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No Sleep!

Gem

Well-known member
For the past week or so we have been woken up every morning at 4.00am by Chloe! She always sleeps downstairs in the kitchen and goes into her bed quite happily. She used to be up at about 7 and would just play with her toys until we came down to get her. Now 4.00 on the dot and she is banging and scrathing the kitchen door. This is strange as she always barks to go out. The first couple of times she did this we went down to her as it is very out of character. We then decided it may be attention seeking so decided to leave her but she did not stop. From 4 - 6.30 she was scrathing and scrathching constantly (no exaggeration there)
Finally when I went down she just looked at me as if to say "whats wrong with you?" Its started to get us really concerned as dont know why or what is causing this (she is in a dark room and we dont usually put her in there til past 11.00pm) and we are so tired, it is just like having a baby!
Any ideas greatly appreciated??
ps: dont think it is the birds waking her as we have a pet bird anyway and shes not phased atall by bird song!:( :confused:
 
Hiya,
no shes not. she was spayed back in April, she is still very young though, will be one next month
 
I know how you feel!! for a different reason though as one of my girls is in heat right now and one of my boys, NOT my stud dog, has decided that 4:15 is a great time to wake me up "whistling" after her!! (Whistling is sort of half way between a whine and a howl!) This is so annoying and frustrating, it's not as if he is ever going to have the chance to mate her, but the one thing I have noticed is that this is the time it gets light!! So the other night I simply threw a blanket over his crate and he slept until I usually get up at 6:30! In my case this is only temporary a my girl is almost out of heat now, but it might be worth you trying if Chloe sleeps in a crate, that's the thing with Summer, VERY early mornings and sometimes it can just wake them up very early!! Or you could try black out curtains in your kitchen??
 
Other things to try -- turn a radio on low and leave it in the room with her as it will muffle out background noise which may be waking her. If she sleeps in a crate definitely follow Cathryn's suggestion as that really limits what they can see and removes stimulus. Earplugs may be the main answer though as she's probably testing your will because you did respond the first few times so she knows there are potential awards for this behaviour. :lol: The thing now is to make her realise that was a once off and won't be happening again.
All that said -- these things can have limited success against a determined cavalier. My parents tried just about everything with their older cavalier Lucy who often would bark for them earlier and earlier... and eventually they just gave in and let her stay in the bedroom, either in her crate or on the bed. She NEVER gets them up now... :cool:
 
This happened with Phoebe. She slept no problem downstairs. But I started to bring her up to bed at around 6am. So over time this scratching started!! Same time and the noise!!

I felt that she was very anxious being on her own. I can't have her in the room as I have a slight allergy so now I have a babygate at my bedroom door and she sleeps in her basket and can see me at all times. It has worked a treat.
 
This type behaviour happened to me not with my Cavalier but with my Clumber Spaniel. Because I had an elderly dog who slept at the foot of my bed when Hadley, my Clumber, first came home with us at twelve weeks, I had her sleep in her crate in a little room off the kitchen. Until she was two years old she was good as gold so that even when my elderly dog died I did not move her to my bedroom. Buddy, our Cavalier who came later, also slept downstairs. After two years of peaceful nights, all of a sudden Hadley started barking, first about a half an hour after "lights out" and some times again about 4:00 - 5:00 a.m. At first I went to her because the barking was so out of character that I "knew" something must be wrong. Forget it, she just wanted to play. I held out and she did finally settle back into her routine. As her reward I moved both she and Buddy up to the bedroom except for occassional nights when I leave them in their crates to make sure they are still "crate trained." If I was home all day I probably would have left them to sleep in their crates but since I am gone all day and they are crated from about 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. (there is someone else home in the mornings), I decided it was "quality time" to have them sleep upstairs. How's that for rationalization?! Bottom line is that Chloe is probably awake, bored and wants attention. If you want her to stay asleep downstairs I would try to keep her very active in the evenings, no naps, so that when lights go out at 11:00 p.m. she is exhausted. Good luck!!
 
All that said -- these things can have limited success against a determined cavalier. My parents tried just about everything with their older cavalier Lucy who often would bark for them earlier and earlier... and eventually they just gave in and let her stay in the bedroom, either in her crate or on the bed. She NEVER gets them up now... :cool:

icon_nwunsure icon_whistling

Can't think why not!! Lucy sure has them trained the right way!! ;) :lol:
 
We went through the same problems with Chester a couple of months ago.

He always slept in his crate in the lounge but started scratching to get out after about half hour. We'd go down, let him out & he'd go straight into his other bed in the kitchen. It took us about a week to realise he didnt want to sleep in his crate anymore. He started sleeping in the kitchen & was fine until the mornings got light.

Then he started waking at about 5:30am & wouldnt stop scratching - I know what you mean when you say Chloe can scratch for hours, Chester is the same.

We put blinds up and though they worked a little he still created. Finally, I decided to get up with him, let him out for a toilet, without talking to him much, then putting him back in his bed with the radio on low & it has worked a treat. Now he is more than happy & most days doesnt even wake up until I go down at about 7am.
 
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