dog wants to play at all hours of the night!

[Brandyswts]

My dog is six years old and has this terrible habit of waking up in the middle of the night (about 3am) and wanting to play/go outside. H e wakes up and will sit right beside the bed and cry and whine and whimper until you at least stretch a hand out and scratch his head. He stays up for a while wanting to play and I cant take it. I tried taking him for a walk to see if he had to go to the bathroom, but he doesnt- he just wants to play! This dog is new to me but apparently had this habit with his last owner as well. His last owner used to just put him outside when he did this and then get up again in about an hour to let him back in when he started crying because he was ready to come back inside. This is really not going to work for my boyfriend and I!! We both have extremely busy schedules and cant be up all night letting him outside and in whenever he is ready. What can i do? Is my only option trying to break this habit by letting him cry every night until he realizes that I'm not going to let him outside to play in the middle of the night? If so, these next couple weeks are going to be rough!!!!:sad: