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Are you one of those people that just can’t get up in the morning and everything is just a complete struggle? Do you find you’re always running behind and rushing around and are often late to work or for other commitments? Have you tried multiple different types of alarm, such as those that are supposed to wake you up when you’re in a lighter sleep and still nothing works?
Well, fear not because not all hope is lost. What if you had a living alarm, one that wouldn’t quit when you rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, one that you couldn’t turn off? Yup, you guessed it, now’s the time to train your pooch to wake you up.
Not only is having your pooch wake you up early an extremely convenient, impressive, and cute trick for him to learn, it also has some extremely important benefits. What if the worst were to happen and there was a fire for example, wouldn’t you want your pooch to wake you up? Training your dog this trick could one day save your life and the lives of those you love. However, this trick doesn’t come naturally to all pups and will be an easier task for larger dogs with a bigger bark to learn, as they’ll be louder and able to catch your attention more easily. This isn’t to say smaller breeds can’t learn as well, though. While not the most difficult of tricks to teach, it isn’t exactly the easiest either and could take your pooch a few weeks to a month to learn properly.
First things first, to get started you’ll need your trusty alarm clock! You’ll be teaching your dog that this is the signal he needs to hear to wake you up. You’ll need a good attitude and patience, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will it take a day for your pooch to learn to wake you, you’ll need to teach him in stages. Although it depends on how you would like your dog to wake you up, you’ll need a form of reward. For those heavy sleepers out there, treats as a reward should do the trick. However, if you would like a lighter awakening, grab some jam or peanut butter, as this will be good for your dog to lick off of you, waking you up in a more gentle fashion. For those of you into clicker training, grab your clicker as well before we get started, as you can use this to help teach him the correct wake-up behaviors.
The Clicker and Alarm Method
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Teach him what the alarm means
Get your pooch to understand what the alarm means. His hearing is better than yours and he’ll no doubt hear it, but at the moment it’s just a disruption to his sleep.
Turn on the alarm
Turn the alarm on and off multiple times while in bed.
Click and treat
As the alarm buzzes, click the clicker and give your dog a treat.
Test his interest
Turn on the alarm randomly later in the day, if your pooch shows interest and expects a treat, you have conditioned him successfully.
Alarming reaction
When you have a day off, spend the day sporadically turning the alarm on and off. When the alarm sounds, play with your dog and reward him. Make sure you get him excited. When the alarm goes off and he gets excited, you’re ready for the next step.
Bedroom time
Go into your bedroom with the alarm, keep turning the alarm on and off, treating and praising accordingly to get your pooch just as excited in the bedroom as he was on your lazy day.
Teach him to keep going until he wakes you
Now when the alarm goes off, get your pooch to come to you and hassle you for play before you respond. Keep gradually increasing the time it takes you to respond and give him play, praise, and/or a treat. Eventually, he won’t take no for an answer.
The On and Off Method
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The no bed rule
Although you want your pooch to come on the bed and wake you up in the morning, you want to teach him that this is the only time he’s allowed on the bed. Do this by training him the ‘off’ command, to stop him from getting on the bed when you don’t want him to.
When the alarm goes
Now when the alarm goes off teach him the “on” command, call your pooch when the alarm goes off and encourage him to get onto the bed, giving him a big reward and lots of praise when he gets on the bed.
'Off' again
Make sure after the previous step occurs, you tell him to get off the bed again, so that he knows the only time he’s allowed on is during the alarm.
Loud wake up
If you want your pooch to bound in and wake you up loudly because you’re a heavy sleeper, make sure you reward him bounding in when the alarm goes off, giving him a big treat when he jumps up onto the bed and starts pawing you.
Gentle wake up
If you’d prefer a gentler wake up, simply put some peanut butter or jam on your face or arms and when the alarm goes off, if you’ve taught him the 'on' and 'off' rule properly, he should jump up and lick it off gently.
The Woken Your Way Method
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Decide how you want to be woken up
Is it barking, licking, pawing, or nudging that you’d prefer?
Condition the behavior
Ideally do this where you sleep, however each time your pooch does the behavior you want, give him a click and a treat.
Introduce a command
Say the command at the same time your dog does the behavior you want, e.g. “kisses” for licking or “nudges” for nudging. Continuing this until your pup learns the command.
Pretend to sleep
Pretend to be asleep in bed and use the command word, give your dog a click and a treat when he gets it right.
Turn on the alarm
Use the command and the alarm noise together, when your dog does the right action, click and treat.
Get rid of the command and use the alarm
When your dog takes the alarm as a cue to do their waking you up action without using a command, give a click and a treat. This step will have to be repeated quite a few times and if your pooch is confused at this step, go back and use the other steps to condition him more. Now you should be woken up by your pooch your way.
Written by Catherine Lee-Smith
Veterinary reviewed by:
Published: 11/24/2017, edited: 01/08/2021
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Training Questions and Answers
he is a SDit, I have narcolepsy and was wondering how I would train him to wake me up from sleep attacks in public/not in my bed
July 6, 2023
seb's Owner
Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer
1128 Dog owners recommended
Hello, You would pretend to fall asleep in various locations, starting with easy locations like rooms in your home, then outside in your own yard, then progress to friend's homes and calmer public locations. following the initial training steps but changing the locations, practicing in dozens of different locations overtime, to help him generalize the training not just to your bed but to you sleeping. At first, his response will be to your outward appearance of sleeping and you acting asleep will be the cue. Ask those who have seen your episodes what you look like during an episode and act out what you look like in those public locations. When he will respond to the outward appearance of you sleeping, then many service dogs will also begin to note other more subtle signs of sleeping like breathing changes, and pick up on those subtleties on their own when real episodes happen, overtime. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
July 10, 2023
Daino is currently only an ESA. I am interested in training him to tell me to take my medicine and to wake me up. Is it ok to have the same cue (nudge) or do they need to be different (nudge, kiss) ?
Aug. 19, 2021
Daino's Owner
Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer
1128 Dog owners recommended
Hello Danielle, I would teach pup to do a different cue for each task you teach - like paw, nose, Sit, bark, ect... Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
Aug. 19, 2021