My dog barks every morning about 30 minutes before the alarm goes off.  I tried to just let him bark, but we live in apt.  I just get up early and start my routine.  Is there anything I can do?

Hello, I hope I can help....
I'm afraid this is going to be a bit of a guessing game for you at first...Have you considered that something that you can't actually hear from your bedroom is setting him off? Garbage trucks, neighbours leaving, cats being let out of apts, any one of these can be a trigger, but not neccesarily auidble or smelled by you, but your dog certainly notices it and is trying to alert you. I would first suggest that moving him to a different room to sleep in might help. If that doesn't work you could try putting a collar and lead on him and have him sleep on the floor next to your bed. That way you would be able to correct him (with minimum fuss) when he does start to bark, and reward him when he learns you mean "NO!" After he gets the idea, you could then increase the length of the lead (use twine if you have to) so that you can still correct him no matter how far away from you he might be.
Try moving him first and see how it goes......and please let us know if it works.

Good luck !!
Debra

Hi guest,

I had the same problem with my 3 year old dog.  He used to bark at 5:30am on the dot.  We tried all sorts of things and the thing that worked for me was not to shut him in a room.  As soon as he found that he could have the run of the kitchen and the hallway (but not the livingroom or upstairs) he stopped and we have had no trouble since.

I'm not saying that it will work for you I think it is gong to be a case of trial and error and a lot of patience.

I hope you cure the problem as it is not fun getting up in the freezing cold, dark and rain to sort them out.