# How to make my dog stop whining in the morning?



## dutchgal (Jan 26, 2012)

We've had Oscar for 4 months now. He is approx. 1,5-2 years old. In these 4 months I've been working hard with him and he has made great progress. He is a great dog to be around, but he still has one bad habit that I'm trying to fix: he whines every morning, waking me up, 30 min. before I actually have to get up.

He gets his last walk at 10.30-11 PM, and it's a proper, off leash, 30 minute walk. Oscar is always my first priority in the mornings: I literally throw on some clothes and go for a walk with him right away. This is why I don't really understand his behaviour. 

My boyfriend gets up an hour before me, since he has to leave to work. This is at 7.30 in the morning, he leaves at 8. From 8 on, Oscar will whine on and off. I get up at 8.30, but never manage to sleep untill the alarm goes off, since it's always Oscar that wakes me up, and this is starting to get on my nerves.

I got him a crate to sleep in and this slightly improved the situation (he no longer destroys things if I don't get up soon enough, or scratches and whines at our bedroom door, haha) but the noise continues. 

Why does he do this? How can I teach him to stop? I don't think it's very unreasonable if I sleep till 8.30, is it? After all, he's not a small pup anymore!


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

It is understandable from the dogs point of view. He has been sleeping all night, he hears your boyfriend getting up and he thinks the day should start. He probably has to go to the bathroom and is anxious to go out. I don't really have any solution unless your boyfriend can take him for a quick trip outside before he goes to work.


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## dutchgal (Jan 26, 2012)

Kyllobernese said:


> It is understandable from the dogs point of view. He has been sleeping all night, he hears your boyfriend getting up and he thinks the day should start. He probably has to go to the bathroom and is anxious to go out. I don't really have any solution unless your boyfriend can take him for a quick trip outside before he goes to work.


Yes, I see what you mean. But is it not a matter of him getting used to this situation? If my boyfriend were to walk him in the morning, he would be in a big hurry and could only take him for a couple of minutes. This is why I take him. 

I'm just trying to figure out if I'm unreasonable about this, but I would really like him to stay quiet untill I get up, so I have my rest as well. Oscar has had a good walk before going to sleep and knows by now he gets a good walk after. Also, when he is out, he won't go to the bathroom immediately, which is another indicator to me that he doesn't whine because he needs to go, but because he wants to.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

Just a thought, but could your boyfriend take him out at least for a bathroom break? Caeda will let us sleep in on the weekends if the alarm isn't going off, but once we start moving the pacing and occasionally whining starts. She can hold it for far longer than I'd imagined (I slept for 10 hours and she had her last walk over an hour before bed! Bad me!!!). Once one of us gets up it seems like the "time to go out and pee" switch gets turned on and she wants to go. It doesn't matter who takes her out first thing, she is just used to it happening so when movement happens, its time to pee. 
I don't think that you're being terribly unreasonable. I'm just thinking perhaps a quick pee break on your boyfriend's part might let you sleep a little longer.


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## dutchgal (Jan 26, 2012)

Greater Swiss said:


> Just a thought, but could your boyfriend take him out at least for a bathroom break? Caeda will let us sleep in on the weekends if the alarm isn't going off, but once we start moving the pacing and occasionally whining starts. She can hold it for far longer than I'd imagined (I slept for 10 hours and she had her last walk over an hour before bed! Bad me!!!). Once one of us gets up it seems like the "time to go out and pee" switch gets turned on and she wants to go. It doesn't matter who takes her out first thing, she is just used to it happening so when movement happens, its time to pee.
> I don't think that you're being terribly unreasonable. I'm just thinking perhaps a quick pee break on your boyfriend's part might let you sleep a little longer.


I just discussed this with my boyfriend and he is not exactly overjoyed, haha. But he agreed he will take Oscar on a small bathroom break before leaving for work. Problem solved, I guess. It's funny how easy solutions can be with dog 'problems' yet I can never think of them myself.


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## Mama Of 3 (Feb 29, 2012)

LOL I've trained my hubby to let the dogs out for their potty break before he takes his in the morning! He wasn't thrilled either at first, but he can wait, sometimes our smallest dog couldn't. But that lets me sleep in a little longer and is easier on me especially if I'm having a bad morning. I use to get up and let them out first thing so hubby could start getting ready for work. But my hubby gets up the same time every morning even on the weekends just because he can't sleep in. 

As far as the whining goes maybe that's just how your dog communicates that he wants/needs to go out. Also that another suggested that he hears your boyfriend get up so he thinks the day should start then might be an important key to the puzzle as well. 

Instead of a crate we put the two small dogs in the bathroom at night and so I keep a puppy pad on the floor for a just in case moment. They rarely use it, but once in a great while they do and it's a little thing to do for those moments. Unless it's been used I just fold it up and save it for the next night and toss it out when it looks a little "ratty" from being folded and refolded. Our 94 lb dog sleeps on the floor by my side of the bed. She's a little attached to me, and she never ever has accidents. Since she has a bigger bladder she can wait until she's let out in the morning.


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## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

I'm glad I'm not the one one whose dog is doing this lately. I thought maybe it was the changing seasons. Every morning this week, Biscuit has been up, bouncing around the bedroom 15 minutes before the alarm goes off. She whines and paws at the door and all we can do is ignore her until she lays back down quietly, which she does do eventually. She definitely is not needing to go out to potty. She is just bored and wanting to go DO FUN THINGS AND THEN HAVE BREAKFAST YAY! I was thinking about setting my alarm earlier than Biscuit Wakeup Hour for a couple of weeks and getting up the first time it goes off, then slowly making it go off later until we get to an acceptable wakeup time. Maybe that way she will learn that we get up when the alarm goes off, not when the dog starts jumping on our heads and licking our faces. But I have not yet tried this, so I can't say if it will work!


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## dutchgal (Jan 26, 2012)

hamandeggs said:


> I'm glad I'm not the one one whose dog is doing this lately. I thought maybe it was the changing seasons. Every morning this week, Biscuit has been up, bouncing around the bedroom 15 minutes before the alarm goes off. She whines and paws at the door and all we can do is ignore her until she lays back down quietly, which she does do eventually. She definitely is not needing to go out to potty. She is just bored and wanting to go DO FUN THINGS AND THEN HAVE BREAKFAST YAY! I was thinking about setting my alarm earlier than Biscuit Wakeup Hour for a couple of weeks and getting up the first time it goes off, then slowly making it go off later until we get to an acceptable wakeup time. Maybe that way she will learn that we get up when the alarm goes off, not when the dog starts jumping on our heads and licking our faces. But I have not yet tried this, so I can't say if it will work!


Sounds like a smart idea!


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