Chocolate labrador barking/yelping for food at dawn

Question
Hi Labman,

Thank you for the opportunity to ask you a question.

We are delighted with our chocolate labrador which we received several months ago after he was rejected from the Australian Guide Dogs association due to an elbow operation and dog distraction.


As he received wonderful training for 12 months, he is extremely well-behaved and obedient and we take him everywhere with us. We've never left him home alone to date and he accompanies us in the car. He likes to be close to me all day, following me everywhere so we suspect separation anxiety if we did indeed leave him alone. However, our one big problem is the following...

Joe expects to eat as soon as it becomes light at dawn and as soon as it becomes dark at night. Therefore, he wakes us up every morning yelping/barking at dawn wanting breakfast. As it is Spring here in Australia, it is becoming light earlier and earlier, thus we are now being woken up about 5:30am. We have heard about automatic feeding bowls that would open to feed him on a timer. He is very happy to go back to sleep once he has seen us and had breakfast, but we are awake by then!

Thank you for any advice you may have,

janine  

Answer
You could try moving his crate or wherever he sleeps away from where the morning sun comes in.  Also watch anything such as a coffee pot on a timer.  

We have the same problem with our 13 year old retired dog guide.  One of us drags ourselves down stairs, and puts her in a down stay.  We then flop down on the sofa, and usually manage to go back to sleep until the alarm goes off.  

There are those that would say giving him a 3 hour walk every evening would leave him to tired to wake up and bark.  Well, maybe, but who has time for that?