How to keep a grey awake in the evening?!

[greysrus]

My grey is a nightmare at night at the mo, waking very very early. She spends most of thd day/eve snoozing so its no wonder! How can I keep her entertained/awake in the eve in the hope I may get some sleep! I obviously walk her/train her in the eve and play, but not too much otherwise she drinks too much and then wees!

[kamkay]

Sorry, but . I have no idea how you would set about doing this. What time do you feed her in the evening? My former greyhound, Jet, used to get me up at ridiculous o'clock and it was suggested that I feed him later and it worked ( to a certain extent- he still thought I should be up by 7) . Sorry I cannot be of more help

[greysrus]

Thanks Kamkay, I feed her about 6 / 6.30pm. What time would you suggest? You maybe right though as as soon as the tum is full she wants to sleep. 7 am would be a lie in 4.30 is not!

[greybeard]

No real idea either - unless she's still on "kennel time"?Perry was hard to settle at 1st - we had him in the Autumn,seemed OK then.But come Spring and the birdies singing and sunshine he was awake and yelling for us to go.Can't blame him cos he was used to mainly me being up at silly o'clock to get to work.He's always been used to being fed later at night cos we both worked shifts - easier cos if the 1 who was home 1st gave the evening meal then fell asleep,you'ld find then that him and his sister conned the the other 1 that they hadn't been fed.I'm still suprised that we didn't have a very porky lurcher lurcher and grey.Cath

[alfiemoon]

I don't have a grey but thought the same...kennel o'clock?

I see you've already found this thread >>> greyhoundgap.proboards.com/thread/29759/dog-decided-wake-5am?page=3

If you've satisfied yourself that a toilet break isn't required, I'd suggest teaching her the command 'on your bed' or similar during the day and then you should be able to send her back to bed until you're ready. It's worked pretty well for us.

My lurcher, Alfie, gets up anywhere between 2-4 times in the night and wants to come on the bed with us as his previous (foster) home allowed him to sleep in bed with them...not in our house!! This still happens after 3 years with us sending him back to bed...until about 4.30am when we finally give in and let him on the bed, lol! Just to add, his bed is right next to my side of the bed, so very close to his mum!

It does work, although we (well, make that I, as OH sleeps through) still get a disturbed night). Might not be so bad if it's just the waking time you're working on. Good luck!

[kamkay]

I would have suggested 7 ish, but that's not much later than you already feed her. Does she wear PJs or similar at night-she may be waking up because she is cold.

[greysrus]

No she hasn't pj's, I was wondering if it was that. What do you recommend?

[gazer]

One of my whippy lurcher girlies wakes me regularly around 3-4am, she is cold, (this only happens during the cold months) she has a baldy belly and very fine fur.  I just lift the duvet up and she pops under to sleep next to me. I don't have to get up thankfully.  Sometimes I wake up and she's already there, I didn't even feel her creep in.  We then all get up when I'm ready.

Suggest a coat or jumper for your girl, it might just work.

[greysrus]

Thanks Gazer, I've ordered a fleece housecoat. She has always been up early, 6, but thats fine. So hope that works, being woken every night is not fun especially when she won't settle after. At first I thought it was for a wee so was letting her out. Hoping I haven't also created a habit now :/

[kamkay]

Hope the housecoat does the trick- keep us informed