# Advice on getting them to sleep longer



## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

So I've been pretty excited that our potty accidents have come down to either one or none a day between Lexi & Beemer. Something changed in the last week. They also are big enough to get over the base of the pen area door and now walk in and out on their own, too. But the great thing is they let me know, stand/sit by the door all of a sudden, sometimes even ringing the poochie bell as well. And when in their crates, whimper a certain way that I know differs from their whining because as soon as I open the doors they make a beeline for the back door. 

What I would like some advise on is how to adjust their evening sleep habits to coincide with mine. These puppies fall asleep between 7 and 7:30. If we are playing inside, they walk into their crates and put themselves to bed. Outside, they just make that pancake butt and snooze away. I've tried to keep them awake, changed their feeding time to a bit later, give them treats, training later in the evening and it is as if the switch turns off all of a sudden. It's nice because I have a lot of time in the evening getting things done. But it also means that they get up at least once, sometimes twice, after I have fallen asleep and wake up at some ungodly hour (4:40am). Seems to coincide some to the moment light breaks the horizon in the morning and the sun dips just below in the evening maybe. I don't want to pick up the water because since we are in a desert and they drink minimally during the day as they hate going outside to potty when it is hot, it's important that they stay hydrated. But they only have access to it outside of the crates and they take a good swig of it when they first wake up throughout the night. Perhaps I'm doomed, but sleeping for 4 hour intervals is really painful on the days I have to work and can't nap when they nap. 

Any help would be appreciated. And their cute faces and adorable yawning in the middle of the night make it hard for me to be too upset about it. Here's a couple of new pics of them. I think the closeup is Beemer, but I could be wrong. Starting to look more like each other in the face.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

This is a tough fact of puppy ownership - those early morning starts.... It does get better, but even now occasionally Kiki has a yipping fit between 4:30 and 5:15 - which seems to coincide with the dawn chorus and the pigeons flapping around outside. It certainly isn't because she wants to go out for a pee...
I guess for you it is nice and cool in the early morning and the perfect time for puppies to play out before it gets too hot. Could you take them out for a half hour play and then all go back to bed for a couple of hours? That is what I used to do with one of my children who was a persistent early waker and would disturb the whole house. We could go out for an hour between 4 and 5 and then he was happy to go back in his cot, I'd creep into bed and go back to sleep til 7:30 when everybody else was waking up! Now the same child is nearly 17 and I struggle to get him up before lunch time 
At least your puppies potty training is going brilliantly!


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## JoJo (Mar 2, 2011)

wakey wakey ... early puppy mornings I know them so well, all I can say is it does get better with age. Puppies usually want to wake early for a toilet and some will just go out do their business then snuggle back down, however they may require some cuddles and entertainment at this time and then we have the start to the owners day   

What do they say about the early bird catching the worm .. well at least you can get your housework done by 8am then ready for a dog walk with matchsticks holding your eyes open .. 

Seriously early morning do get better


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Have you tried leaving their crates open and putting paper down for them? I did this for Max and he has never woken me up early. Think he was clean and dry after about 6 weeks with us at night. No problems now of course but he is 10 months old now.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

The kicker is that we need to be up by 5 in order to have all our eating, pooping, peeing, walking, and playing done before I leave for work at 7. Ironically, I made the post and we had our first 6 hr sleeping stretch last night. Again, still off by an hour of what I would have liked, but baby steps. I think I'm going to try shifting their dinner time a half hour later and see if that helps. 

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice. It's good to know that this too shall pass.


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## Jayded (Apr 5, 2013)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> The kicker is that we need to be up by 5 in order to have all our eating, pooping, peeing, walking, and playing done before I leave for work at 7. Ironically, I made the post and we had our first 6 hr sleeping stretch last night. Again, still off by an hour of what I would have liked, but baby steps. I think I'm going to try shifting their dinner time a half hour later and see if that helps.
> 
> Thanks for all the encouragement and advice. It's good to know that this too shall pass.


Ringo goes to sleep later, but still wakes up anywhere from 4 to 5:30 am. The 5:30 is the real killer because it's just half an hour before my alarm goes off. 4, I can go back to sleep, 5:30, not so much, so I'm like "really? You can't sleep for another half an hour!?" I am feeding him later too, but it hasn't helped. Hopefully as he gets older. Good Luck!


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

LOL, I have the same conversation with Lexi (who is the one who wakes me up at 4:40).


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## Jayded (Apr 5, 2013)

Ringo actually slept straight through the night last night and slept until 6! Let's hope this is the start of something good lol
Hopefully yours will start sleeping later too


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Jayded said:


> Ringo actually slept straight through the night last night and slept until 6! Let's hope this is the start of something good lol
> Hopefully yours will start sleeping later too


Here's hoping! I also took your advice about the partition in their crates. I'm not sure when but all of a sudden they are huge (relatively speaking). So tonight is the first night without one. Maybe that'll help keep them comfortable rather than all curled up.


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## Jayded (Apr 5, 2013)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> Here's hoping! I also took your advice about the partition in their crates. I'm not sure when but all of a sudden they are huge (relatively speaking). So tonight is the first night without one. Maybe that'll help keep them comfortable rather than all curled up.


so last night I woke up having to use the loo LOL Of course that woke Ringo up so I went ahead and took him out, that was at three and he settled right down and slept until one of my cats started crying outside the door at 5:15. We both just turned back over and went back to sleep until the alarm went off lol


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Jayded said:


> so last night I woke up having to use the loo LOL Of course that woke Ringo up so I went ahead and took him out, that was at three and he settled right down and slept until one of my cats started crying outside the door at 5:15. We both just turned back over and went back to sleep until the alarm went off lol


So what I love about this forum is that someone else says the very same thing I am either thinking, doing, worrying about, etc. Whenever I have to get up to use the bathroom I tip toe and don't take a breath until I'm far away to make sure they don't wake up. 

So they slept for 7.5 hrs last night. And even though they woke up at about 4:30, they didn't make a peep until I got up. Moments like these make me fall more in love with them every day. Also, I don't feel like dying as soon as the day starts for the first time in over a month.


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## Jayded (Apr 5, 2013)

Ringo's crate is in my room, I can not turn over in bed without waking him up lol


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I'm seriously laughing out loud. I moved a twin bed down into the family room so I can sleep by them. Too far to bring them from upstairs. At first, their crates were right next to me and now I'm putting a bit more distance between us. Although based on others' experiences about the crate, I'm guessing sleeping close by really helps get them acclimated to the crate.


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