I have a 10 month GSD that for the past week is not sleeping that well she wakes at 3am site by the back door and whines to go out, we let her out and she promptly does her buisness but then we have it evry hr until 7am, we sleep downstairs with the dogs on our sofa bed so the whinning is starting to annoy me now. She used to be fine going from 10pm right through till 7am, i think i know what the cause is but how do i break the early morning habbit, i need sleep :-D What has got her into the habbit is my partner have lots of work on last week and getting up at 4am to be in be 5am which ment he took the dogs out at around 4am, my 6 yr GSD is fine but the pup is gggrrrrr!!!!.
Please can anyone give me any tips on stopping the whinning at the door when she does not need to go out. I have considered a water spray does anyone think it will do the job.

Cordelia

If you are sure that she does not need to go out the I can only say under no circumstances respond to her, buy ear plugs, put the radio on, do anything but do not respond. It may take a week but it should work once she knows you are not going to take any notice of her unless she really needs to go.

Sorry not quite clear if she actually "goes" each time you take her out.... ? :)

If she does, you may need to help her retrain her muscles by waiting a few minutes before you take her out. Don't play or anything....just let the reward be her toiletting.

Be careful with punishment such as sprays....it could stop her letting you know when she wants out altogether, and then you will hve a much worse problem that is harder to sort out :(   I would really not go down that path.....

If your partner does odd hours a lot, you may need to chat with him and also try to ensure your dogs are still kept to a normal, as far as is possible, routine.

Good luck

Lindsay

I know exactly what you are going through! My 7 month old lab stated off the same way.  I found that by using a crate at night this helped to settle him. Let her out last thing then put her to bed with the radio on. When she whines at 3am wait a little while for the whining to ideally stop or die down then go down, let her into the garden, don't make a fuss of her, just praise her when she does her business. Put her back in her crate with a toy like a kong (this worked for my pup as he would chew a bit then fall asleep) and go back to bed.  Each night leave it a little longer after she starts whining, this does take a while but it will be worth it.  Do you sleep downstairs anyway or just to stop the noise? I tried this in desperation but it seemed to make things worse. Once she knows that you aren't going to come rushing in she won't find some much fun in it. Good luck!

sot yes we do sleep down stairs gave my older daughter our bedroom, but we have been sleeping down stairs for aobut 3 months now and she was fine. When she goes out at 3am she does go to the toilet but everyother time she has a wonder then bounces at the door to be let in. She goes in the crate during the day when i do the school run or go shopping but she has never been in it all night some i'm not sure if she will cope well with it.
It is a pain and i know that pantience will stop it is just a pain when she does it most of the early hours. Perhaps i should invest insome ear plugs for us both.
They early hours was only last week but we go away on thursday to Orkney so i am hoping that this is going to change her pattern as for most of the journey she will be on travel tabs form the vets.

Cordelia

Cordelia

Just out of interest when does the pup have breakfast ? Perhaps she is associating getting up early and breakfast ?

My girls used to get us up but differing the times they get fed seemed to get them out the habit !

Lucy

they both get fed between 8am and 9am then they have tea 6pm. I am also thinking that she could be hungry. She is currently fed on Burns but doesn't get much food really and she wolf's it done in about 30secs she is then hunting for food all day until 6pm at night. She has lots of treats due getting out of barking at people. We are at the vets tomorrow so i will weigh her to see if she is under weight.
I am going to take her out tonight at about 10:30pm after and give her a good run then hopefully that will tire her a bit more.
Cordelia

I was having the same problem with Sam he is now 15 weeks.  He used to cry at 5.30 am every morning - I would get up and let him out for a wee - nothing.  Turns out that he was just hungry.  He now gets a small feed about an hour before bed and he is great!!  He now wakes up at 7.30 to the sound of our alarm clock upstairs!!
Jenny

We have a result she went throught until 6.40 no sure if that has something to do we me swapping sides with my partner or to the fact that i have taken her off of Burns and put her on to Pasco's Country.
I have also started to ignore her in the day when she whines at the door and only letting her out when she is quite or when i think she really needs to go. For instance she will go out at 6.40 (like this morning) then they will both get taken out at around 7or 7:30 she will the have breakfast at around 8am and stand or sit by the door whinning at this time i know that she does not need to go out as she has already been.

Cordelia

I've been watching my GSD's behaviour at night as well,
she'll whine once to really go out and do her biz, but every other
time its just so I get up, so I don't, I let her out around 5am these days,
she does well until about then, I then leave the door open, and go back to sleep,
but she'll still try to wake me, and it can't be for food, because I tried feeding her
early once, I think she's just anxious to get on with the day.

my boerboel sleeps through the night, but she'll start by tapping on my bedroom door
with her tail, and if that doesn't get me up she'll blow under the door, its wierd, she
blows out of her nose, and if I still don't get up she'll whine, once I heard it but dosed
off quickly and she then started to whine louder and scratch the door, which she never does
inside, and she's never done it since.

anyway, if she's already been out, and especially if she didn't do much while out, I know
she just wants me up and about like she is, boredom I guess.
so I stick to the feeding times, and let her out once, its enough, she's not 4 months old yet
but she's only messed in the house 2 or 3 times in over a month, I can't complain, she's
doing great.