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:

[jesse's mommy]

You need to exhaust your dog before you go to bed. Play, play, play. If he wants to take a nap, wake him up. Jesse tries that game with us too and we just play her to death and keep waking her up everytime she wants to take a nap. She gets cranky when we wake her up (takes after her mommy), but she sleeps through the night.

[Brandyswts]

sounds like a plan! We are definately going to try that today!

[kayla]

I agree with Jess's Mommy, play play olay! I would also make him sleep in another room until he is trained. Invest in some earplugs too if necessary so you can get back to sleep if he is still whining. Every time you get up when he does this you're rewarding his behavior so I would just try to ignore him if possible. One thing though has he been checked by a vet? At 6 years he should be able to hold his bladder and if he's whining because he can't hold it that long it could be something for the vet to figure out. Good luck!

[Brandyswts]

well I know its not a bladder thing because when I do take him out he doesn't have to go at all...he just wants to run around and play.

[tenderfoot]

Typically it takes 3 days to break a habit, so this may not be weeks of torture for you. It kind of depends on how long he has been doing this - 6 years? Nothing wrong with letting him know you aren't happy with this behavior of whining. You can ignore it and see if that works. But a firm and sharp 'quiet' can work wonders too. Sometimes using a crate can be handy - most dogs will just settle down and relax in the crate until they are let out. But you need to find out if he is crate trained. Also, sometimes sleeping on your bed can help. He will sleep more soundly and deeply next to a warm body. Just some thoughts - one might help.

[Brandyswts]

This dog was definately not crate trained in the past but we are working on that right now. He is a terrier and a stubborn one at that so when he is in his crate he can get very unhappy to say the least. We are trying to get him to feel comfortable in his crate and want to go in there but its a slow process! I know that we'll get it eventually but for now we have been getting extra exercise and not taking as many naps and that has been working rather well. Thanks for all the help guys!!!!!!