4 am
Becca and I are having a new issue. The people in the apartment upstairs often get up with their baby around 4am. Becca then decides it is time to get up and will begin to pitch a fit in her crate. (whine, dig, yelp) Then the cat chimes in... I have been waiting until she is quiet for a minute or two trying not to reinforce the behavior. Then I will take her out for a pee, pick up any obnoxious toys and go back to bed, shutting the bedroom door. I leave her out of her crate. I spent last week at my mother's and Becca showed she could easily make it until 6ish in her crate with no issues. How do I deal with the 4am behavior here? She always goes to the bathroom when we go out, but will still sometimes whine at the door. This morning she was whining and the cat was meowing. I was hoping to sleep in on my last day of vacation...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on
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Could you get some background noise going so perhaps she doesn't hear the baby sounds? Even set a timer to turn on the sound for an hour or so ahead if you don't want it going all night. Is there anywhere you can move her crate where the noise upstairs won't bother her. Or just don't take her out if she settles down? She will get to expect that 4 am trip outside before long. For sure, don't feed her then or treat her!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Marcie on
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She doesn't always settle back down. It all depends on how long they are moving around upstairs. I barely acknowledge her when it happens. Up, out for potty, back to bed. She does always go as soon as we go out. I don't want to ignore her and have her go in her crate.
I have a white noise machine in my bedroom and her crate is right outside the door. They walk the floor with the baby and if I can feel the vibrations, so can she. She ignores most of the other noises from their apartment at this point, only reacts when something is dropped.
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Permalink Reply by Lemmy Winks on
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Both my pooches react when they hear my nieghbour go to her apartment; Pilot will start whinning and baying and Lemmy does this tough guy act.
I've been teaching them " It's fine".
It's sort of like "leave it" only it's telling them " Yes I know, I hear it to, it's nothing to worry about".
I started by saying it right when they were about to start up, ( Lemmy would do the one tough guy rrrrruf! and Pilot would jump up, ears raised).
I keep my voice soft yet firm; " It's fine"
I used "leave it" once they went near the door, "it's fine" and would even escort them back to the living room if needed, and once they relaxed " good it's fine! good boy!" Lots of pets and praise.
The hardest part, was keeping myself calm/relaxed, and not tensing up when ever I knew they were going to start up.
All I have to do now is "it's fine" and they plop right back down, or if in their crates, settle back down. It took me about 1 week to get it down.
Hopefully this helps!
Best of luck!
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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I would put here crate within range of a squirt bottle. When she starts whining tell her "no" really stern and squirt her. I did this with both Kirby and Truck (my old cardigan) and it worked like a charm. When Kirby graduated to an ex-pen I just opened the gate and let him have free range of the house until I got up. If he whined I squirted him. He is quiet now, but we are continuing to have a battle with him being nocturnal and everyone else in the house wanting sleep. He will get up at about 2-3 am and start chewing bones and playing with toys and making noise. It is really annoying and I don't really get why he insists on being up before dawn. Usually if I just tell him "no" he will either take his toy outside to chew where its quieter or he will settle back down and go to sleep.
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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I just think you need to tell her "quiet" and stick to your guns and not take her out of her crate until at least daylight. At the age of your pup there is no physical reason she cannot hold it until then, unless ill. Of course, if you take her out at four AM she'll go. Let her figure out that when the neighbors walk the floor with the baby, you don't get up and walk the dog! Dogs are really smart and can factor that all in, she may just need a few days to give up on the idea since you have, very nicely, obliged. If need be, tell the neighbors you are teaching the dog to be quiet when she hears the upstairs noises and that you expect the dog to learn in just a few days.
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I'm going to tough it out in the morning. I get up at 5 during the week, so it hopefully won't be as aggravating as the last day of vacation. Compounding the issue is trying to get her to pee before bed. We just spent 20 minutes out in the rain. Kramer peed on command, and I'm working on it with Becca. She doesn't like going beyond the yard lights at night which doesn't help. I tried a flashlight, it made the shadows big and scary. Any suggestions on the potty/pee command? Right now I tell her go pee/potty when she goes, then good pee/potty and reward her.
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That's all you can do, she will learn in her own time. She can learn to remain in the crate in the morning while you get dressed, to extend her getting up, which will help you sleep beyond 5 AM on weekends.... make the changes slowly, gaining 10 to 15 minutes after you have gotten up every week until you have her on the schedule that makes the best sense for the both of you. Dogs are creatures of habit, but you need to foster the habits.
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Partial success this morning. Becca started in at 4ish, I just said, "Becca, Bad". She quieted down for a half hour and we repeated the process. The cat however is also jumping on the bandwagon. As soon as Becca complains, so does the cat. They are making quite the pair.
Today was Becca's first day loose in the house no crate! She has access to the kitchen and living room. One scatter rug has a small chew spot. It looks like it may have been colateral damage as she was chewing something else.
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