YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post

KathyK09 · 09-03-2008, 12:32 PM

I feel for you…I have the EXACT PROBLEM!

Mariah is now 9 months old and we are having problems 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. But now she is waking up early and will NOT STOP BARKING!

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 goes to bed really well 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. 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! A couple of weeks ago she was BARKING at 6:00 am and she didn’t stop till 8:30 am when I finally gave up and got her). We’ve been ignoring her barking for weeks but ignoring her is NOT WORKING…it NEVER STOPS! I don’t trust her potty-training enough to bring her into bed with me all night long so that’s not an option. It also doesn’t matter what time we put her to bed…8:00 pm or midnight…she still keeps getting up early.

Tonight I’m going to try to darken the room she is in and maybe put a sheet over her pen to block out light…maybe if she thinks it’s still night she will not get up.

If that doesn’t work then I’ve got one more idea. We have a 7 yr old Bichon, Angel, that is definitely a “big sister” to Mariah. We have noticed that Mariah does not bark if Angel is in her kennel (they can see each other) or if they are loose in the house together. Angels sleeps with my daughter and I’m afraid as a last resort, I’m going to have to wake Angel up to “babysit” Mariah. Of course this means I’ll still have to get up and unfortunately I am one of those people that has a tough time falling back asleep. But I’m getting DESPERATE! I’m EXHAUSTED! Another option is to put Angel in her kennel at night…but I hate to do that too as she has always slept with one of the kids at night.

If anyone has any other ideas…I’ll try anything. THANKS!

09-03-2008, 12:32 PM	#26
KathyK09 Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Northeast WI Posts: 97	Me too! I feel for you…I have the EXACT PROBLEM! Mariah is now 9 months old and we are having problems 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. But now she is waking up early and will NOT STOP BARKING! 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 goes to bed really well 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. 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! A couple of weeks ago she was BARKING at 6:00 am and she didn’t stop till 8:30 am when I finally gave up and got her). We’ve been ignoring her barking for weeks but ignoring her is NOT WORKING…it NEVER STOPS! I don’t trust her potty-training enough to bring her into bed with me all night long so that’s not an option. It also doesn’t matter what time we put her to bed…8:00 pm or midnight…she still keeps getting up early. Tonight I’m going to try to darken the room she is in and maybe put a sheet over her pen to block out light…maybe if she thinks it’s still night she will not get up. If that doesn’t work then I’ve got one more idea. We have a 7 yr old Bichon, Angel, that is definitely a “big sister” to Mariah. We have noticed that Mariah does not bark if Angel is in her kennel (they can see each other) or if they are loose in the house together. Angels sleeps with my daughter and I’m afraid as a last resort, I’m going to have to wake Angel up to “babysit” Mariah. Of course this means I’ll still have to get up and unfortunately I am one of those people that has a tough time falling back asleep. But I’m getting DESPERATE! I’m EXHAUSTED! Another option is to put Angel in her kennel at night…but I hate to do that too as she has always slept with one of the kids at night. If anyone has any other ideas…I’ll try anything. THANKS!