How can I get my dogs to stop waking us up in the night?
My two dogs (4F, spayed. Littermates, unknown breed, maybe poodle and terrier and chihuahua?) have started the terrible habit of scratching at our bedroom door and waking us up several times throughout the night. At first it started when they would just wake us up in the morning, around 6-7am (we normally get up at 7:30). We figured they needed to pee, so we'd get up and let them out and go back to bed. That wasn't that bad. Then it started that they'd scratch at the door after we went back to bed. They wanted attention; either to come in and cuddle with us in bed, or for one of us to go downstairs and cuddle them on the couch. Occasionally they'll listen when we tell them through the door to go to bed, but often they'll ignore us and keep scratching. They were often insistant in the morning so my partner got in the habit of going down to the couch with them. But now it has started that they'll scratch the door at all hours of the night. Last night it was 1am, 3am, 4am, and 6am! We let them out to pee the first time, but there's no way they need to go that often! I don't know what they want other than attention, and I don't know how to make them understand that they cannot have attention at 3am! I'm worried that ignoring them entirely will make them pee in the house (something that one of them has been having issues with already), and it's impossible to ignore them when they just Do. Not. Give. Up! I can't think of a way to redirect them to do something else (like when you reach a dog to go get a toy when the doorbell rings to make them stop barking), and neither dog is food-motivated AT ALL, which makes training extra hard. What do I do? I need to sleep!!