Whining is driving me mad!

[Gillian Howard]

Hi,

i got my second rescue, Pippa, about 6 weeks ago. She is a staffordshire bull terrier cross 1 year old. I think she had a very unhappy life before me.

Things have progressed in the last 6 weeks but she is still very clingy. She follows me everywhere and her favourite place is just to lie on my lap which she does constantly.

The problem that is driving me mad is that she wakes me up every day at about 6.30 whining and crying and trying to get out of the door by jumping up and grabbing the door handle.

She sleeps fine but I think that as soon as she wakes up she thinks "must get to mummy!"

My bedroom is right next to where she sleeps (and there is no where else for her to go).

Obviously I am trying my best to ignore her. But is this every going to stop? How is it possible to re-train her not to start whining the minute she wakes in a morning?

She is on NILF and i am enrolling her on some behaviour lessons to start next week but at the moment I am waking up very grumpy and it is not good!

Any suggestions would be great.

Gillian xx

[Susan Medlin]

Gillian,
My Sammy likes to get up this early, too! But, we go to bed around 10:30, and I figure he needs to go outside. I've tried giving him some treats in his crate after we come back in so I can get a few more minutes sleep!
Is it possible for her to sleep in a crate in your room? I had another Scottie who whined all night, moved his crate to our room, and it stopped immediately! They want to be one of the pack!
Hope this helps,
Susan

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Hi Gillian~

It may be that Pippa needs to go potty. If she is completely potty trained you can ignore her if you want. If you ignore her completely every morning she will learn whining does not work. If you think she has to go potty & you don't want to ignore her then set your alarm to wake up before she does. That way you can go let her out before the whining starts. Take her out on leash to go potty. Bring her back in & back to wherever she sleeps. Give her a toy or something to occupy herself with so that you can go back to sleep.

Hope this helps

Hi,

i got my second rescue, Pippa, about 6 weeks ago. She is a staffordshire bull terrier cross 1 year old. I think she had a very unhappy life before me.

Things have progressed in the last 6 weeks but she is still very clingy. She follows me everywhere and her favourite place is just to lie on my lap which she does constantly.

The problem that is driving me mad is that she wakes me up every day at about 6.30 whining and crying and trying to get out of the door by jumping up and grabbing the door handle.

She sleeps fine but I think that as soon as she wakes up she thinks "must get to mummy!"

My bedroom is right next to where she sleeps (and there is no where else for her to go).

Obviously I am trying my best to ignore her. But is this every going to stop? How is it possible to re-train her not to start whining the minute she wakes in a morning?

She is on NILF and i am enrolling her on some behaviour lessons to start next week but at the moment I am waking up very grumpy and it is not good!

Any suggestions would be great.

Gillian xx