Was wondering if somebody had got any suggestions, or had been through something similar, as this is new to me!

I have two Papillon puppies aged 7 months, born here. The bitch is mine, the dog belongs to my daughter but he is staying here for the foreseeable future. At night, my toydogs are caged in the living room, always have been. The exception is one bitch who is terrified of being locked up so she sleeps in bed with us. So there is no dog running free in the living room at night.

The dogs are let out last thing around midnight and then put to bed. Initially, the two puppies would sleep until about 8 am, when one of them would wake up and start barking and asking to be let out. Fine, very decent time, and as this barking in the morning started at about 3 months of age, perfectly reasonable to want to get out!

However since then things are just getting worse and worse. It has all taken a few months, but we have gone from being woken up at 8 am to 7 am, to 6 am etc. The night between Friday and Saturday I thought we had hit an all time low when we were woken up at 3.45 am. But no, last night I woke up hearing the usual barking, looked at the clock and it was 3.02 am!!

Now let me explain that this is a VERY loud, VERY high pitched non stop bark -it REALLY hurts your ears, and even with two shut doors in between, there is no way on earth anyone can sleep through it. We have tried waiting it out in the past, but after half an hour non stop we couldn't stand it anymore -it gives you a headache and it disturbs everyone.

When it started happening at 6 or 7 am we figured it was just a puppy needing to go out for a wee, so that's what we did -got up and let them out. Then locked them up again, and needless to say this time of year it is perfectly dark indoors, and all the other dog are quiet and sleep. But once they have been out, there is NO WAY on earth this pup will be locked up again, he or she wants to be out and free to do what they want. And yes, this is part of the problem -I haven't got the faintest idea which of the two pups it is that does it! It is definitely only one of them, but as the barking always stop the moment you turn on the light in the living room, I have no way of finding out if it is Molly or Harry that is the culprit. So I can't even shout at them at a distance.

I realise we inadvertently taught this pup that making a lot of noise means you WILL be let out -but obviously at 3 months of age and at around 6 am we figured they DID need to wee! At 3 am and 7 months of age there is no way it's about needing toilet which the fact that the puppy refuses to go back to sleep proves.

How on earth do I solve it? I think if it had been a big dog and a deeper bark, we could have coped with waiting the pup out and showing that making noise will not mean being let out of the cage in the middle of the night. But as the bark is so high pitched, it's impossible. My poor 84 year old mother in law finds it hard enough to sleep anyway as she is in constant pain, I don't want her to have to listen to this either. The living room is as far away as you can get from the bedrooms, but we are in a bungalow.

Tonight I'm going to switch the dogs around and cage Molly with her mum and Harry with his dad and see if that might work, having one parent with each as opposed to the littermates together -maybe, just maybe it will make a difference. But I am not holding my breath. If the barking starts even earlier tonight I think I will go insane....

Couldn't you take the crate into your bedroom and see if it still happens? If it does you may be able to tell which one is creating with them being next to the bed. If you put a nightlight on it may help you to be able to differentiate between the two in the dark.

Bad news Marianne...its two naughty girls in a cage next to your bed so ...either they settle or you can give them one chance to go out during the night ...then after that they get something chucked at them ! :-)

We have an elderly blind/deaf dog lodging with us for a week, he does this one hour on one hour off all night, we have seen to his every need, toilet, drink, food, have left radio in utility room with him but it's constant, his owners did warn us.

I have no solution for you, just to say I feel your pain, don't think my ears will ever recover.  I hope you get it sorted.

Have you tried crating them upstairs so you can nip it in the bud before the barking gets full blown.

I see what you mean that you are rewarding the barking by letting them out but what else can you do at that ungodly time of the morning.

Could they be cold which is what is waking them up initially, I was awoken in the early hour of this morning to find my duvet missing, all 3 dachsies were very cosy in the puppy pen at the side of my bed with MY duvet as well as their dog bed,vet bedding and a large fleece throw, not one of them moved which they would normally do when they see I am awake,I wrestled my duvet back but one or other kept trying to get it back at intervals all night. I have spent time putting old sheets around the puppy pen and will clip something over the top at bed time in the hopes I don't wake up with hypothermia tonight.

