I need sleep! Any tips please.(update @ post #18)

Well, I've been struggling with this for a while. I don't know what else to try.
Axel used to sleep through the night fine and would still be sleeping when we got up. We get up around 6.30 every morning and that's fine (well, it's not, but we have to) and we like to sleep in a little on weekends. We went to bed later on those nights and so Axel would have the same amount of sleep, just a little later.
This all went fine until the clocks changed...he started barking and whining earlier and earlier. It wasn't from needing the toilet, but I'm guessing the light woke him up. It got to the point where it was light 5am and he was whining and barking. We tried calling down to reassure him we were there. We didn't want to go down (as that's what he wants - he is silent when we're there) and so we started getting less sleep. It's not constant, he'll do some barking/whining then he'll be quiet, then start again.

We had a brainwave, we darkened the room, put vet bed over his dog gate and colsed the door to (not fully) to make it darker - at first it was a great success...but now it's not working again. He's pushing the door more open with his nose and making just as much noise as before, granted not quite as early, but when we're relaxing on weekends and not going to bed til later, surely he should naturally sleep in later?

We had an idea...what if we put a baby monitor so he can hear us moving around but we're not physically there...do you think that would help?
He's silent when we go out and is fine with the normal routine. The amount of exercise he gets doesn't seem to affect this noise...anyone had anything similar and how did you deal with it?
We did think of him sleeping in our room, I'm pretty sure he'd be silent, but we can't for 2 reasons: my husband's got asthma and has enough trouble sleeping as it is due to allergies and his nose, so adding animal hair into that environment isn't recommended....and because he can't/won't go up the stairs! I think it's because we don't have any run up, but he freaks out and won't go up...
Sorry for length of post, I'm very tired and rambling, sorry.

My older collie does this,she doesn't want out and if I feed her and go back to bed she just stands at the bottom of the stairs and barks.

I usually come down and feed them, send them out to the toilet, then put a cooked potato in a kong and give it to her and go back to bed.
It takes her ages to eat it and I get a lie in

Thanks
I usually end up coming down (I don't get back to sleep easily when awake) and let him down, and feed him. Rarely I can go back up and get a bit of sleep, normally though I'm up for the day. It's hard now, but we are planning to have children, and sleep will be even more precious for all of us!
I'll try the kong idea, thank you

She's a bit of a kong monster and once she's got her kong doesn't know if I'm there or not so it works quite well for us.

I get up at 6.30 on week days so when weekends come, Cain has no idea about lie ins I tried ignoring him but in the end gave in. Now I get up at 6.30 on weekends, let him out for a wee, give him breakfast then Cain consents to go back to be for another hour and a half so I can snooze a bit longer. Five o'clock is horribly early though I sympathise with you.

Well, I've had a kong since we had Axel...but never used it with food as someone (can't remember who now) said kongs filled with food can stress dogs out...well, I just tried one, with some of Axel's kibble and some wet food and he loved it! He used it for 5 whole minutes, a LONG time for my lovely, but dim, boy to concentrate! He lost interest when he could get the last couple out...but I've just made up a second one with more wet food (the first had 90% kibble in, the second more like 40%) which will keep his attention longer. I've left it in the fridge to give him later. Thank you so much for the idea, even if it doesn't help this by giving it in the morning, I might give them in the evening to help mentally tire him out...

I know what youmean, I understand it's a lot to ask to sleep in, but when you go to bed later, I'd have hoped he'd get up later...my hubbie thinks it's because he sleeps all day, and sleeps all evening, so maybe we need to give him more to do in the evening. We do walks and training, but not much training because he loses interest quickly. So about 3minutes is the limit.
Thanks for understanding, 5am is really early! When we do have kids, I know we won't get sleep, but we don't want Axel waking the baby up as well as us!

Dog flap? Thicker curtains? Ear plugs?

Thanks
We can't do a dog flap as rented accomodation. We've made the room as dark as possible, and it's stopped working after a while. We could use ear plugs for ourselves, but I'm also worried about potentially getting the neighbours upset if it keeps going and we don't hear it to stop it.

My mum's pup has started doing this and I asked on another forum for advice. So far it's been suggested to set up a video camera to see if there's something waking her, e.g. fox visiting the garden at the same time, postman/milkman, neighbour leaving, etc. and the other was by someone who'd had the same and said they just came down calmly, let the dog pee, let it in and sat there until it dozed off and went back to bed. So addressing any genuine need for the loo but making it as boring as possible so the dog doesn't learn barking in the morning means playtime starts sooner.

Thank you I hadn't thought of what could be waking him, I guess I just assumed it was his body clock...hurmmm...

I do let him out without fuss, but he doesn't really play, definitely not needily like a puppy, so it's more just that we're there that he wants.