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Getting older dog to sleep through the night
We have a 9 year old setter mix who sleeps with us. She used to have a very set schedule where she would get up in the morning to go out and eat breakfast around 6:30am when we got up.
About 6 months ago, we had to put her on prednisone for some skin conditions. Due to that, she was drinking more water and was more hyper than usual and got into the habit of getting up at least once at night, usually between 2-4am. We would take her out, let her get water, etc. She was weaned off the prednisone about 2 months ago but has continued in the habit of getting up at least once between 2-4am, and then will usually want up around 5:45/6am to eat breakfast and go out again.
This is highly annoying because that means we are getting up twice with her before we would normally get up. At first we went with it because we didn't want her to have an accident and thought she really needed to go. Now we think she has just gotten used to this schedule and also she generally begs for a treat or won't go back to bed when she gets up the first time...so she has also learned that we are suckers and knows she will get a treat.
Any advice on what to do? We have tried ignoring her, but she scratches on the bed and door and you cannot. Do we just need to tough it out with a few sleepless nights until she learns we won't let her out? We do let her out the last thing before we go to bed and she is not drinking water before bed. During the day, she is home alone for around 9 hours and never has an accident, so she can surely make it through the night. We are going to try a quick late night walk to see if that will calm her energy. It's great to have a 9 year old dog with so much energy but this is a little much!
Re: Getting older dog to sleep through the night