Have you tried crating them upstairs so you can nip it in the bud before the barking gets full blown.

Could they be cold which is what is waking them up initially

We don't have an upstairs, we're in a bungalow. :) I don't THINK they'd be cold, have nice bedding and two cuddled up together.

My youngest Lab did this. Life became very hard... Like yours he gradually started getting earlier and earlier.  When he started he wanted to get up and play/go for a walk. Going back to bed was not on his agenda. So, he'd bark constantly (high pitched squeaking, and we have ajoining neighbours!) and I would have to get up and do what he wanted (he had me well trained). I started to set my alarm for 3.45 (when he was waking at 4). So I went downstairs and woke him, then we went for a normal morning walk, then back to bed. I know this sounds painful but after a couple of months of NEVER letting him wake me, I tested him again. He slept till 7 am and has done ever since :-D  I don't know if this was the best way to deal with it, and the dark mornings are definitely against you, but it's the only thing that helped me break this nasty nasty habit. Good luck!

> the barking always stop the moment you turn on the light in the living room

Would leaving the light on make any difference?

either they settle or you can give them one chance to go out during the night ...then after that they get something chucked at them ! :-)

Think you might be right! And these aren't any soft, sensitive Malinois either -they are tough nuts!

Would leaving the light on make any difference?

Anything's worth a try! :)

Couldn't you take the crate into your bedroom and see if it still happens? If it does you may be able to tell which one is creating with them being next to the bed.

Yes that is a good point and perfectly possible.

Interesting post this just the problem with Brrook except on a bit now she sleeps  with me however now she just goes into the hall and poos and wees rather than wakiing me up

Yes they may be small but they are mighty!

Has she had a season yet ? I know some people say that they need a wee more often when coming into season.

I had the same problem, one of mine started barking when she was about 4 months old and we did exactly the same thing ie get up to toilet her, she initially went back to sleep, then she wouldn't go back to sleep and carried on barking and then she got earlier with the barking until it was starting at 3 in the morning. We too are joined to neighbours so to ignore wasn't possible and she was starting one of the others off who didn't bark.....she howled instead- it was bedlam!

We started to get up before she did and didn't let her wake us up, 3 months down the line and we are back to 5.45 - 6.00 am. We also started to put the intruder alarm back on to try and train her when she heard the beeping of the alarm (when we went to bed) we were gone until she heard it beep again (when we got up).

When Nando started going backwards in his wake-up times I just set my alarm for about 15/20 minutes before he would usually wake up. It took a while to break the habit but it worked. Could you crate them in two different rooms so that you can differentiate between which one is waking up first?

Has she had a season yet ? I know some people say that they need a wee more often when coming into season.

No -but it might be the dog that does this, not the bitch.

I admire your tenacity CVL.

So many people would not make the effort.  Great way to resolve a problem.

Thank you Jean! Most people assumed I had completely lost it :-D

CVL that is dedication for sure! :)

Well the good news is it seems the simple solution has done the trick -TOUCHWOOD. (Hope I haven't jinxed it now!) Sunday evening at bedtime we split the pups up and caged the bitch with her mum and the dog with his dad and another male dog (bigger cage, obviously). At one point during the night we heard a short sharp telling off which I am sure came from Peanut (dad), then next thing we knew it was 7.45 am! Today hubby got up at 7, couldn't sleep, and HE woke the dogs up -not a peep all night. :) :) Maybe it was just a case of splitting them up, and counting on parents to keep them under control -they do that a lot, even if dad usually spends most time just playing with them, whereas mum is very bossy. (Obviously it's very rare for me to have BOTH parents of pups here as we normally travel far to stud, but it's been fascinating to watch having the entire family this one time -this dad really does play a big part in the upbringing!)