Early morning barking

Question
QUESTION: I have 2 rescued miniature schnauzers which are male and female litter mates. They have been crated together since we have them with no problems through the night.  Lately the female has begun barking and crying first aroung 6:00am and now has progressed to 5:15am.  I have come down to them to be sure relieving themselves isn't the problem.  She sniffs and takes her time so that doesn't seem to be the problem.  It appears she wants attention or just to get out of the crate.  I've ignored her and she seems to stop and start in 5 to 10 minute intervels but never stops completely.  Any suggestions will be appreciated.

ANSWER: Whatever set your female off at first, whether a noise outside or a scent (or visual stimuli, such as lightening), you rewarded by going downstairs to investigate.  Every time you react, you are TRAINING the barking, and it will (naturally) be more frequent and at sooner intervals than initially.  If your dogs are reliably house trained (which they appear to be) there is no need to crate them overnight.  They might be allowed to sleep together in the kitchen, confined from the rest of the house.  This will naturally relieve your anxiety when (and it will be repeated until it self extinguishes) your female barks, because you will know that they are not confined.  If you're unwilling to do this, simply ignore the barking for a few nights, no matter how difficult this might be.  Not only is barking a self rewarding behavior for the dog, but you are rewarding it by making an appearance.

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QUESTION: Part of the problem is that I get up just after she starts baking so I don't have the option of letting her stop on her own.  I do try to get up between barking intervals when she is quiet.  Any suggestions?

ANSWER: Well you originally said she started barking at 6:00am and has now progressed to 5:15, so I'm confused.  This original scenario portrays a reward, which would be your response by going into the room (for whatever reason.)  The behavior then occurs earlier and earlier with the dog anticipating the reward, as you indicated.  I think the major problem is that these two dogs are crated overnight which is absolutely not necessary and is not humane.  Crating a dog for more than four hours at a time is unfair confinement.  Get the dogs out of the crate and integrate them into your household.  The first thing you do after rising is to let your dogs out so they can eliminate.  If you rise sooner than eight hours after their last night time outing, you can vary your routine by doing something other than going into the room with them.

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QUESTION: I followed your advice of leaving the crate door open at bedtime with poor results.  The female will not stay in her bed and barks for a long periods of time, perhaps and hour of more, and still starts barking between 5:15 to 5:30.  Perhaps in my original question I confused you.  The dogs have full access to the house.  They are permitted in certain rooms only when accompanied which they fully obey.  They have always wanted to sleep together and the crate is meant for a large breed dog so space is of no concern.  The crate is open all day and my wife is home with them so they aren't lonely.  I have returned to closing the crate after they relieve themselves at 11:30 PM.  There is no barking or crying at that time and she hasn't started until closer to 6:00am and barks for maybe 5 to 10 minutes which is the original issue.  I arise at 6:00 and let them out between 6:15 and 6:30 every morning including the weekend.

Answer
Dogs have an uncanny sense of time probably associated with light, and in this case you might be making sounds (you may not be aware of) that alert the dog that you are up and will soon be coming down to where they are.  Since she is barking 5 to 10 minutes before 6AM, I think she is anticipating (taking cues from the environment) your arrival.  Try going into the room with the dogs but IGNORE them until her barking STOPS.  Do not approach them or interact with them until she is NOT barking.  A ten to twenty second pause between her cessation of barking and your attention is all it will take to slowly extinguish her bark.  This is a non-reward, meaning her barking is not eliciting any interaction with you, but her non-barking is.  This might take a week or two but it's worth trying.