We have a 10 week old Tibetan Terrier Puppy , he wakes us up every morning at around 4am and barks, yaps scratches and whines for an hour or so if we ignore him. He will then start again at about 6am until we get up.
He sleeps in the kitchen in an indoor kennel and we don't have any problems getting him in there at night, infact he goes in himself usually and then falls asleep. If we leave the kennel open we get the same issue but the scrathing is behind the door.

We are not sure if this is a form of separation anxiety, but we need help! should we ignore him? should we go to him and settle him down again? should we shout at him to shut up?

Any advice?

Hi,
Have you tried taking him into the garden in case he needs a wee? Is he cold?

Is he trying to tell you he'd like to go out for a pee? Is there a deposit left when you get downstairs?

Edited to say *Snap* Great minds think alike <G>

if its at the same time every morning then maybe something outside happens at that time to awaken him.
Once awake he may need to go to the toilet.
You should not go to him because he will bark all the time if he thinks you will come.

How is he going to get out to go to the toilet if nobody goes to him though Raffystaffy? :(

with respect, if you get into the habbit of getting up in the middle of the night it could be hard to stop. Although being a puppy his tiny bladder will need emptying.
Avoid letting him drink to much before you go to bed, and follow him outside last thing at night to make sure he pees and then praise him.

You should never restrict a dogs access to water for your convenience & putting the puppy to bed too early could be the cause. Try making sure he goes for a pee just before you go to bed

wasn't implying you restrict the water for your own convinience.thank-you very much.
its obvious a pup has a small bladder and need to empty it often. once he's been out for a wee, LAST thing at night. He will settle and would probably not drink when sleeping!!!

Welcome to the world of puppies Badgerstu! The first 12 years are the worst!

I cannot agree with you Raffystaffy. If the puppy needs to go out to urinate and you do not go down and let it out then you are training it to go indoors! I have never found that going down in the night to a puppy makes him or her expect me to get up always! At 10 weeks old it’s extremely unlikely that this puppy could hold on right through until morning.

John

wouldn't say training him to go indoors.

LOL John..

What we have always done with ours is out to toilet at midnight. I get up at 4 am ish before puppy wakens and crys , take straight outside to piddle etc not fun no over talking but praise when they do it, straight back to bed.

It has always work for us and we have never had a problem.. A little discipline with ourselves and a bit of time saves time later I think.

Good luck..

Pam

but what you do is leave him 5 mins the next night then the next until it gets longer and longer he will then learn to hold his bladder.

when he wakes up do you get up he is probably asking to be let out to go to the toilet. If you get up don't talk just take outside if he does go praise him and the return him close the door and return to bed.
We have a 5 month GSD that has been getting up at 6 pm for the past month but it did used to be between 4 and 5 am but she needed the toilet so perhaps that is what he needs.

i have to say lol :-D all great minds think a like we have all replied to this within mins of each other

Thanks for all your help so far, the answer is yes there is usually wee on his paper, he does drink a lot and we have been told to make sure water is always available! is this wrong, would you remove water from him in the evening?

I think the answer seems to be to get up and take him out? although he does go out last thing before we go to bed and perform.

NO don't remove his water!!
Obviously i have always had very good dogs yes they did whine, and cry at night and when very small i did let them out. As they get older they can hold more urine in the bladder so it is not nessesary. Be careful, if you get up everytime he barks and cries- he will expect you to come and will bark for hours.
Maybe if you do let him out at 4 he will not wake at 6 try what you think is best.

yes but he is 10 weeks old an can only hold wee for a short time so if you go to bed at say 10pm from then till 4am is 6 hrs to be quite honest he will be climbing the walls trying to get out and a pup will wee quick so you need to get up quick and let him out then praise him for doing somehting, you will probably have to go out with him , so rap up warm :-D.
Always leave water down but the drinking will get slower.

My experience has been that it is good to let the pup out if he/she needs to go, regardless of any whining etc ....

