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  1. #1
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    The puppy equivalent of Saturday morning cartoons

    When I was young, I used to get up very early on Saturday mornings, way before the adults wanted to get up. The rule was that I was allowed to watch Saturday morning cartoons and eat cereal I got myself while Mom and Dad slept in.

    I need the Stormy equivalent! It's getting brighter and brighter in the mornings, and Stormy keeps waking up earlier and earlier and demanding breakfast. For the past week, it's been about 5:20 am. (She gets breakfast at 6.) So what happens is she fusses at way-too-early. I let her out of the bedroom. She immediately trots to the food cupboard. I make her go outside without giving her food. She refuses to pee or poop and instead stands by the back door. If I try to make her move on leash, she pancakes flat. I bring her back into the house and put her in the crate. She whines until 6 am, when I let her out and feed her breakfast, and she potties.

    And once she's eaten, she is super cuddly and wants to go back to bed and snuggle.

    I know I can't give in- it's going to keep getting lighter earlier for another month!- but oh, how I wish I could just send her to watch cartoons for half an hour.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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  2. #2
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    Maybe....get a doggie DVD and set up the screen where she can see it from her crate. Get a timer and plug the DVD player into it, set for the time she'd be awakening. See if the DVD will distract her.

    (I presumed you were serious.)

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to SunDance For This Useful Post:

    labsnewfy (05-29-2019), Snowshoe (05-28-2019)

  4. #3
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    Brooks is a bit of an early riser, but will normally sleep until I start moving. The problem is when I have to get up and go to the bathroom at 6am. On these occasions I'll put Brooks out and give him a small bit of his breakfast, then we go back to bed. Works like a charm.

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by SunDance View Post
    Maybe....get a doggie DVD and set up the screen where she can see it from her crate. Get a timer and plug the DVD player into it, set for the time she'd be awakening. See if the DVD will distract her.

    (I presumed you were serious.)
    Ha! Not quite. She likes to bark at dogs and sirens on the TV...
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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    Miss Kimber, CGC, 6/15/2005-1/27/2018 forever in our hearts



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    SunDance (05-28-2019)

  7. #5
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    Honestly, when mine start doing this (which they all do when younger and occasionally revisit when older), I just ignore them and tell them "it's not time yet". If I think they need to go out, then they get let out (which for us means being let out of the bedrooms as they then have access to the dog door downstairs if they wish) but not fed. Most of the time they don't really need to go out, so learning they won't get fed stops the early whining after a few repetitions. Sass in particular was SO obnoxious that we couldn't sleep through her early morning nonsense (either when she was still in the bedroom or after being let out into rest of the house) that we ended up letting her outside, then crating her downstairs where we wouldn't have to listen to her until we were ready to get up. It really didn't take that long before she got the message.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  8. #6
    Senior Dog JackK's Avatar
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    I'm lucky if Cassie doesn't come over and lick my face before 5 am. Dog breath is not exactly the best way to wake up. Most mornings its around 4:30 am. I've been trying to shift her breakfast to no earlier than 6 am. For the last few months I have been turning my back to her and saying "Too Early!" She plops down beside the bed like a sack of potatoes and begins making exaggerated moans and groans. Once she has been fed and out for morning rituals, she is ready to go back to bed. Now I'm up for the day and she's snoozing like a baby.

  9. #7
    Senior Dog zd262's Avatar
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    I would follow Annette's advice above. It is not going to be fun to have to wake up at 5am every day for the rest of Stormy's life so I would try to break her of this strict schedule now. Unless I think Bubba needs to really go out, like a bathroom emergency, I tell him to stop and go away and not in a nice way haha. Bubba has learned that we wake up whenever I decide to wake up and I'm really appreciative for that. Part of that is because we're not very schedule oriented since I work from home, some days I wake up at 6:30 and get a ton done in the morning, and some days I sleep until 8:30 and just quickly get ready for work. Now that Stormy is a little older and doesn't need the bathroom schedule to be as strict for house training I would try to deviate from it a little.
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  10. #8
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    Yeah, when Kimber did this we just crated her and she learned her lesson.

    Stormy's much more resistant to the crate. She whines and groans and moans, working her way up to just short of a bark. I'd let her wander into the living room but she can be destructive when she wants attention. Which is one reason why you crate young dogs, right, to keep them out of mischief?

    So we circle back to: reinforce crate training again.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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    Miss Kimber, CGC, 6/15/2005-1/27/2018 forever in our hearts



  11. #9
    Senior Dog labsnewfy's Avatar
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    I feel your pain, mine have been getting me up around 5:30-6:00 to eat. They usuaually don't eat until around 7am but with it being light earlier they want up and fed. If I try to stay in bed and ignore Sarah stand over me huffing, wagging her tail, Tucker and Penny will come in and walk over me, paw at my face and meow in protest. Merlin my sweet boy will just wait in the hallway for me to get up and feed them.
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  12. #10
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    They've started waking up earlier with the earlier sun so we kick them off the bed. So how did they repay us this morning? A loud and growly round of biteyface at 4:30 am.

 



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