Without fail Mia starts barking between 5 and 5.15 every morning. She doesn't stop until I get up. I've tried everything I can think of.....

Ignoring her.....She went on for an hour, constantly, before I gave up.

Letting her outside....she just stood by the door looking at me until I let her in

Feeding her....she had a bite, but by the time I was back upstairs she was back to barking

Letting her into the rest of the house....she just follows me upstairs (waking my son) and keeps getting on the bed which she's not allowed.

I've even walked downstairs, opened the door, made her go back to bed and then gone back up.

I can't keep getting up at 5.00 when I usually get to bed close to 12.00 (no matter how hard I try to go earlier.)

She doesn't suffer separation anxiety, and when we get up, after her initial greeting, she goes and sleeps on the sofa.

I have a three year old son, and walk the mutt for at least 3 hours a day...I'm getting so exhausted with these mornings. (Before we were getting up between 6.30 and 7.00.)

Have you any ideas on how to stop the barking. I'm close to getting an anti-bark collar for her. I just don't know what to do.

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Mia, my 19 month old lab x ridgeback.

We've got this at the moment with Poppy. OH used to be first up between 8 and 8.30am. When the clocks went forward and the lighter mornings started, it would wake Poppy as she sleeps in the conservatory (dim out blinds but not blackout), so it was getting light in there earlier and earlier. There have been a few mornings at 5.30ish but mostly it's about 6ish. Some mornings there are just a few woofs and she settles again so I can stay in bed until about 6.45 - 7am but I never manage to get back off to sleep so I just get up.

Nothing, but nothing stops her once she's in full swing. I just get up now and take advantage of an earlier walk when there's usually no-one around and the beach is mainly deserted. I go to bed earlier to compensate as I am absolutely whacked.

She usually has an evening run around 7.30 - 8pm for about 45 minutes. I find that if she goes to play with her sister (my son's dog) around 8pm for half an hour or so, it tires her out more than the run. She doesn't have both on the same day, playing with my son's dog is my "emergency" measure when circumstances don't allow me to take her for an evening walk.

The later I can exercise her in the evening, the later she gets up in the morning.

Also, we have a cat and she tends to wake up earlier if the cat has stayed in at night, she obviously starts to stir and move around and this wakes Poppy.

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Poppy's blog: Poppy's Puppy Tales

It sounds as though Mia is a chore to you and I'm sensing the irritation in your post and if I can sense it Mia will too. A cross lab/ridgeback will I imagine require a fair bit of stimulation.

You don't say whether Mia is being walked on the lead or if she is getting the chance to run free, sniffing etc (this will obviously tire her out more). It is possible she needs more stimulation to keep her mind occupied. Possibly break her walks up and spread them out more, changing places you go. Is there anyone else that can help you? Have you tried filling a kong with some peanut butter and treats - give her that to keep her occupied until you get up or a nice big juicy marrow bone.

According to recent article at DSD Article - suggesting crate & chew toys, dogs are naturally most lively at dawn & dusk.

When early morning barking crops up, it's almost always coinciding with dawn. I think from sound of it, the real solution is to ensure it's dim where your dog sleeps, perhaps time your exercise with the dog, to settle into a more convenient sleeping pattern.

Most active dogs are exercised twice a day, morning & later on, which means they tend to be resting a fair bit during the day.

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For eager & reliable recall, be fun for the dog to come back to! Then often send them off right away to do what they wanted!
DT&B - Glossary of acronyms & jargon terms.
Encouraging good behaviours, whilst consistently avoiding practise of bad alternatives leads to extinction of the bad. So if dog sits 6/10 times it doesn't sit 4/10 times, encouraging with the right rewards (positively-reinforcing) enough for 9/10 times means it now fails to sit only 1/10 times, sit 10/10 means...

She's not a chore at all! (It might have come out that way after three weeks of 5 hours sleep a night.) I adore our walks together, and knew she was a high energy dog when I got her. We do three hour long walks generally. During the day she's an angel. Yes, we need to work on her training for some things, but I couldn't ask for a better dog.

It is honestly just the barking at night that's the problem. For some reason I hadn't put two and two together, but DirtyGertie, you made an excellent point. The bunnies are in the bathroom at night, which is near the kitchen, and they are crepuscular. (are awake most during dawn and dusk.) That might wake her up. I'll try moving them.

I've (literally) just gone and bought her a kong (along with some new toys and raw hide.)
I think she wants us to get up so she can get out of the kitchen. She goes to sleep almost straight away on the sofa, and if I were to go back to bed, then she'd join me. (but my OH doesn't want her on the bed.) The only other thing I can think of is to set up a stair gate so she could be in the living room at night.....that could help.

I honestly don't find her a chore at all!

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Mia, my 19 month old lab x ridgeback.

Tummel went through a period of whining(he sleeps in our room) from 4am...at first i thought he needed the loo(nope) so the i gave up and ignored him...he used to whine solidly from 4-6.30am then he'd go quiet until one of use got up.

He always has a toy of some sort in his crate, he adores his kong(empty...for some reason he prefers it that way) and has a vinyl bone he chews. If you're giving Mia rawhide don't leave her alone with it as they can tear off big bits which isn't good at all

Hopefully she settles down again soon for you...or you can send her my way i'm up between 5-5.30 every day anyway

Thanks!! I can't believe I never thought of that!

Can I also send you my son?!

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Mia, my 19 month old lab x ridgeback.

It may well be the light that makes her wake up. If she sleeps in a crate, put a blanket over most of it (leave a gap for fresh air) to keep it darker. If she's in a bed in a room but not a crate, blackout blinds should work.

If it isn't the daylight - what time does your boiler come on? Took me ages to work out that one of the dogs was waking to the boiler noise

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I don't get on with children so nope but i'll happily have Mia but yeah, rawhide swells when wet so make sure she doesn't pull massive bits off....i only ever let Tummel have his when i'm around and even then only for 10 minutes or so as i don't want him to have too much, if he pulls off any big bits i take it all away.

If you were looking for a chew that was safe for Mia go onto bigdogworld and get a stagbar(i just ordered one today), it's just an antler but they don't splinter and is a good source of vitamins so it's safe to leave with Mia