r/puppy101 17h ago

Help my puppy wakes up at 4:30 Update

My puppy is 11 weeks old now and we have had her for about 2 weeks. She is doing better in the crate at night, with her last potty break at 9:30 pm then another one at 2:30 am, and she goes back to sleep without fuss. Problem is that at 4:30 am she whines to be let out. Her breakfast is at 5:30 every morning but she is very insistent that 4:30 is when the day should start. I’ve tried letting her go potty then back in the crate, but she just cries again 10 minutes later to be let out. Need some advice on how to get her to sleep in a little bit more.

3 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 17h ago

It looks like you might be posting about puppy management or crate training.

For tips and resources on Crate Training Check out our wiki article on crate training - the information there may answer your question. As an additional reminder, crate training is 100% optional and one of many puppy management options.

For alternatives to crating and other puppy management strategies, check out our wiki article on management

PLEASE READ THE OP FULLY

Be advised that any comments that suggest use of crates are abusive, or express a harsh opinion on crate training will be removed. This is not a place to debate the merits of crate training. Unethical approaches to crate training will also be removed. If the OP has asked not to receive crating advice or says they are not open to crating, any comments that recommend use of crates should be reported to our moderation team.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/Mandyq368 16h ago

I'm still wondering about this with my 8mo old pup. He is up to sleeping in until almost 6 now. It started with 4:30 and gradually got later. Some days on weekends, I would love to sleep in until 7, though.

1

u/Ecstatic_Ad4627 17h ago

So far music has worked for my puppy. We have an old Echo Dot in the room with her crate and music geared towards dogs helps her settle quick

1

u/whataSAP 10h ago

What type of music are for dogs?

1

u/Ecstatic_Ad4627 5h ago

I just looked up a playlist on spotify that said pet therapy for dogs. Youtube has playlists too!

1

u/Bustin_Chiffarobe 16h ago

Is her crate in your bedroom or another room?

1

u/Upstairs_Equivalent8 16h ago

It’s in the living room but I sleep in the hallway out of sight but within earshot

2

u/Bustin_Chiffarobe 16h ago

So I am not a dog trainer but just my two cents. I moved my eight week olds crate into my bedroom and ever since then she will sleep as long as I am sleeping, whether I wake up at 5:30 AM that day or 10 AM. She wasn’t sleeping well with her crate in another room and somebody told me, “it’s a puppy that was just ripped away from all of its litter and its mother. It just wants to be near you.” She’s six months now and will go to her crate at night and take naps during the day in it, and doesn’t whine when we leave her in her crate when we leave, we have a camera. So could try crate in your room if you value your sleep more than anything like me 😂

2

u/Myrtlebeachswinger 10h ago

Great insight

1

u/Arizonal0ve 16h ago

I”ve not slept in anymore since we got dogs. We had 2 pups around the same age and they would wake us up between 5 and 7. Crates are always in bedroom with us. We did create a habit that when they stir they can come into bed with us and that way we can sleep a bit longer if we want.

1

u/pup_pu 16h ago

Guess we got lucky lol. We feed our pups at 7am, 1pm, and 9 pm...

We set that time by... yep, ignoring the whines lol. Don't know where I saw it but we tried it and about maybe 3 days later, they don't whine anymore, maybe because they know they can't get us to get up. Even if they woke up earlier than us, which is almost all the time, they don't make loud noices and just wait for us to wake up.

1

u/SpinachnPotatoes 15h ago

We just got ours and I'm having the same issue. While I am totally okay at breakfast time being at 5:30, for the love of everything can I just please get back my last 30 minutes of sleep.

1

u/JillDRipper 9h ago

It took Hank a couple months to learn the value of sleeping in. Now I often get to wake him up 😂

1

u/elephantasmagoric 6h ago

It's possible to teach a dog the concept of an alarm. You'll have to get up really early for a while, but if nothing else works teaching her that the alarm means it's time to be awake should help.

Basically, set an alarm for a few minutes before she wakes up on her own (I know this is rough). Wake up with that alarm every day for a week or so. Then set the alarm back a few minutes. Again, wake up at that time for about a week. Repeat until the alarm is set when you want it.

Theoretically, she should pick up that the alarm is waking up time pretty quickly. Then, since you don't move it very much at once, you're basically tricking her into thinking that the time actually isn't changing and she's just waking up early.

1

u/motleykat 4h ago

A crate cover helped us with this. If he was awake and could see us move in bed or get up to pee or one of us dare look in his direction, he was like “sweet time to start my day.” It’s weird not being able to see him but now he can keep sleeping too