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Kennel Training: we are almost there, but have hit a wall

LindseyM

New Member
Hello!
So here is Bruce's story. Bruce is a 120 pound mastiff mix (my best guess: bullmastiff mixed with neo? He's got a ton of adorable jowls). We adopted him about 9 months ago as an adult (he is about 5), so he has only been neutered for about 10 months. We don't really know much about his background. The rescue agency found him and an intact female wandering a range road (in January, it is VERY COLD here in January, like -20 to -30 degrees celsius), looking very skinny. She had clearly had a ton of litters. Their best guess is they were breeders and when they stopped breeding they were abandoned.

We decided to kennel train him so that when he is loose in the house he is always supervised. We don't want him to hurt himself or accidentally turn over the kitchen table or something. Also, he still marked (he was intact for 5 years).

The kennel training went pretty well! When we started he would be very reluctant to enter his kennel or flat out refuse (good luck forcing a 120 pound dog into a kennel...). Once in he would whine and bark and paw at the door, etc... But with positive reinforcement and feeding him in the kennel and giving him high reward treats only in the kennel he now has no problem. Sometimes I don't even have to tell him to go to bed. I walk over to the kennel and he runs right is cuz he knows it's bed time.

My problem now is that he is happy going to bed initially. He will eat his treat and then go to sleep. But consistently every night he starts fussing around 4:30 in the morning and doesn't stop until we get up for work. (He doesn't have to pee. He goes outside for a pee before going into the kennel and doesn't have water in there overnight). The trouble is, I think he fusses until we get up for work, and we HAVE to let him out before we leave again. So he is getting what he wants when he whines overnight. When I get home from work to let him out he is usually just sleeping. If I had unlimited time and no job I would just ignore him until he was calm every morning and THEN let him out with a ton of praise. But we all have to work, so that isn't going to happen.

As you can imagine, I am getting VERY tired of having no sleep.

(I should point out his kennel is more of a 16 square foot play pen with a water dish, a memory foam bed and toys. He is spoiled...) :)

Does anyone have any suggestions to help me get over this last kennel training hurdle?


Dog Tax:
Bruce in the Winter Prairies.jpeg Bruce on his Throne.jpg
 

scorning

Well-Known Member
No advice but he is super cute. My Danes always got up early until they stopped growing, its like they would die without breakfast. My female Doberman is now the early bird, she normally gets up around 5am, but I will say that at their age (2 and 3), if they consistently wake me up before its light out I take them to the vet to get checked for a UTI.
 

Nik

Well-Known Member
Ya so that is Kahlua with us. She wakes up at 4 or 5 am every morning. We always make sure she potties before bed and she is always up early and immediately wanting outside to potty. She is happy to go back to sleep after but it sure does mess with our sleeping schedule. Ignoring it doesn't work with her. She howls and cries and fusses until we give in. She does it when she sleeps in bed with us and she does it when she is crated over night. I think she is just an earlier riser and has a tiny bladder.

At her age Diesel was able to sleep and hold it no problem until whenever. And on the few occasions I have had to leave her home for 8 hours she does just fine holding it. But, I know when I wake up from sleep I instantly have to pee regardless of whether I peed right before bed and regardless of how long I have been up... So maybe it is just her thing. And maybe your Bruce is the same... just an earlier riser (minus the needing to pee thing)? I don't know but if anyone has any brilliant secret for getting over that hurdle I am eager to hear it as I would love to maybe get some uniterrupted sleep again one of these years. :)
 

Jarena

Well-Known Member
My girl Lettie is exactly the same as your Kahlua, Nik. She gets up at about 5:00 every morning and ignoring her doesn’t work. She always goes back to sleep after going out also. She used to get up at 3:00am but then we played with her supper time and that helped a little. We used to feed her at 7pm and we changed it to 6pm. It took about a week but then we noticed she would sleep longer. Also, your Bruce is adorable! I just want to squish his big face!!
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I'd say just because he hasn't had anything to drink after the last pee before going to bed... that doesn't mean the bladder hasn't filled back up again.

You could try stopping water even earlier in the evening... but I'd probably just get up for a quick potty break and then immediately back to bed. At 5+ yrs, you'd think he'd be beyond needing that pee-break, but maybe not? If he goes outside at the 4:30am time and does NOT immediately pee, I'd give him an angry/disappointed "get back to bed"... so he knows this was NOT play time and NOT a welcome diversion for the early morning. Hopefully after a successful 4:30am pee-break you can both get a peaceful nap before the alarm goes off, and then you can reward the calm sleepy puppy with some happy morning time again.

And, I agree, that is one good looking puppy you have there!! Such a face! and I love that coloring, too.
 
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LindseyM

New Member
Thanks for the thoughts and compliments about Bruce guys! :) :) :) Unfortunately, I still don't think it's his bladder. If I let him out he just sits at the door waiting to come back in. He just wants out of his kennel I think. Oh well, I can work on soundproofing the bedroom door or something. :p
 

Courtney H

Well-Known Member
What a handsome dog! I think cutting water off earlier MIGHT help. My dogs rare actually really good. They sleep in when we do on weekends. But they know that Monday through Friday, we have to get up for work...and they wake me up if I sleep through my alarms! They are ok with sleeping until 9am on the weekends. I wish I had some really good advice for you!