How to get a dog to sleep in
We got our dog (Lhasa Apsos mix) from the Humane Society when she was about 1 year old. We crate trained her, and while she isn’t thrilled about going into her crate, she does so without anything more than a little sulking.
She’s now about 4, we’ve been letting her stay out for the night. She’s very happy with this, and so are we. The problem is that she tends to wake up when the sun comes up (6 AM!) and want to go out and get her morning treat. She immediately goes back to sleep in her foam bed until we get up again.
I don’t think this is a bathroom emergency because she would stay in the crate all night until we got up in the morning, and would always seem to be asleep when we went to get her (almost regardless of time). But she just won’t let us sleep if she’s not in her crate!
Can anyone suggest anything to try so that we can leave her out at night, but not have to get up early every morning (doggy doors aren’t an option)?
You could try moving her second meal (dinner) to a later hour. If you feed her now at 7 a.m. and at 5 p.m., for instance, start giving her a dog cookie treat, such as Milkbone, around 2:30 or 3 p.m., and then delay her dinner until 6 p.m., then until 7 p.m., and finally until 8 p.m. The dog’s metabolism determines when it needs to “go out”!!! And that is a function of the time when it had been fed its meal.
In addition, daylight savings time will bring some changes in bladder and bowel habits. And perhaps the birds’ singing in the morning awakens here.
Finally, remember to consider that female dogs sometimes acquire urinary tract infections. In fact, they’re a common occurrence. Perhaps the only outward sign may be an increased urgency to urinate or more frequently need to urinate. By all means, have the vet obtain a urine sample to check, because the condition is easy to treat with an antibiotic, but one wouldn’t want it to remain untreated and cause the dog further difficulties.
Or, if your dog has been spayed, she may be reaching the age where she experiences some spay incontinence. The vet will be able to prescribe a medication for that condition, too.
Sorry, I haven’t answered the behavioral questions, but I like to start with the dog’s physical needs.
#1. Behavior that is reinforced is most likely to be repeated. (If she bothers you until you get up to let her out, she is rewarded for bothering you and will do it again tomorrow.)
#2. Behavior that is *not* rewarded is most likely to be extinguished. (If, when she bothers you, you turn into a log that *never* responds, then she will eventually give up and go lie down.)
#3. Warning! Pay attention here! This is the hardest part to understand about learning!
If, when she bothers you, you turn into a log that *never* responds, then she will eventually give up and go lie down.)
*Once a behavior is established, a variable schedule of reinforcement makes the behavior stronger.* I call this the Gambler’s Syndrome. Gamblers keep gambling because they have won in the past, so maybe they will win again! That ever-hopeful desire to win *again*, keeps them going! (If you give in to your little dog’s demands even occasionally, she will pester you even more the next time!) This is tricky. You need to make sure she isn’t sick, and sometimes you will make a mistake, but don’t give in! When she pesters you, first tell her to go lie down, then turn into a log! Don’t reinforce the pestering!!!
I am often up in the middle of the night (like now) and then want to sleep in, in the morning. We have five dogs loose in the house at night (and 3 more are crated). One is just visiting for the summer. When she leaves, another one will be visiting for fall semester while her owners are on sabbatical, so I introduce all my idiosyncrasies to each visiting dog, regardless of age, when they arrive. They adapt! When I know I will want to sleep in, I make sure all the dogs do their last elimination around midnight. Some can go earlier and still let me sleep in, but I have a couple who get desparate.
When I need to teach a dog to let me sleep, I make sure they have a reliable “down” cue, and then a “go lie down” cue which kind of means “don’t bug me”. Work on “down” first, then when you are watching TV or eating dinner or in bed, add “go lie down” with lots of quiet praise and treats. Show them what you want, then reinforce it with *quiet* praise and treats.
Next, when she bothers you at dawn, use the “go lie down” cue. Whatever you do, DON’T GET UP AND LET HER OUT!. Remember, behavior that is reinforced is most likely to be repeated. If you give in, get up and let her out, you just rewarded the behavior of her bothering you. Be firm. If you give in only sometimes, and not other times, you have just put the pestering behavior on a variable schedule.
