Owning a Rottweiler that wakes you up early can be a frustrating experience and one that you’d probably like to avoid. This post will help you to figure out why it’s happening and what to do about it.
So, why does my Rottweiler wake up so early?
There are a number of possible reasons but the most likely one is that it has associated a certain time in the morning with getting food.
Other possible reasons include wanting attention, needing to pee, being naturally active and possibly medical reasons such as pain.
And how do you get your Rottweiler to wake up later?
The two most effective methods would be to make sure that it gets to wee just before going to bed and to gradually get it used to waking up and getting food at slightly later times in the morning.
Other options include giving it lots of exercises, ruling out medical problems, and giving it something to chew on.
There are actually many possible reasons why your Rottweiler wakes up early and it could be due to a combination of them. However, there are a number of things you can do to get it to wake up at around the same time as you do.
Reasons Why Your Rottweiler Gets Up Early
Below are some common reasons why Rottweilers wake up early and what would make them more likely to be the main reason why yours wakes up early.
It has associated waking up at a certain time with getting food
It could be the case that it has learned that it gets food at a certain time in the morning.
This means that if you regularly give your Rottweiler breakfast at 6 am then it’s going to cause your Rottweiler to expect to get food at 6 am. This will cause it to wake up at this time and to get excited at this time.
This would be more likely to be the issue if your Rottweiler wakes up when you want it to during the week but it wakes up too early on the weekend.
It needs to pee
The reason why your Rottweiler does it could also be that it needs to pee in the morning. This would be more likely to be the cause if it wants to go outside straight away to pee.
In this case, it would be important to continue letting it out to pee quickly. It would also help to let it out to pee just before bedtime.
Medical causes
The reason why it has been doing it might be that it has a medical issue, it is ill or injured. This would be more likely if it has started waking up early suddenly and if it has been behaving unusually in other ways as well. In this case, the best option would be to take it to a vet.
It wants attention
If you tend to only give it attention in the mornings it might be getting up early in order to get attention from you. This would be more likely if you tend to go to work early in the mornings.
It’s Young
If your Rottweiler is still a puppy, you shouldn’t be worrying too much since it’s normal for Rottweiler puppies to be loud at times that might not suit you. It is also normal for them to need to pee during the night since they do not have control of their bladder yet.
If it persists for more than a few months then that would be something to be more concerned about. However, it would still help to follow the tips mentioned below.
It’s Old
The cause of your Rottweiler getting up early could be that it is getting old. As they get older their ability to control their bladder will deteriorate so it’s normal for them to start to need to get up earlier.
How To Stop Your Rottweiler Getting Up Early
Below are some options you have when getting it to stop getting up early.
Reduce disturbances
One thing you can do is to reduce the number of things that might provoke a reaction out of your rottweiler where it sleeps.
This means that you should reduce the number of things that it can create noise with and to make the room darker to keep it sleepy for longer.
Although, you might want to keep a quiet toy for it to play with in the room so that it can quietly play with that when it gets hyper.
Gradually get up later
If your Rottweiler is regularly getting up at the same time then it’s probably used to getting things such as food and attention at that time.
If you want to get your Rottweiler to wake up later then your best bet is to gradually get it used to waking up slightly later each day.
You can do this in 5-minute chunks where you get up 5 minutes later each morning and feed it 5 minutes later as well and just repeat until you get to the time that you want to get up.
If you have to get up earlier during the week then this becomes more difficult. Here, you could get it used to waking up at the time you want it to during the week and then to just quickly give it what it wants at that time on the weekend and then go back to bed.
Let it go to the bathroom later
It might be the case that your Rottweiler has been getting up early because it needs to pee in the mornings.
The best option for you here is to try to give it water a bit earlier in the evenings and to let it pee just before going to bed. This way hopefully it won’t need to pee as much in the morning. It would also be an option to let it pee quickly in the mornings and then to quickly go back to bed.
Give it lots of exercise
Rottweilers are meant to get daily exercise. When Rottweilers do not get enough exercise, they will often behave abnormally and it might be part of the reason why yours has been waking up early.
Generally, it is recommended for Rottweilers to get at least an hour of exercise per day as healthy adults.
Ignore
When your Rotweiler gets up early it will likely be trying to get your attention if you ignore it for a while, eventually, it will stop trying to get your attention in the mornings.
However, it is important to make sure to let it go outside if it needs to pee.
GIve it time
If your Rottweiler is still a puppy it will likely just need some time before it stops feeling the need to get up so early.
This is actually a good time to start building it up towards waking up at the time that you want it to so that there isn’t any trouble later on.
Consider crate training
While your puppy is still young you might want to consider doing crate training. This can help your puppy to feel more secure and to make it less likely to cause trouble in the mornings.
Give it something to chew on
Another thing you could do is to give it something to chew on such as toys, bones or chews so that you can go back to sleep when it bothers you.
Get help from a vet
If you cannot figure out why it has been doing it or it has been showing signs of being ill or injured, the best option would be to get help from a vet.
By doing so, you will be able to get expert advice tailored towards your particular Rottweiler and to rule out illness or medical issues as a cause.
Considerations
If it’s a puppy
If your Rottweiler is a puppy, it’s normal for it to be getting up at weird times. The main thing for you to do here is to be patient.
If it’s old
If your Rottweiler is getting older then trying to stop it from needing to pee in the mornings will be more difficult the best thing for you to do is to make sure that it gets to pee before going to bed.
Use an animal behaviorist
If you cannot get it to stop and it does not seem to be due to medical issues, another option would be to get help from a dog behaviorist.