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KathyK09 · 08-21-2008, 08:48 AM

Hello!

I was hoping someone could give me some advice about our puppy Mariah who is now 9 months old and problems we are having with her barking in the morning!

Mariah is about 99% pee-pad trained. Originally our plan was to pee-pad train her because of the cold/snowy winter in WI and then in spring try to get her to go outside as well. For a variety of reasons including the fact that our neighbors have been breeding pit bulls that continuously come into our yard, as well as the fact that my children haven’t been as helpful as I would like with potty training, we have decided to continue with pee-pads only. Because originally we were going to have her go outside, we put her x-pen in our kitchen at first.

When we realized that the pee-pads were going to be a permanent part of our life we decided to move Mariah’s x-pen out of the kitchen. Her x-pen is now in a great spot right in the center of our house. Unfortunately she is having a hard time with the move. She has always gone to bed really well in her x-pen and slept all night.

The first night after moving her x-pen she barked ALL night. My husband was laying down with our daughter who had a nightmare and got up several times to comfort Mariah and give her treats. I didn’t know he was doing this and unfortunately I was doing the same thing. When we compared notes the next morning we realized our mistake! Between the two of us we had both been going to Mariah constantly the whole night…I’m surprised we didn’t bump into each other at some point during the night. Sigh….looking back its obvious Mariah thought she was being rewarded for all her barking! That is something we very purposely avoided doing since getting her.

Since then we have worked very hard at ignoring her barking during the night. We make sure she has had a very active day, a clean pee-pad, fresh food/water and she goes into the pen on her own (coaxed by a treat). She’s back to going to bed really well now and sleeps all night long. My son sometimes gets home 11-midnight and my husband often goes to work at 4:45 am and she does not bark when she hears either of them.

Unfortunately she IS waking up anywhere from 6:00 – 7:30 am and BARKS CONSTANTLY. During the week I usually get up at 6:30 am to get ready for work. Everyone else in the house wants to sleep in….but they can’t because she is BARKING! On the weekend or on days off, I would love to sleep in - but her BARKING just doesn’t stop. We’ve tried ear plugs, etc. but nothing is helping! I think ignoring her barking is helping a little bit. Two weeks ago she was BARKING at 6:00 am and (one weekend she didn’t stop till 8:30 am when I finally gave up and got her). This week she is getting up at about 7:30 am…so it’s getting a little better.

Next week my kids will start school and so we will all be getting up at about 6:30 am. During the last school year, we never took her out of her pen in the morning before school/work and she never barked. At that time she was still so young and potty training and we just didn’t have time to watch her carefully in the morning while rushing around getting ready for work/school. She never barked during that time so I think we will continue doing that. Hopefully she will start to get used to us being awake and her staying in her pen in the mornings and she will stop barking.

Other then continuing to ignore her barking does anyone have any advice?

08-21-2008, 08:48 AM	#1
KathyK09 Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Northeast WI Posts: 97	BARKING in the morning! Hello! I was hoping someone could give me some advice about our puppy Mariah who is now 9 months old and problems we are having with her barking in the morning! Mariah is about 99% pee-pad trained. Originally our plan was to pee-pad train her because of the cold/snowy winter in WI and then in spring try to get her to go outside as well. For a variety of reasons including the fact that our neighbors have been breeding pit bulls that continuously come into our yard, as well as the fact that my children haven’t been as helpful as I would like with potty training, we have decided to continue with pee-pads only. Because originally we were going to have her go outside, we put her x-pen in our kitchen at first. When we realized that the pee-pads were going to be a permanent part of our life we decided to move Mariah’s x-pen out of the kitchen. Her x-pen is now in a great spot right in the center of our house. Unfortunately she is having a hard time with the move. She has always gone to bed really well in her x-pen and slept all night. The first night after moving her x-pen she barked ALL night. My husband was laying down with our daughter who had a nightmare and got up several times to comfort Mariah and give her treats. I didn’t know he was doing this and unfortunately I was doing the same thing. When we compared notes the next morning we realized our mistake! Between the two of us we had both been going to Mariah constantly the whole night…I’m surprised we didn’t bump into each other at some point during the night. Sigh….looking back its obvious Mariah thought she was being rewarded for all her barking! That is something we very purposely avoided doing since getting her. Since then we have worked very hard at ignoring her barking during the night. We make sure she has had a very active day, a clean pee-pad, fresh food/water and she goes into the pen on her own (coaxed by a treat). She’s back to going to bed really well now and sleeps all night long. My son sometimes gets home 11-midnight and my husband often goes to work at 4:45 am and she does not bark when she hears either of them. Unfortunately she IS waking up anywhere from 6:00 – 7:30 am and BARKS CONSTANTLY. During the week I usually get up at 6:30 am to get ready for work. Everyone else in the house wants to sleep in….but they can’t because she is BARKING! On the weekend or on days off, I would love to sleep in - but her BARKING just doesn’t stop. We’ve tried ear plugs, etc. but nothing is helping! I think ignoring her barking is helping a little bit. Two weeks ago she was BARKING at 6:00 am and (one weekend she didn’t stop till 8:30 am when I finally gave up and got her). This week she is getting up at about 7:30 am…so it’s getting a little better. Next week my kids will start school and so we will all be getting up at about 6:30 am. During the last school year, we never took her out of her pen in the morning before school/work and she never barked. At that time she was still so young and potty training and we just didn’t have time to watch her carefully in the morning while rushing around getting ready for work/school. She never barked during that time so I think we will continue doing that. Hopefully she will start to get used to us being awake and her staying in her pen in the mornings and she will stop barking. Other then continuing to ignore her barking does anyone have any advice?