Many good suggestions here! I had a malamute who was aggressive towards my smaller dog. For a period of time, my husband took her, as he lived in another city. He had the same complaint, that she got him up at 5:30. I said,”why do you let her do that. My dogs get to go out, when I am ready to take them out. They don’t wake me up. They wait until I get up”.
Of course this is after, as Barbara points out, the dog’s physical needs and possible things such as bladder infections are ruled out.
Genrally I think though that I have a decision. I am the leader of the house. If I don’t assume that role, then the dog will. As wendy pointed out, learned behavior takes some patience to get rid of. For me, that means if I want the behavior to extinguish, I can never reward it by giving in. If I give in just once (unless the dog is sick or has diarrhea etc) then it becomes much stronger.
An example. A child goes to the store with her parent. She throws a temper tantrum for a toy. If the parent never gives in, not once, the behavior will die (extinguish). If on the 50th temper tantrum, the parent is worn down and gives in, the child has learned something. If I throw a tantrum 50 times, I will get the toy. Then the parent is in trouble!!! You can see at this point, it would be much harder to get rid of this behavior. This is simple principles of learning and dogs learn this way too.
A book which has helped me to understand all of this is “culture clash” by jean donaldson.
I am not an animal trainer but am a psychologist by background. This book explains all of the stuff I learned in grad school for working with children, only much more explicit, with detailed exercises and everything.
Thanks for all the suggestions about what to try. I’m pretty sure that she’s OK physically – she doesn’t seem to have any problems waiting to go out if she’s crated, and only goes out a few times during the day.
The time of the feeding doesn’t seem to matter. We give her the treat in the morning, but we’ve given her dinner any time from about 6:00 to 11:00 (not for training, but because of timing issues) and that doesn’t seem to matter.
We’ve tried the “go to bed” routine, and she seems to ignore us. We’ve been afraid that once she’s up she’s going to have an accident in the house. (We have new carpet, so we’re a little concerned about accidents in the house!
But this seems like the best bet for what we’re hoping to do. Hopefully we’re not too far down the path already…
Another thing you can do is “reprogram her biological clock”. This has been done with significant success in a number of occassions.
Get yourself an alarm clock and set it for about 15 minutes EARLIER than the dog typically arises. When the alarm goes off, get up and let the dog out. Do this for several days. Then change the time on the alarm clock to 10 minutes later. Repeat for several days. By this time, the dog should be waking up with the alarm clock. If the dog is still waking earlier than the alarm clock, don’t get up until the alarm goes off. The dog will learn that the alarm is the signal that it is time to get up. Gradually increase the time the alarm is set for by 10 minute increments until it is the time you want to get up and let the dog out.
I often use this with puppies that get up at 3 am because they can’t hold it any longer. Then as they get older and their control increases, their bodies are in the habit of waking at 3 am! The clock gradually reprograms them to a much more acceptable waking time!
In our household, we often get up at 5:15 am for work. When my pups go to new homes, the alarm clock trick helps them to adjust to their new schedules (often much later than 5:15 am!)
If you want to sleep in – set the alarm clock later! The dogs are going to be waiting for the alarm as their signal to get up.
In case anyone is interested, here’s an update after Day 2. I’m trying the “tell the dog to go back to bed” idea, and hoping that there aren’t any accidents on the new carpet.
Day 1, she got up twice (around 6:30 and 7:00). Both times I told her to go back to her bed. She didn’t go immediately, but after repeatedly telling her, she sulked back into bed. When I got up at 7:30, she got up when I called her.
Day 2, she got up around 7:00. Told her to go back to bed, which she did with the same amount of encouragement as yesterday (she does have a bit of a stuborn streak sometimes). Again, she got up when I got up and called her.
I’ll let everyone know the final results. Thanks for all the suggestions.