Can anyone offer any advice about how I can persuade my 18 month old cocker spaniel to sleep longer in the mornings.
He currently wakes up between 6 - 6.30 am every day and as we are a retired couple who can get up when we want, we are finding it difficult. He sleeps in a quiet dark bed under the stairs. I have a stair gate because I don't want him upstairs. I close the living room doors when we go to bed because he is still a bit of a chewer if left unsupervised and I dont trust him. It's quite a big hall though and he has water. He gets plenty of exercise during the day. He dozes on the sofa next to us in the evenings and he will slope off to his bed sometimes. I try and stop him so he sleeps longer through the night but it doesn't help. If we keep him awake in the evening he just sleeps more the next day but still wakes up very early
I've tried walking him later, feeding him later, blackout blinds to make where he sleeps darker, not feeding him when he first gets up . Nothing makes any difference. He does want to go outside when he wakes but I dont think he is desperate, He just scrabbles like mad at the gate and makes a huge fuss until one of us gets up with him. He has even managed to open the gate sometimes. He is a very determined little dog. He is then full of beans for 45 minutes or so and then collapses on the sofa and sleeps for a good couple of hours or longer.
Has anyone any suggestions please or do we just have to put up with it.