If the pup does ever seem to be barking or whining in the night merely to get the owner up and get some company, it can be stopped by the owner taking the pup outside without really speaking to the pup, and then calmly back in and back to bed. If the pup doesn't get attention, he won't bother after a while.

I've always taken my pups out, in fact get set for sleepless nights for a few weeks at least until pup can hold on for a bit longer, then if you are lucky, youmay get through to say, 6am :D and so on.

As John says, if you don't go out with the pup, you are teaching him to wee in the house. IME it has never got the pup into the habit of barking for attention at night.

Lindsay

If he is 10 wks old this means he has only been with you 2 weeks (at a guess) maybe when he wakes up he feels lonely, maybe a little scared too, all alone in a room with no-one to cuddle up to for comfort. I'm not saying he doesn't need the loo, but maybe this is a thought too. When i 1st got my dog i got up at 6am regardless of wether i was tired or not, he's only a wikkle baby. :)

My pup whines at least twice during the night and I always get up and let him our for a wee, he always goes straight back to sleep after, I just wish I could too :D

So do i Pottie i have always got up no matter what age if any one of my house dogs/pups bark/whine i am up and then they go back to bed no problems.

I can't tell you how good it is to read that I'm not the only one who regularly gets up in the middle of the night to let the dogs out. When I'm stood shivering in the back garden at 4 a.m. it'll be a comfort to know there are others out there doing exactly the same !

10 weeks is still very young - he probably has to go outside. I would agree with the person who suggested taking him out, and gradually shifting the time forward a few minutes each time. Sorry to say that this won't improve your sleep that much at first - but take heart, it won't last that much longer! You should see a change within a couple of weeks.

Thanks again for all your help, I have a feeling that he gets up at 4:00am to go out and up at 6:00am because he is hungry.
We are still feeding him 4 times a day, at 6:30am at 11:00am 3:00pm and 7:00pm, it seems a long time between his last feed and his breakfast but that is what the breeder recommended, I know one of my neighbours has a Labrador Pup and he gets his supper at 10:00pm!
Do you think feeding him later is an option, or would we be best to stick to the same routine?

Hi Badgerstu

This is only what I do with my lab pup with regards to toileting, and as you can see from my other posts I am no great expert on puppies!!!!

I am known as the `wee wee monster` in our house because I have to bribe her out of her crate for her last wee at night, I find she actually does 1-2 last small wees before we come back in the house. It usually takes about 15 mins of standing in the garden encouraging her to do a `wee wee` and whether its luck or this toileting buisness has sunk in with her she does manage to squeeze at least a couple of small wees out before bed.

I was thinking that if your pup is still crying at 4am every morning then maybe try letting him out for a wee, at least if he is bursting then you`ll know the reason for his crying, if not then try the valuable advice on the earlier posts.

My lab is fed at 6am 11am 4pm and 8pm but she is very hungry first thing in the morning.

Hilary

Unsure about altering the meal times.

I remember when I had my miniature schnauzer as a pup, I had to get up around 4 am for the first two months or so every morning to let him go out for a wee. It's liking having a small baby I suppose, and you have to be prepared for the sleepless mornings at first. Hang on in there, it will get better. You pup will eventually learn to hold on for longer. By sacrificing my morning sleep, I managed to get him toilet trained after two weeks, which I was so pleased with. It pays off in the end.

As one poster suggested, after a month or so, try leaving a little bit longer each time before you go down, maybe?

Minx was the same, for the first couple of weeks she'd wake up and start grizzling for a wee every 2-3 hours (and by gum did she have a piercing shriek)! We always got up, straight out, fuss after required deposit, and straight back to bed - she was usually sleepy anyway and settled straight back down. I think this really helped to speed the house training along, she was totally clean really quickly. But it was really tough the first couple of sleepless weeks! And we were really grateful she cottoned on to the idea so fast :-)
We tried to feed her as close to 6-hourly as we could, but not sure whether this would make any difference, she never seemed to complain if we were late.

Do you leave a radio on a night I find this helps.