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  1. #1
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    Two steps forward, one step back

    Stormy has been doing well in her crate, staying in until 6 am for breakfast time. (DH starts work at 7, so in order to feed her and give her play time, we have this way-too-early-for-me start time.) But yesterday, DH had to go into the office, necessitating him getting up at 5 am. Well, Stormy thought *for sure* that meant it should be breakfast time NOW, and began to shriek and bark her demands until she heard the garage door at 5:50 am. So yesterday was rough for me, but hey, it's one day. EXCEPT IT'S NOT. She heard some noise at 5:12 am and became convinced it's TIME TO GET UP AND FEED ME NOW*. And she barked until DH let her out at 6 am. And the worst part? Tomorrow is his usual go-into-the-office day so yeah, he'll be up at 5 am again. Please don't let a pattern be established! I'm so tired!

    *She's growing fast so we just upped her food intake, but I might add a more substantial snack at bedtime in case she's legit starving. I know it's not a potty need because when I experimentally let her out at 5, she had no interest in eliminating and threw a tantrum when I wouldn't open the Magic Food Closet for her.
    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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    Just stay consistent, she will learn pretty quick to ignore the odd noises. One of the things I did with Bruce and again with Brooks was to set an alarm with a ring tone I only used when we were getting up for the day. Even if I didn't need the alarm, I'd still set it to signal it was time to get up. It didn't take very long for them to figure it out.

    "Magic food closet"!!! Love it!!!!

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Unlike Barry, I vote for lack of consistency! Ha!

    We get up when I get up and when go to bed when I go to bed. Maybe we'll get up at 5AM, maybe we'll get up at 9:30AM. Maybe we eat at 4PM, maybe we eat at 10PM. We're always doing something that necessitates weird timing, whether it's a training class, special work project, holidays, going on a hike or to the beach and getting home late, etc. I do feed a lot of treats and snacks though, especially when I'm out and about all day, and they get a snack before bed. No one ever bugs me to get up, not even the puppy!

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  6. #4
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    If we are talking about puppies and training...consistency is always best! Puppies need it and will do much better if they have a consistent daily routine.

    It's even better for their digestive system to eat their meals at the same time every day...your puppy will do better at potty training this way too.

  7. #5
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lovemylabby View Post
    If we are talking about puppies and training...consistency is always best! Puppies need it and will do much better if they have a consistent daily routine.

    It's even better for their digestive system to eat their meals at the same time every day...your puppy will do better at potty training this way too.
    It depends on the puppy! I am personally more consistent with puppies, but not too consistent, because my life is not like that and therefore, my dog's lives aren't either. I was most consistent with Linus and he was hardest to potty and crate train and with Presto, I am not consistent at all and he's been potty trained since 12 weeks and doesn't make a peep in the crate and I do whatever, whenever. The puppies determine how consistent I need to be, but even if they crave consistency, I still need them to be OK with change. My puppies learn that life might be different one day to the next and that's OK and to be expected. I have friends whose lives are the same daily and getting their dogs to do anything different than their daily routine (different car, crate, timing, hotels, dog-sitter, etc.) turns their lives upside down (Labs, even), which I don't like.

  8. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by lovemylabby View Post
    If we are talking about puppies and training...consistency is always best! Puppies need it and will do much better if they have a consistent daily routine.

    It's even better for their digestive system to eat their meals at the same time every day...your puppy will do better at potty training this way too.
    We do feed at the same time every day. Stormy just thinks it should be when SHE wants, lol.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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  9. #7
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    I'm fairly consistent with the dogs' schedule, meals may vary by an hour or so but not much more than that. All have been very adaptable to new situations, people, vehicles, different crates, riding on elevators, staying in different houses, hotels, getting up 2 hours earlier than usual, getting up a bit later than usual, whatever. I'm not sure their adaptability has a whole lot to do with me, probably more to do with their native personalities.

    I'm sorry Stormy has hit a bump in her training. It's tough. If you think random noises might be waking her, I wonder if a white noise machine would help at all. I use one sometimes if the snoring gets bad, and I don't mean the dogs. My grands have noise machines in their rooms to help mask other random noises. As far as you guys getting up earlier or later, I'd try to stay the course and not let her set your schedule. Mine do well overnight and in the morning, it's dinner time when they seem to have their internal atomic clocks alarms going off.

    I have the LectroFan noise machine recommended by The Wirecutter. It just sounds like a fan. The Best White Noise Machine: Reviews by Wirecutter | A New York Times Company Does she sleep in your room? If so, I wonder if putting her in a different room with a white noise machine would help, or maybe 2 machines, one for you and one for her!

 



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