Hey everyone! Finley is almost 5 months old now and things are going very well! One of the main issues we are currently facing is whining in the mornings. I'll admit I'm not much of a morning person, so having her wake me up early all the time has been a big change! usually she starts whining around 6-6:30 and I'll take her outside and then feed her and we go back into the crate for another hour and then around 7:30-8 we get ready for the dog park (I don't have a yard and she LOVES it there!) This system was working for a while but now when I put her back in the crate for that hour she refuses to settle down and will not stop barking. Now I know she's still a puppy and has lots of energy and is ready to get going early in the morning but that hour of extra sleep keeps me sane...I just don't get why she's acting out all of a sudden now. Any tips on what I should do? I feel bad because I'd love to take her out but she is not trustworthy unless I keep my eyes on her at all times and I'm just too tired in the mornings lol!

Also, here is an updated picture of the little stinker.

She's 5 months old. She's a child. She wants something, so she makes a scene to get it.
If she does it for the entire hour that you are trying to sleep, you may be actually rewarding her (in her mind) when you come back and let her out to go to the dog park. She barked and whined until you finally came back...success!

She's also smart, so she knows your routine, and she's excited to get going.

You have 2 options.
1. Ignore her. She'll get it eventually. My pup at around 6 months would go NUTS when I got home, but I always walked across the street to pick up my kid from daycare first, so he'd bark and jump around and whine and nothing I could do would get him to shut up. After a couple months he realized it did him no good.
2. train her to behave better. Stay up for awhile during this time and reward her when she's behaving well in the crate. This will train her for proper crate behavior.

Of course you could always just go to bed an hour earlier, but if you're anything like me, that ain't gonna happen.

Hi meg!

Like Kmanweiss said above, I find it's just a puppy thing. Echo used to wake up at 6am and started fussing around in his crate and by 7am he was whining to be fed. He seemed to have settled down at 7 months and now he lets me sleep in and just patiently waits for me at the bottom of the stairs to feed him unless I grossly oversleep.

But if you're really losing your sanity, how much exercise are you offering him before bedtime? I'm usually out with Echo at least 1.5 hours prior to bed time at the park. The days that I'm unable to take him out for that exercise before bed I end up paying the price the next morning when he's whining to be fed and let out =P. Try it out. Most behavioral issues always stem from lack of sufficient exercise in my opinion.

Good luck!

Thanks guys! I don't ever let her out while she's crying, she knows she has to be quiet before I open it, but its really annoying trying to sleep that hour while she's digging and pawing and crying in there. I'm sure she'll eventually calm down when she gets older (can't wait for that) but she gets plenty plenty of exercise before bed, I make sure of that otherwise I would be up all night! She gets at least 3-4 hours daily of playtime so I dont think she's lacking in that department but maybe it's something I just have to wait out! Today she woke me up at 6:45 with a tiny little whine which I appreciated haha.