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  1. #1
    Puppy Buckyball's Avatar
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    6 Month old pup waking up at 3 am

    Hi all. So our 6 month old puppy, Max, has suddenly decided that he will be waking up anywhere between 3am and 3:30am and begin to whine and bark.
    He used to sleep from 10:30pm to 5:15am (12 weeks old to about 2.5 weeks ago) which was great. Over the course of the last 2.5 weeks he went from 5:15am to 4:45am to 4:30am to 4am to now he's at 3am!! We let him out to pee and he does and then goes straight back to his crate but is up again in 20-30 mins. This continues till we feed him...we caved and fed him at 4:30. Once he's fed he'll sleep in till 8am or till we are up for the day, which on the weekdays it is 5:30 and weekends 7:30.



    Oh we tried ignoring him till 5am two nights in a row and it didn't matter. He kept whining and barking from 3:30-5am straight...there was no break! He sleeps downstairs in a crate and we sleep upstairs. When we first got him he slept in his crate right next to me but as the weeks went by my allergies got worse and he slept worse too (waking up multiple times at night). When we moved him downstairs to the location where his crate is during the day he started sleeping through the night again till...2.5 weeks ago.


    What could be happening? and what can we do to get him back to his original sleep schedule of 10:30pm-5:30am? Help!

  2. #2
    Senior Dog
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    Hello and welcome..

    There could be many reasons why your puppy is waking up, barking and whining. I am guessing he is trying to tell you something!

    (1) perhaps he needs to relieve himself?

    (2) perhaps he is spending too many hours in his crate? What's the puppy's daily schedule? Is he bored?

    (3) perhaps the puppy is hungry? How many times a day is he fed and how much are you feeding him? If a puppy's belly is full, they are usually content.

    (4) perhaps he does not want to be alone? Labs are people dogs and don't like being away from their family members.

    (5) perhaps he needs a Vet visit. Is it possible he's in pain or is there something wrong?

    These are just some ideas I am thinking of...hopefully, others will chime in.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog
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    Lily covered a lot.

    One thought...do you live in a rural area? 3:30 is just about the time the foxes in our area start to call...through about 5:30. I'm wondering if something in your neighborhood has started to wake your little guy up and keep him excited. Actually, it could be someone with a different work schedule shutting a car door. Just a thought.

    If he's ready to pee when he wakes up, it's a good thing to be taking him out. Ignore him after that. (this assumes that there's nothing else "off" about his elimination during the day....too much or dribbling would indicate a "first a.m." sample to the vet to check for a UTI.

    My money's on something outdoors, though.

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  6. #4
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    Two thoughts (though i agre with all the above)

    - new sound is waking him up. consider some white noise or such in the room he is in. or soft music.
    - at 6 months their exercise needs may change. He may need more physical and-or mental exercise later in the day. What is your current physical and mental exercise schedule?

    Or maybe he is hungry? could this be a phase of growth (I am not very knowledgable on this front) and he may need a bit more food (a snack before bed)?

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  8. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Gee, my thoughts have all been expressed above. ONe I can add, at 5.5 months our pup had been clean overnight for a month so I let him have the run of the house at night. He was quiet and good all night, every night,slept on the floor beside me. Amazingly, he now was much calmer during the day too. His crate, with the door open, was in our gated kitchen and we still gated him in the kitchen for times during the day, mostly when we left the house. Something to try? Worked for us. He was not crying in the night, I should add, but you never know, being closer to you might work wonders.
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  10. #6
    Puppy Buckyball's Avatar
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    Thanks for the ideas! We'll try them out. We'll try practically anything now if we can sleep past 4:15am! hahaha!!

    So it is possible he is hearing something outside. We do have a Fox that runs by our yard and he would make a racket usually around 9:30pm we don't hear him anymore...maybe he's doing something out back around 3-3:30 now. The pup's crate is near our back slider.

    As for exercise routine...he goes to doggie daycare once a week (thursdays). Once a week we go to doggie training class (saturdays). The rest of the week he gets about a mile walk in the evening, I work on training with him for 10-15 mins and he gets a lunch break during the day where myself or my husband comes home and lets him out to potty, do a quick training session (5mins or so), give him a stuffed kong and he's back in his crate. Lately even on the days he goes to doggie daycare he is waking up during that ungodly hour lol! It is obvious he comes home TUCKERED OUT cuz we can't get him to do anything other than eat his dinner (there's no trying there lol) after that he just goes to his crate and falls asleep or chills out with the door open.

    On his regular weeknights after his walk and dinner by 9pm he is in his crate hanging out with the door open or he'll come snuggle with me if I am not doing anything other than watching TV.

    He does eat only twice a day now.

  11. #7
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    I wouldn't have even considered him being bothered by an animal like a fox, but that's a great suggestion. We have coyotes yipping in our pasture every morning around 4 am and Thor will stand up in the middle of our bed (he can see out the window that way) and give a few light woofs before we tell him to leave it. He only does that when the coyotes are out.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
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  12. #8
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    You didn't mention what time he has dinner. Two meals a day is fine for a 6 month old but he's still growing. every. day. Certainly the easiest thing to try first would be a snack just before bedtime, a couple of small treats or a handful of kibble, a spoonful of unsweetened yogurt, it doesn't have to be a lot. And if you don't already, I'd do one last trip outside just before you go to bed to see if you can head off the middle of the night, "I gotta pee!" even if it seems like he's put himself to bed already. I always give mine a bedtime snack and these days, even though she's 5 years old and even if she's sound asleep, when she senses that I'm going to bed she's up like a shot, expecting that treat. Silly billy.

    Sending good sleep mojo!

  13. #9
    Puppy Buckyball's Avatar
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    He has his first meal of the day at 5am, medium/large kong stuffed with rice yogurt and banana at noon, dinner at 6pm. His last potty break is at 10:30 which is when we go to sleep. I’ll up his food and give him another kong before bed.

  14. #10
    Puppy JenDeHoet's Avatar
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    My puppy is currently in this same dilemma and he is 5 months and has his brother with him at bedtime!! We are in the process of experimenting as well to see what works. We have noticed that when he starts to whine my husband will go sleep on the couch beside the dogs and they both go back to sleep right by his side so it may be the companionship. We are still weary to let him wander at night though but we'll keep experimenting. GOing to try white noise in their area and if that doesn't work them sleeping in our bedroom with us. Good luck to you!

 



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