Please Help...For My Beauty Rest...

[Kdsgone2dogs]

Russell is a year old chocolate Lab that came to us via our son and daughter in law. Their hours at worked changed and Russell needed more attention so thus we took him. Great pup! And fits well with our other two 9 yr old lab/border collie mix siblings.
But my problem is this: No matter if we go to bed at 10 or 12pm, Russells bladder is telling him to go out between 4:30-5am. He barks to let us know that he needs to go out, and once he is out, he's up and its time to play! I've tried putting him back to bed, lights out, but I swear he laughs at me!
So how do I get this pup to let me sleep until 6-6:30ish?
He is crate trained, but I am going thru the training of letting him out at night and when we are gone for short periods of time...working very well. His crate is just too big for our rig...thus the retraining. We kept him in his crate for a month, didn't want to change his habits too soon. In the crate or out, this guys bladder is on a alarm clock. We've tried to sit him down and explain that we are retired and not on anyones (or any dogs) schedule, but he sits there, wags his tail, looks cute and basically says , "yeah...right!"
I've taken the water bowl up at 7:30 at night, but that really hasn't helped.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Andi

[SteveLevin]

We've found that once the puppies are old enough that it's not a real concern of "can't hold it" that we always ignore them or tell them "it's still sleepy time" and then ignore them, and they all settle back down to sleep.

Take up his water as you've said, and then try some "tough sleepy love" and hopefully after a few nights he'll understand.

Steve