Hiya, we have a 6 month old working cocker spaniel puppy. She's doing pretty well with most of her training, and we've crate trained her from little which has been great. She will very happily go to bed when told during the day or evening, in fact she will quite often take herself off to bed in the evening when she's ready without being asked.
Our problem comes in the morning. As soon as she wakes up she starts barking and howling until one of us gets downstairs. It can start anytime between 6-7.30. The time isn't too bad, I don't mind getting up then at all, but it would be nice not to wake up to persistent barking every morning.
I thought it might be that she needs the toilet, but quite often in the morning she's not interested in going outside, she's often not even that desperate to get out of bed. Once we get downstairs she will stop barking instantly and often just lie down again, so I think somehow we have managed to teach her that in order for us to get up she has to barking constantly. We have tried ignoring it, but she just keeps going and going, and unfortunately at some point we do have to get up. I don't let her out unless she's quiet and I don't instantly acknowledge her when I go downstairs, but I'm not really sure what else to do.
If we put her in her crate during the day she wont usually make and noise at all, when we get home she wont bark to get out so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for us?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks very much
Our problem comes in the morning. As soon as she wakes up she starts barking and howling until one of us gets downstairs. It can start anytime between 6-7.30. The time isn't too bad, I don't mind getting up then at all, but it would be nice not to wake up to persistent barking every morning.
I thought it might be that she needs the toilet, but quite often in the morning she's not interested in going outside, she's often not even that desperate to get out of bed. Once we get downstairs she will stop barking instantly and often just lie down again, so I think somehow we have managed to teach her that in order for us to get up she has to barking constantly. We have tried ignoring it, but she just keeps going and going, and unfortunately at some point we do have to get up. I don't let her out unless she's quiet and I don't instantly acknowledge her when I go downstairs, but I'm not really sure what else to do.
If we put her in her crate during the day she wont usually make and noise at all, when we get home she wont bark to get out so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for us?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks very much