Even under the best of circumstances, a dog’s excessive or unwelcome barking may be aggravating. There’s a good chance you’ll get a lot of complaints from your neighbours if it occurs in the small hours of the morning. Not to mention having your own sleep ruined.
You may be asking yourself why your dog is barking and how to stop a dog barking in the morning. Finding a fix begins with figuring out what’s causing the issue in the first place, and this is true of any bad habit. Why does your dog do it, and what can you do to stop her? That’s the subject of this article.
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Why Is Your Dog Barking In The Morning?
There are a number of reasons as to why your dog may have gotten into the habit of barking in the morning. Below are some of the most common reasons why your dog has started nuisance barking.
Your Dog Is Hungry
It could simply be the case that your pet pooch is hungry and wants to be fed. Your dog may understand that he’s fed at a particular in the morning. In other words, if you consistently feed your dog breakfast at say 6 a.m., then your dog will come to anticipate food at that time. When this happens, he will wake up and get excited at this time.
If your dog generally wakes up when you want it to during the week days, but gets up too early in the morning on weekends and barks, it’s likely that your dog is simply hungry. It’s also possible that it barks because he is hungry on regular days, especially if he has to wait for food for an extended period of time and if it stops barking after receiving food.
Your Dog Wants To Go For A Walk
If you typically take your dog for a walk early in the morning or otherwise give it exercise first thing, then this could be a reason for your pet pooch to bark in the morning. Your dog may be used to getting exercise right away and starts barking when she doesn’t see you downstairs with a leash getting ready to take her out.
Your Dog Is Seeking Attention
If you’ve generally responded to your dog’s early morning howls by attending to him and giving him attention, then you’ve unknowingly encouraged this behaviour.
Your dog is now accustomed to getting your attention and affection whenever he barks and howls. So now when he wakes up in the small hours of the morning and feels a little lonely, he starts barking to get your attention.
There are other reasons why your pet pooch is getting up at very early hours and barking excessively, but the above three reasons are the most common. The important thing to note is that you shouldn’t encourage your dog’s behaviour, instead you should assert yourself as your dog’s owner and overseer.
How To Train Your Dog To Not Bark In The Morning – 5 Methods
Now we’ll discuss the different methods and strategies you can use to prevent your dog from barking early in the morning.
1. Leave Some Food Out For Your Dog To Eat In The Morning
As established above, there’s a high chance that your dog is barking early in the morning because she’s hungry. It may be ok with you if your dog to barks early during weekdays because you’re also up early can feed your dog. However, if you prefer to have a lie in on the weekends, then you may not want to be woken up at 6am to feed your barking dog.
In that case, you should simply put some food in a bowl for your dog so she has something to eat when she wakes up.
This suitability of this method does depend on what type of food you feed your dog. If feeding your dog wet food or they’re on a raw diet, then it’s not recommended to leave out these types of food overnight.
However, if you do feed your dog a variety of food including dry food, then you can leave out some dry food overnight.
This means that when your dog wakes up in the morning, she will have some food wating for her already and won’t feel the need to bark.
2. Give Your Dog A Late Night Toilet Break
If your dog is needing to pee early in the morning, then it would a good idea to alter his toilet routine. This simply means allowing your dog to pee around 30 minutes before he goes to sleep.
By doing this, you’re dog should not have to pee first thing early in the morning when he wakes up. As a result, he shouldn’t bark excessively at early morning times.
3. Make Your Dog’s Surroundings Comfortable
You should aim to make your dog’s bed as comfortable and relaxing as possible. By doing this you’ll reduce the chances of your dog having short interrupted sleep and waking up early in the morning.
Endure your dog’s bed is soft, supportive and has her favourite toys and bedding. You should also make sure the room your dog sleeps in has a feeling of calm and relaxation.
4. Reward Your Dog For Being Quiet
It seems quite obvious, but when your dog is barking you should not give your dog any type of attention that could be seen as positive reinforcement. This means you shouldn’t give your dog food, treats or play with it.
Instead, you should only reward your dog when he is being quiet. The rewards could be playing and exercising or giving him treats.
5. Ignore Your Dog’s Barking
If you simply ignore your dog when she barks, then very often he will simply stop barking after some time. As previously mentioned, your dog may be barking just to get attention or because he’s bored.
It’s important you establish your stance that you won’t com running every time he barks. You could also link this in with number 4 above by reward your dog when he stops barking and becomes quiet.
Final Thoughts On How To Stop A Dog Barking In The Morning
Having a dog that barks in the early hours of the morning is both frustrating and tiring. Not only for you but for your neighbours as well, who may be very annoyed at having their sleep interrupted. Some neighbours may even report you for allowing your dog to engage in nuisance barking.
The good news is that there are tried and tested methods you can employ to stop your dog barking in the morning. These methods are easy and cost nothing except a bit of patience and time.