My dog wakes up at 4:30 AM barking for food. How do I stop it?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would change her feeding times. Feed her dinner earlier. Be sure you are limiting snacks at night and you aren't feeding more than twice a day. If that doesn't work or you are already doing that, then I would change her diet. It may take some trial and error to find the right food. I hope this helps and I wish you the best!

4 am is way too early kiba! I can imagine your frustration. Is kiba needing to go outside to go potty? If he is make sure you are letting him out as late as possible the night prior and make sure he goes potty at that time. If he is asking for his breakfast that early than you could try feeding him a small meal before bed so he s not hungry so early. If it's just that he wants you to get up and play etc then exercising him more the evening before will help him sleep longer. Long evening walks, a hard play session right before bed etc. you could also try kennel training overnight to see if he sleeps better. hope this helps a little!

Try using an automatic feeder. You can set the times to feed Rufus and Rufus may start to disassociate you from the feeding. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hi there! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! When it comes to dog behavior modification it is all about positive reinforcement and most importantly a lot of patience, persistent and cosistency. I would encourage you to start giving the treats at a later time so that she can bark and not affect your neighbors. Now, what you are going to do is that you let her go until she stops to your command for her to calm down. When she finally does you praise her and give her the treat. Sooner or later she will associate staying quiet with something positive. It just takes some time. Once she learns then you may be able to go back to the morning routine. Good luck and have a nice day!

And I forgot to mention, just DONT GET IN THE HABIT OF FEEDING HER YOUR FOOD while you're eating. Then she's learned that this behavior works, and she has trained you instead of the other way around. ;)

Hi there. If this is a recent change for Harley, I would be concerned that he may have some type of medical problem causing him to feel more hungry than normal. In that case, I would recommend a vet visit to discuss this issue and see what may be going on. If he's always done this, then he may simply be interested in human food - which is normal behavior for many dogs. :) It can usually be addressed fairly easily by giving the dog something else to do while you're cooking or eating, such as a rawhide or bully stick to chew on, or teaching him to wait quietly on a mat or dog bed during these times. If you need guidance on how to teach this, I would recommend getting in touch with a qualified trainer in your area who can work with you in person. You can search for one here: www.ccpdt.org

How frustrating! Unfortunately this is a common complaint. Cats are notorious for training their people to do all sorts of crazy things when it comes to their food. Right now Albert is requesting food early in the morning and you (reasonably) give him food/attention to quiet him, so he learns that meowing at ungodly hours is a successful strategy and keeps on doing it. What you need to do is change that dynamic. A couple ideas: 1) Ignore Albert until a certain time in the morning that you find acceptable. This is very hard at first and you'll sleep less, but he should get the idea after several days to a week. You must truly ignore him -- no positive or negative responses to his attempts to interact. 2) Switch to an automatic feeder that dispenses a set amount of food at certain intervals and then ignore all Albert's request for you to feed him. He'll learn bugging you doesn't results in food. You'll still need to ignore him in the early morning until he learns you're not available 3) Make sure you're giving him lots of attention and environmental enrichment during the day. The Indoor Pet Initiative (by Ohio State University) has some great ideas for this. If none of this work, consider talking with your vet or a veterinarian behaviorist. Good luck!