@roboryan Try teaching a 'quiet' command when they quieten down during another time of whining or crying or barking (not 5am) by saying quiet as soon as they stop. Then reward. They will start crying again. Do nothing but wait for them to gain their breath. They stop - You Reward. They get the gist quickly.
Use the quiet and no commands for 5am (after a potty break) and it should break the behaviour eventually. Slow progress then one day it will all click!
@roboryan Ah I feel that. My pup is usually pretty good but she did that this morning. I think she’s a little confused by the time change, aren’t we all
@roboryan It took me about a month of putting her right back in her crate to get there. Now, she often still needs to go out but then will quietly settle. Don’t cave on it! And stay consistent— outside, no engagement, back to bed/crate. I was flexible the first few weeks I had her and it conditioned her to think she could get up sooner if she cried. Now we have the same routine each time even if it is a little later that she wakes up initially. I’m finally sleeping too! Lol.
@roboryan He’s not a barker. But crying. If he was in a crate, he preferred to dig his way out. You could just hear the scratching and digging. If he wasn’t in his crate, he nipped at you until you woke up.
@roboryan My puppy sleeps in bed with me and he always wants to get up to pee and eat breakfast around 5:30 or 6:00 am. I am not a morning person, so I just go back to bed after. Eventually he adjusted to my schedule and he usually eats his breakfast and runs back into bed in the time it takes me to walk from the kitchen back to my bedroom.
@roboryan I have a 5:30 AM puppy. I get up for work at that time every day so that’s when he’s used to getting up. He doesn’t care if it’s the weekend though he still wakes up at 5:30 lol. But now that he’s older…he’s good with getting up at 5:30, going outside to go potty, having breakfast, and then getting back in bed together for snoozies and snuggle time. It’s a nice routine.
@soulsearchingservant We are working towards this and I hope that it makes a difference but will need to keep crate training him until he's fully potty trained and can be trusted not to chew everything in site lol.
@roboryan So during my first visit with the Vet for this puppy, our Vet told us to teach him “settle”. Whenever he goes in his crate, settle. Second visit, she has the Vet assistant show us how to hold him (1 arm around his neck, second arm around his waist) and tell him to settle. We use “settle” all the time now. He barks at something, we tell him good boy now settle. It’s a long process. But after a potty break he will settle. Hope this helps you.
Bonus if you can fake snore, or pretend to sleep so they're convinced you're already out. I've noticed my pup is more willing to rest if he hears that everyone else is asleep.
But, he’s good about letting me go back to sleep after I take him outside, give him breakfast, and play just for a few minutes.