# My Dog Won't Sleep!



## kenzie14 (Feb 18, 2015)

I have been trying to train my dog to sleep through the night for almost three weeks, but he still gets up at 5am sometimes 4 but he wont go to sleep after that. How do I train him to keep sleeping?


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

I don't know if you can train him to keep sleeping. 

What you might be able to do is train him to not disturb you until you are ready to get up with him. Is he crate trained?


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

Grace wakes at 3am and does her security rounds them goes back to bed. She will only wake me if something is amiss. She rises again at 7am and goes out, through her door, to eliminate . On return she checks me out to see if I am awake for a cuddle. If not back to bed. At 9:30am she will wake me, if I am still asleep, and bring me my clothing, in order. Then her leash with some enthusiasm. She will never wake me until the 9:30 deadline unless there is clear and present danger (according to her definition) I never actually trained her to this. All I did was to discourage waking me!
Eric.


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## itzmeigh (Apr 28, 2014)

Yeah, what do you do when he wakes up? What does he do when he wakes up?

"The animals" won't bother me and will gladly leave me sleeping until late in the morning because they know that I won't wake up and tend them until I'm ready. 

My husband on the other hand will leap from bed at the slightest stir to be sure they go out or get fed. 

So when they wake up they go straight to him and pester him until he gets up. 

Our cats will just stare until he wakes up and our notapoodle will huff very gently in his face or stand by his side of the bed and deeply sigh over and over until he gets up. If those 2 don't work she will click her nails on the floors. 

They all know that doing the same for me will get them nothing but the other side of the bedroom door. (Hazel isn't trustworthy and still sleeps in her crate at night.)

Now, if Cotton really actually needs to go outside she will act different then if she just wants us to get up and play with her. 

If Hubby isn't out of bed by 8am then the 3 older ones will become increasingly annoying and one by one will try to wake him. They won't bother me at all.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Same here with Molly......she's up and down several times a night but has learned not to disturb me.(She is not crated) Puppies are a little different as sometimes they need to potty when you think they should be sleeping! Puppies seem to do a lot of napping during the day though! 4 or 5am is pretty normal for pups to need to go out to potty and as your pup gets older he will settle into any routine you set if you are consistant! You might try having a nice chew to keep him occupied in the morning while you sleep.................


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

how old is your dog?


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

First, as others have said, don't reward him disturbing you by getting up - if he still needs an early pee call, take him out and then go straight back to bed. If he tries to wake you up for food or play, or to keep you awake after a trip out for a pee, ignore him, and don't move until there have been at least five seconds of settling down, gradually increasing to several minutes. At first he may just try harder, so you will need to be very strong willed and very consistent - every time you give in means another week of him certain that it will work if he only keeps going long enough! 

Meanwhile make sure that he is getting enough play, exercise and stimulation during the day - I don't know what your schedule is, but if a puppy is left alone to doze all day then unsurprisingly night time becomes play time! Just what you do will depend upon his age and his vaccination status, but lots of games for fun and bonding, lots of training games so he uses his brain, walks to sniff and see and understand, play with other dogs, meeting lots of people and dogs, lots and lots of human company, will all help to tire him out. If he is waking because he is hungry then a late night snack might help.

This is one thing my dogs learned very quickly - I think I was just so naturally grumpy and Not Fun when repeatedly woken too early that they soon decided it was more rewarding to go back to bed for a snuggle and a snooze than to be around such a thoroughly horrible human!


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## kenzie14 (Feb 18, 2015)

patk said:


> how old is your dog?


George is 11 weeks today. Thanks to everyone for the info. I now understand why he won't leave me alone. I play with him when he wont go to sleep. I'll see if ignoring him works. Oh, and yes he is crate trained.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

11 weeks means he is just a baby and you have a lot of time to bring him around to a schedule that fits the household without having to worry that something else is amiss. i'm sure you can do it with everyone's tips at hand.


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## Erica (Feb 28, 2015)

Depending on what time you go to sleep, I would be sure to make the hours before bedtime "puppy playtime." Delta will sleep from 8pm onwards if I let him, but then he'll wake up at 5am and be ready to start the day. I have training time from 8-9 or so (he has incredible focus and love of training for his age - start with tiny sessions for a tiny puppy though!), to make things fun and get his brain working. Then I trim a few nails and brush him, which calms him down. If we then play and interact til 10pm, he will sleep nicely til 9am. When he was a little puppy, he did still get up early to go out and sometimes wouldn't settle down easily afterwards. Giving him a stuffed kong seemed to help and gave me some time to sleep again. But your pup is still a little baby - you may just have to get used to waking early for a few weeks. Another thing I found was that after i would feed Delta he would willingly sleep again, so I took advantage of that time for a nap! Good luck


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

My girls never get me up, normally I am up at 6AM but on weekends I may decide to stay until 9AM. At night before I go the bed from 9PM to 1AM I put the zoomie blanket down and they pay for 10 to 15 minutes, then to bed. If I am sick and stay later they do not bother me, and sleep in bed with me. 

If I think Cayenne has to go I put her off the bed she runs to her potty patch, does her thing comes back to bed to sleep, never tries to play, playing is off limits when in bed


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## kenzie14 (Feb 18, 2015)

Thank you everyone.
George slept until 6 am this morning and didn't wake up in the middle of the night at all. It is a new record for him. I am just hoping that we will be having the same progress with his potty training.


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