# Bentley waking up too early recently



## Deb_Bayne (Mar 18, 2011)

Don't cave in to him, he's at the age where he is trying to assert himself as the leader. You maintain the schedule and stick to it, he'll finally realize that he just can't get away with it.


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## Kendall's Mommy (Aug 9, 2010)

My 16 month old, todayarty2:, Kendall would do the same early morning routine as your Bentley does.

We use to crate Kendall from 10:30-45 PM till he would whine at 5-5:30 AM to get up. He housebroke real quick at 8 weeks, like in 3 days....no accidents since.

We started to leave him out of the crate overnight about a month ago and now I have to get HIM up to go out in the mornings.

As for barking....He doesn't bark!! He has barked, a single bark at a time, maybe 5-6 times since we brought him home 14 months ago. The first time he scared *himself* with the noise he made.

We live on Long Island too.....We usually take Kendall to Gardiners Park in Bayshore or the fenced in doggie park at Blydenburg Park in Smithtown on the weekends. His human "Grandpa" takes him for a 30-40 min. walk everyday too (good exercise for both).

Your Bentley looks so much like my Kendall.....here's a picture of Kendall at 5 months and one recently at the doggie park.


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## Kendall's Mommy (Aug 9, 2010)

Just found another picture at 5 months..


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## ozzy'smom (Jun 18, 2011)

It seems to be a common problem at that age. Ozzy is 6 months old and about a month ago he started doing the same thing. I hate mornings and didn't want him making a lot of fuss and waking up my daughter. SO...bad mommy I am I let him sleep with us when we woke up. He'd wake up at 6 or so and I'd open the crate and let him on our bed where he'd sleep until we woke up. Not a great solution for everyone but it worked for us. I don't mind if he's in our bed though I wouldn't want him there all night. 

After Ozzy had surgery recently it seemed his night time schedule really got to be a mess so we stopped making him sleep in his crate. He's gated in our bedroom and we leave the crate door open. He usually starts in there but typically comes out and sleeps on a dog bed we have. He's done great so far.


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## sns3948 (Aug 2, 2011)

Thanks for the ideas. I have thought about gating him into his room and leaving his door open. I guess we will see what happens. I might try to ignore him for a while and see if that works first.


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## doggiedad (Aug 27, 2011)

you say Bently is waking to early. he's waking up to early for whom?
he probably needs to go out even though he hesitates and plays with
you. my dog would wake one of us at 4:00 am from the time he
was 4 months old untill he was 8 months old. we never denied him
when he woke us up. it's really smart of Bentley to wake you
up to go outside. i don't know what to do about the returning
him to his crate and he whines. i don't think you should give in
and let him out or go to him to try and quiet him. on the other
hand when he whines or barks you could use that time to teach
him "no barking", "quiet" or whatever command you want for silence.

before my pup came home i went to my neighbors and told
them we were getting a pup. i told them there's going to
be some noisy nights and days for a week or 2. we lucked out.
my pup was quiet after the 3rd night home. during the day
we would crate him on and off for 5 to 10 minutes
at a time. sometimes i would sit in the room where he was
crated. sometimes i would leave the room and the house.
when i left the house i always checked with my neighbors
to see if my pup was noisy. i actually used my neighbors
for a lot of my dogs training and socializing. having them
be apart of my dogs training and socializing i could get
away with the inconvenience of having a puppy and neighbors.


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## sns3948 (Aug 2, 2011)

You have a good point doggiedad. It's just odd that this change occurred almost overnight. This morning we got until 4:45! I let him bark for a couple of minutes...he settled down and then started right back up. Let him out, he grabbed a tee shirt out of the hamper, woke my husband up to say good morning, ran down the stairs and laid on the couch for 5 min while I gave him fresh water and breakfast. Then he came in, ate, and THEN asked to be let out. I think it's half "I have to go" and half "I'm tired of being in this crate...let me out." 
Did you notice that your pup just stopped waking up that early?


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

What I did with Tess, was taking her out without a fuss, so no saying good morning to anyone, no running around...I would put a small light on, have her pee on a leash, and straight back to bed, light out. Minimal talking, minimal noise. She learned very quickly that dark means sleeping.


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## WendyS (Apr 6, 2011)

Maybe it's a Long Island thing??? LOL Cooper has been doing this to me for months! (he will be 8 months old next week) Anywhere between 4 and 5am, he starts. If it's realy early (closer to 4am), we let him bark for a while and correct him with the remote collar, but if it's closer to 5, we get up, and let him out. He inhales his food in 30 seconds, go outside again to poop, and then will go back into his crate until we are ready to take him out. I have posted about this before, and it is driving me NUTS and with 3 human kids on top and another older golden, this mommy needs her sleep!


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## sns3948 (Aug 2, 2011)

Lol those Long Island pups. Actually we made some progress...kind of...last night Bentley was chewing for a serious couple of hours so of course he was thirsty after he was done. i wasn't going to let the poor thing be thirsty all night so I let him drink and he woke up at 1:45 am to pee. Ouch. But I put him back in his crate after and turned on some music for him and he slept like a baby until the alarm went off. I was upset and happy all at the same time this morning. Maybe try a little doggie playlist for your guy. By the way he looks so much like Bentley in his pic...so cute 
Do you bring Cooper to any dog parks? We haven't brought Bentley but want to...just have heard that some aren't as well maintained as others. Thanks!


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## WendyS (Apr 6, 2011)

What breeder did you get Bentley from? We got Cooper in NJ... I don't tke him to any parks because he just got over 3 months of giardia and I always worry about oher dogs at the parks. I live in Nassau County, so the only one I know of around me is cedar creek, but I havent been there with him...

I hope both our pups give us some peace and quiet soon. I cannot deal with the 4am anymore! LOL


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## sns3948 (Aug 2, 2011)

We got him from Dee's Goldens in Rhode Island. She is fantastic...lots of pics from the litter, advice on handling situations (like barking and biting) and when we recently went away she watched him at her house!
The giardia must have been horrible. Bentley has been pretty much everywhere with me and (knock on wood) has been fine. We're in Suffolk and thinking of taking him to a park on Bay Shore or Sayville. We also just enrolled in obedience so that should take some edge off of him and make him sleep (I hope). I agree...the 4am thing has to stop. He woke up at 4 again this morning, went back in his crate and started barking but I just put the pillow over my head and he stopped in about 20 min. It was really more of a whine/bark so maybe he's getting the hint.


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