We have a 4.5 month old Cocker Spaniel puppy (show type) and she sleeps in her crate at night. She settles happily after her last toilet trip and short walk at 10 pm each night, but like clockwork, wakes up whining and barking at 5 am every day. That is also the time that next door wake up, we live in the middle of a row of houses and can hear commotion next door from 5 am until they leave for work at 6:30 am. Lots of crashing and banging and noise from their toddler. What can we do about it, short of moving house?!

We take her out for another toilet break at 5 am when she wakes up as she needs it by then, having slept from 10:30 pm or so. But I'm worried that the waking up at 5 am due to the noise is becoming a habit. She has only slept in until 6 am twice since we got her.

She doesn't always settle again after her toilet trip at 5 am and we can't leave her to bark as we have neighbours on the other side.

Can u move the crate into a room where their noise is less likely to disturb her ?
As u say she may actually need the toilet by then . Would she settle with you once toileted? You could try using this as a training opportunity to learn settle which could be transferred to all sorts of places as she grows.
Totally different but one of mine was taught settle by a trainer who wouldn't have her join in until she would lay quietly for a time . Sounds funny but became so useful for all sorts of things.  Vets , visiting people who didn't want a large gsd bouncing around etc

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately we can hear their noise and stamping from any room in the house, upstairs or downstairs. We're teaching her settle and she knows what it means, but as she's still little, the duration of her attention is short. I'd be happy if she could settle in her playpen or crate but don't want to get into the habit of bringing her upstairs. I'm hoping she grows out of being a light sleeper and maybe the darker mornings will also help her realise it isn't time to get up just yet.

hopefully she will grow out of it ,she is still very much a baby.  i am afraid I am one who would rather have some sleep and have mine upstairs. not so for everyone

You don't have any choice really but to carry on as you are, getting up at 5 and either staying up with puppy or taking puppy to bed with you (personally I'd go for taking puppy to bed because I love my sleep). If you can hear the neighbours so easily then the neighbours on the other side can also hear your puppy crying, you getting up and letting puppy out and trying to settle her. That's life in a terraced house, it's more socially acceptable for children to make noise than dogs so the onus is on you to keep puppy quiet at that time in the morning. As she ages and matures I'm sure she'll get used to the morning noises from next door and maybe not need out when they wake her.

She isn't a cuddly puppy so I doubt she'd settle in bed with us. She wants to play and is teething so is quite mouthy at the moment. We are very aware of our neighbours, hence why we get up and keep puppy quiet, despite both sides making noise at unsociable hours. Will keep on keeping on!

What about stuffing a kong the evening before and freezing it, would that keep her quiet for a couple of hours once she's been out to the loo?

I thought about Kongs or safe chews to keep her busy but then I wondered if it would be rewarding the behaviour, so she'd associate waking up early with getting a treat?

We get up at 6:30 am anyway so I'm hoping she learns to stay in bed for just another hour... It was 5:20 this morning, better than 4:45!

Hmm. Difficult to be too sympathetic here. My Golden Retriever got so used to the ' White Nights'
( daylight from 3am ish to near midnight) during the north Northumberland summer that she continues to pester to go out at 4am and encourages the other dogs to do likewise. I have gone along with this. I let them out, give them breakfast and then return to bed- sometimes to sleep. I am someone who doesn't need much sleep anyway so maybe it is easier.
Wherever you live there will be noise - traffic/ neighbours going to work/ children...and certainly by the sea seagulls.
It's life I suppose.

I certainly couldn't have an adult dog waking me up so early as 4 am. I need my sleep! I expect to be woken up early by a puppy for a while but believe that dogs have to fit into my routine not theirs

I am at the age when I frequently need to get up at 5am - to return back to bed of course. This was useful when my re-homed girl was still settling in and needed extra wees, but now if I ask if she would like to go out, I just get a motionless grunt. I'm sure that given time the same thing will happen with your puppy too. They all vary in how long it takes to learn to match their sleep pattern to their human family, but until that happens, I would prefer broken sleep to having to deal with crying and a wet bed.

Thank you for your reply. Yes I think/hope she'll grow out of it in time. It does seem to be next door's clattering and banging that wakes her as she still wakes up at 5 even if, like today, I get up to let her into the garden for a wee at 2 am. I imagine she thinks the noise is myself and my partner and so, understandably, wants to be with us.