Howling dog wanting to get up too early!

[laray]

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Hi, can anyone help me with my small problem please?

I have a delightful 5 month old male Cocker spaniel who is very sociable & generally well behaved & is responding beautifully with his training regime.

However, since we got him at 11 wks, he has been a howler & used to howl nearly all night initially.

We have now got him into a good bedtime routine & he happily goes to bed (a crate with the door open inside a pen in the kitchen) quietly & calmly about 11pm.

However, he wakes us up with urgent howling any time between 4.30 & 5.30am most mornings to go into the garden for a pee.

I don't talk to him or play with him, just let him walk to the back door & do his business. I then carry him from the back door back to bed in the kitchen to avoid him running around happily, thinking it's playtime.

If it is early enough to be darkish outside occasionally I can get him to settle quietly for about 30min before he decides he wants to get up. More often than not, though, he starts howling within a couple of minutes of me leaving the kitchen. This hen turns into loud barking in between the howls.

I have tried ignoring him, but he just keeps going for ages & I am worried about my neighbours.

I have also tried coming down after a while (never entering the room mid-howl, always during one of his very brief pauses) & sitting with my back to him until 6am, when I let him out of his pen. He settles happily, obviously, when I am in the room.

This morning I let him howl from 4.30 - 6am & when I came down he had climbed out of his pen.

He is walked & played with adequately.

He is left for approx. 3hrs in the mornings & approx. 1hr in the afternoons & has no real problems with separation anxiety.

I just feel he is acting like a spoilt child & wants to wake the whole household because he feels like getting up.

I am at a loss now about what to do & would just like to feel like I have had a good nights' & start my days with less stress.

I understand he needs to go out if he needs the loo & I am glad he alerts me rather than do it inside the house.

Has anyone used a remote control collar for this issue & found them effective or are they cruel?

Any advice would be welcome on this issue please????

 

[Tigernidster]

What do you mean by a remote control collar? Are you considering giving your dog an electric shock to quieten him?

 

[lurcherman]

Cockers aremental lol plus month old, at night let him out late as possible then just sit back and as he gets older more exersize normally does the trick and best of luck with the neighbours

 

[laray]

Tigernidster, there are collars that buzz, there are collars that vibrate & collars that spray either water or citronella to calm a dog. I would not consider giving my puppy an electric shock.

I thought my question was worded in a way that it might convey that I was a caring, considerate owner & I was asking for feedback& advice.

Lurcherman, I guess I need to wait for his bladder to grow a bit!!!

 

[MissYeh]

Hi Laray... it's good to read that you train your dog and that it is going well.

How did you come to the conclusion that your dog doesn't have separation anxiety?

 

[lurcherman]

Hows it going with your dog is he any better?

 

[laray]

Miss Yeh,

I'm guessing my dog doesn't have separation anxiety because he is happy to be left alone when I go to work in the morning & again when I leave him for approx. an hour again in the afternoon.

He also happily goes to bed alone at night.

If he had separation anxiety he would howl or cry at these times.

The only time he makes a fuss is when he wakes up early morning & wants to get up & play.

Hi Lurcherman,

We haven't had any solid feedback as to whether the spray collars work so have decided not to go down that route.

We have fitted a blackout blind but he still wakes us about 5am to go to the loo, which is fine.

The lady that runs the dog training group suggested he was hungry so I now put him back to bed after he has been to the loo with about a third of a portion of his breakfast.

He still howls but not as urgently as before (this morning he howled 3 or 4 times in the hour until we got up properly at 6.15), so it looks like we might be making some progress.

All the info I have read is to ignore howling, so, once he has been to the loo, I guess we just have to persevere.

It's just so difficult as I know we are reinforcing the behaviour by coming down on his first howl, but I would rather do that than have a wet kitchen floor every day. Hey ho.

 

[lurcherman]

Best of luck and keep us informed on how he gets on as he gets older...L.

 

[MissYeh]

That indeed doesn't seem like separation anxiety if other times during the day he doesn't howl and cry. And thank you for not using a shock collar! These punitive measures don't change behaviour, instead they suppress behaviour.

Does he always go for a pee after waking up early?

Before your dog goes to bed, what do you do to give him a good mentally or physically workout?

Another factor to take into account is your dog's age. If we talk about dog years, 1 dog year equals 7-15 human years. Not everyone yet agrees on the exact conversion but this should give you a rough idea. In this case, your dog is between 3.5-7 years old. Young kids as we know are full of energy in mornings. They jump excitingly on beds of their parents, wanting to play and get attention etc. Like kids, a dog will outgrow this but training is still very important, as you are doing already.

Going down on 1st howl for a toilet break is good, that means he's giving a sign before wetting everything You are doing a really good job not giving in and to ignore the rest of the howling. Remember, he's still young .. keep up the good work, how difficult as it sometimes may be, and you'll reap the benefits of it in the future.

