5am yorkie wake - up call ... Help!
 

Hi guys.

My husband and I adopted a 9-year-old male Yorkie, Mr. Simbo, five months ago. His previous owners (with whom he had spent his whole life before coming to us) were loving, but provided no training whatsoever.

We've overcome a lot of hurdles since. He was an aggressive little guy, no direction, no discipline. We first had him neutered, and have been working with a trainer for four months. He's flourished into a great little guy, well-mannered most of the time and almost housebroken (I say almost because he has had a couple of accidents.)

We have one last problem and need your help to overcome it. Every single morning, between 0430 and 0530, he starts whining, and crying. Incessantly, relentlessly. Since adopting him I have been sleeping with ear plugs but they do nothing to drown out the noise.

We tried ignoring him. We tried the shake can (works for 5 seconds.) We tried the water - spray. We do not get up before the alarm goes off in an effort to signal to him that "the day doesn't start before the alarm goes off." Nothing works.

What do we do?! We're at our whits' end and utterly sleepless.

A bit of routine info:

Either my husband or I take him out for the last time right before bed, which is around midnight. I don't think it's a matter of him having to go potty -- he's an older dog, and can hold it for longer than puppies. He has no medical issues. He eats around 4/5 pm, and goes on potty breaks four times a day.

He is crate trained, and sleeps in it at night in our bedroom. He loves his crate. We do not want to encourage sleeping in the bed with us, and since I am not 100% sure that's he's housebroken, I do not yet feel comfortable leaving him in the house by himself. (He does have a playpen, in the living room. We tried having him sleep in there overnight but the same thing happens, only worse. He gets up at the crack of down but since he cannot see us, he barks like a madman instead of just whining and not only does it wake us up, but the neighbors, too.)

Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Have you tried to cover his crate with a blanket to keep it dark. Maybe his previous owner got up at that early hr and he is just used to waking up then.

Is he getting enough exercise during the day?

Logan wakes up early every day, but when he gets more exercise than usual, he sleeps noticeably later the next morning.

Even something as subtle as a longer than usual walk, or time socializing with his doggy friends can tire him out enough to sleep solid through the night, and until about 8:30 am some days.

On a typical day he usually wakes up at 6:30 when my husband gets up for work. He lets him out to go to the bathroom then he comes back in, jumps under the blanket, and snuggles in bed with me until 7:30 lol

Have you tried taking him potty and then putting him back after? If not you may be punishing him for trying to tell you he needs to go potty.

That's tough. I was pretty clear with Jackson that I liked to sleep LOL. So as a pup, I'd let him out early... 6am-ish and then we would go back to bed. Now he will sleep with me until noon if I desire.

BUT, he would never sleep in a crate knowing I'm in the same house as him. I did the crate thing in the beginning when he was a young puppy, but the very first night I let him sleep in my bed and he slept through the night... well, the rest is history. Where did your dog sleep prior to you having him? If Jackson, now at 5 1/2, suddenly had to sleep in a crate after years of not, he would be very upset and confused.

Otherwise yes I would advise more exercise/getting him more tired and also seeing if maybe he really does have to potty. Ya never know.

4:30 is early! A midnight potty break before bed is good. When he wakes up early, I would try taking him for a potty break to see if he needs to poop. If that is the case, his pooping schedule may be off. You can adjust that with more exercise during the day/early evening, which hopefully will make him take care of business before bedtime. When Teddy hasn't had enough exercise, he often he needs to go potty early in the morning.

Your boy might be an early riser because of his last home. I am not a morning person, but my boys start looking for breakfast around 5:30 am. I stumble out of bed, feed and potty them, and then go back for another hour or two of sleep. :)