[bregracie79]

EARLY RISER!!  She is up before the sun every morning.  I was hoping that the time change would give me another hour, but no such luck.  She is up and raring to go around 4:30 every morning!  She whines sometime around 1-1:30, and I take her out to potty.  She goes back to sleep in her crate pretty quickly after that, but in the morning she will not go back in the crate.  She whines and barks like someone's trying to kill her.  We leave her in there for as long as we can take it, but she will not quit.  I can't leave her in there too long or she will wake up my children as well.  Any suggestions?  I am worn slap out!

 

[PradazPurdy]

Well, unfortunately... every time you let her out of her crate when she's whining/barking, you let her know that if she does so, she'll be let out. So, you need to refrain from letting her out. Have you tried bringing the crate in your room - maybe near the bed - so she doesn't feel alone?! And do your best to ignore her whining. If you think she's going to wake your children up, then you simply can't use the crate. Crate training takes time & unfortunately - a lot of whining.

Try & reinforce that the crate is a good place. Throw toys in there (play with her) & treats... if you can - go in there w/her yourself. And praise, praise, praise!

Good luck.

 

[Barbs2Ks]

Looks like Maggie is pretty young yet so she really can't hold it for long periods of time.  Kiah was over a year old before she stopped waking me up early to go to the bathroom in the morning.

 

[bregracie79]

Her crate has always been right by our bed, and I completely understand that she still needs to go out to potty.  I am happy to take her out to do her business.  I just wish that she would go back to sleep.  She is normally fine in the crate.  The only time that she whines for over a minute after being put in there is after I take her out around 4:30.  We don't get her out immediately then either.  We usually let her cry for about a half an hour, but at that point it is close to time for us to get up, and I worry that she might need to potty again or be hungry.

 

[maplesfolks]

does she stay up in the evenings? or does she fall asleep earlier on and stay down through the night? we started waking ours up about 30 mins to an hour before we go to sleep we'll take her out to potty and then play with her, she sleep through the night and can stay in the crate for up to 8 hours usually (unless we get up earlier than she gets up too).  how old is your baby?

 

[DUKE01]

If you trust her you might just let her sleep with you after 4:30am I know some people that don't let their dogs sleep with them all night but just in the morning to snuggle.  We let all of our dogs roam free, Bentley sleeps with us (I am a very light sleeper) so any movement and I am awake.  If she is willing to fall back to sleep with you it might be worth a shot, if you don't mind her in  your bed.

 

[bregracie79]

I've totally tried letting her sleep with us from 4:30 on, but the little turkey doesn't want to sleep.  She is ready to PLAY!!!  I love her so much, ya'll, and I will lose all the sleep I have to.  Thanks for all of the help.  This might just be a part of my new reality with my baby girl.  And I know you all understand that the payoff makes it totally worth it!

 

[PhoenixsMom]

Phoenix was always up early at like 5 or 5:30 for the first month or so when we got her. But now she'll sleep in forever. When we get up in the morning for work we actually have to go wake her up to put her out in the morning.