[NO LIFT]

We had nearly the same experience with a Lab. He used to nudge me with his nose in the middle of the night.

My vet said to set off some sort of an alarm (I used a kitchen timer) ASAP when nudged. I tried this and it worked! I don't know if the sounds corrected the issue, or maybe the two sounds became associated in the dog's mind because afterwards, every time the timer was used...here came the dog! Kinda like clicker training.