from this little !!!!!! lol

She will sleep quietly until about 4.30 - 5.30 ish and then we get barking!!! im not too bothered on the effect on us but more my neighbours as we often have some windows open at night.

3 dogs sleep in crates in the back room including Rosie and the eldest 2 sleep on the floor in my bedroom.

But if one night we decide to let them all sleep in my room (if OH is away) she sleep all the way through til 7.30. We are ignoring her and after about 20mins she gives up and settles again which is good.

Just wanted to share my experiences - maybe it will be of some help.