Would you consider a thing like a Kong for when you put him back in bed in the morning? This will take away part of, what I think, boredom and is also a way for him to get mental stimulation of 'earning' his food. Another plus side is that he won't howl as quickly as after a straight meal. He may need to get some gradual training on how to use the Kong as not to frustrate him.

Does he have other safe chewable toys in his bed/kitchen?

How do you praise your dog when he was quiet in the mornings?

 

[laray]

Hi Miss Yeh,

Yes, I would definitely compare him to a young child wanting to get up too early. I know he should grow out of this. It is the howling & my neighbours that I worry about :-/.

He is walked for approx an hour at some time in the evening & then we practise a little training on him & brush him, but like to let him wind down for about an hour before bed.

In this hot weather we have been walking him late, about 9pm, but he comes back so thirsty he needs loads of water, which means he then howls about 3am to go out in the garden :- (.

He always pees when he is let out after his first howl.

In his crate he always has a teething ring & also an antler to chew on.

We have just got a kong today but with the squirty paste & am now wondering whether the treats would give him more of a mental workout..... Watch this space.

 

[TTT]

I'm guessing my dog doesn't have separation anxiety because he is happy to be left alone when I go to work in the morning & again when I leave him for approx. an hour again in the afternoon.

How do you know this?

Is there someone at home when you are out?

 

[laray]

TTT,

He goes in his pen happily, is lying in his crate , in fact, most mornings before I leave him.

I have asked my adjoining neighbour if they have heard him howl, I have parked around the corner a few times & walked past my window to check (even looking through the window & seen him lying in his crate).

Some mornings my daughter has not gone to work & I have left her upstairs in bed asleep & she has not heard him howl.

The same goes for when he goes to bed at night. He happily walks into his crate.

It is only a problem once he has woken for a pee (3.30am today).

I gave him a kong filled with kibble & the kong paste, as well as a small portion of his breakfast.

The first howl was 11min after I got back into bed. Then about half an hr later. Then another half an hour after that.

The howls tend to be only singular, or perhaps two, until about 5-5.30.

Then he'll go for it & do sessions of continual howling, followed by loud barking(with small gaps between each session) until we get up.

I am going to stuff the kong with a freezable filing tonight to see if that will keep him amused but am giving up hope. :- (

It's such a shame as we have happily changed our lifestyle to include a dog, changed my working hours, no foreign holidays, but cottage holidays in the UK & take him with us, but we are so tired, we couldn't contemplate taking him to a property without blackout blinds as he might have us up at even more silly hours somewhere new?

In all other aspects, he is such a lovely, fun dog.

I have just re read my original post & realised he is waking up earlier than he was 3 weeks ago.

Anytime from 3.30 is the norm now

 

[lindypie]

Having a similar problem laray with our whippet pup who is nearly 4 months. He goes to bed fine but starts crying around 5-5.30 am, take him out for a pee and then will not settle back in his bed. Usually try and ignore his crying, not easy, until about 6 am when we let him out his crate. He then will greet us for a quick cuddle jump on the sofa curl up and GO TO SLEEP! This is our second whippet and we never had this problem with the older one and we have followed the same basic routine. I don't like leaving them crying, we always comforted the first one and he settled very quickly. Is it best to ignore the cries of a demanding puppy, I have had conflicting advice, and how long would be acceptable- an hour ?Any advice would be appreciated. Not much help to you laray but at least you know your not alone

 

[TTT]

Very frustrating.....what about adjusting the time of his main feed and restricting fluids from a certain time of the day to encourage him to sleep right through. Also, trying a complete cover on his cage to keep it very dark. With my own dog, he had to be told very firmly that barking and gurnig is not acceptable behaviour.....with the aid of a rolled up newspaper.......

 

[MissYeh]

Laray... I picked up something interesting which I not noticed before.

"been walking him late, about 9pm"

Does this mean, about 9pm is his last toilet visit. If yes, make sure he has a toilet visit right before bedtime. Puppies need toilet visits quite regularly.

"but he comes back so thirsty he needs loads of water"

Instead of giving him water, give him a few icecubes. This will make sure that the fluid intake is moderated and his thirst will be quenched.

As for the Kong, if your dog is new to the concept, training him using the Kong is essential, else he'll quit out of frustration and continues to do whatever he does. Train him with a kong by using things that drop out easy .. and slowly build up to make it harder for treats to come out.

And another important thing.

Do you praise your puppy for being quiet? ... we often praise dogs for behaviours they give us like sit, heel etc .. and often forget to praise a dog when it is showing calm behaviour that too needs to be encouraged.

 

[anniehm]

We had this for about 2 weeks but being a detached house we ignored it, and it stopped. He was about the same age, and it being summer, he woke up with the light. Now he is last up, 9 o'clock some days, lazy thing.