What if I told you there was one thing you could do to improve your puppy-raising experience? Seriously, yes, one thing!
If you’re at the stage where you’re questioning your life choices (that’s the Puppy Blues, by the way, and it’s normal), your beloved puppy isn’t a puppy, it’s some manner of chaos gremlin that chews, bites, seems incapable of learning anything at all, and you don’t know when you last slept…you’re pretty interested in that one thing. It gets better, though! This single tip also requires very, very little from you.
The most life-changing thing I’ve ever learned about raising puppies is that they absolutely have to get enough sleep.
It probably seems like your furry bundle of joy and nightmares is sleeping a lot, how could they not be getting enough sleep? Because in our world, even adult dogs rarely get the real rest they need, and though adult dogs need more sleep than you’d think (10-14 hours), puppies can need nearly a whole day’s worth of it. That’s real rest, too! Much of the time, our puppies and dogs aren’t getting deep, restful sleep when we see them loafing about peacefully.
Here’s what you should know about changing your life by changing your puppy’s sleep schedule!
In this Post
• average puppy sleep needs
• why they need so much sleep + how it affects behavior
• facilitate better rest for your puppy
How much sleep is enough?
Like people, all puppies are a little different, but these averages should give you a good place to start!
Newborn puppies can require up to 22 hours of sleep, but by the time you bring home baby, they should be getting about 18 to 20 hours of sleep a day.
Time flies, and by the time you’ve got an active 3 to 6-month-old puppy, the mark is around 14 to 18 hours per day. Dropping down again at 6 months to 1 year to 12-14 hours.
At 1 to 2 years, your puppy will be set on their adult sleep needs, usually around 10-12 hours, but some adult dogs need up to 14 hours a day still.
Puppies sleep a little a time, spacing out all that snoozing throughout the day. Keep reading to learn how to work this into a reasonable schedule!
Why so sleepy?
In the first weeks and months of your puppy’s life, a lot is going on in that little body! They’re growing into an entire dog, and they’re doing it really fast.
Your puppy experiences changes fairly constantly at first, developing bones, muscles, connective tissue, and billions of new neural connections. We often think about exercising our puppies (and adult dogs) physically, but forget how much fuel it takes to run their brains. In addition to nutritious foods that fuel healthy body and brain development, sleep is the key factor to fuelling all that growth.
In short, when you’re growing so much, in so many ways, constantly…you need a whole lot of sleep to facilitate it all! Consider how long it takes a human infant to become an adult, then how long it doesn’t take for your puppy to become an adult dog. Lot of development in very little time!
Your puppy is overtired, not just naughty!
Sleep fuels brain development in specific, vital ways that impact how your puppy behaves when they’re awake. Sufficient sleep supports emotional regulation and impulse control, and allows your puppy to be more capable of learning all those life skills they need.
Do you behave and think at your best when you aren’t getting enough sleep? Of course not! A baby animal certainly isn’t going to either.
It seems too simple to be true, but I can personally attest to the difference in behavior adequate sleep brings. Tater was a really good puppy in many ways, like seeming to “just get” housetraining from day one, but was a totally normal puppy. He’d get frustrated, start annoying everyone, and was nothing but sharp puppy teeth, and absolutely couldn’t pay attention.
He wasn’t being “naughty,” he was behaving like a tired, cranky human toddler because that’s exactly what he was! He needed more and better structured sleep.
Giving puppy enough sleep.
Your puppy, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, will simply…fall out sometimes. Especially when they’re very young, like Tater was in the picture – too young to go to a new home at 7 weeks.
So, it can seem like they’re taking care of their sleep needs, right? They play like mad, eat like mad, use the bathroom, and pass right back out. It’s a reasonable assumption, until you start considering how much genuine rest they’re getting.
You need to figure out your puppy’s “sleep bursts.”
Puppies as young as Tater was when he was a Tater Tot need almost a full day of sleep, they wake for short bursts of time, then sleep for short bursts all day. This is another of many reasons why bringing home a more mature puppy that’s been appropriately started on life skills and experiences with their breeder, rescue, or foster is a much better idea – it’s hard to be an adult human with a baby dog this young!
You’ll notice, though, how long your specific puppy tends to spend awake and asleep at a time. On average, up to 12 weeks, that’s about 2 hours maximum of sleep at a time, with up to 1 hour of active awake time in between. As your puppy grows, they’ll need less sleep, and they’ll start sleeping for longer durations at a time. By 16 weeks, things get a little easier, as they go from up to 20 hours to a more manageable 12-16 hours. By as early as 4 months, but usually 6 months, your puppy will be close to adult dog sleeping needs and cycles; needing less sleep and doing so for longer periods at one time…like, overnight when you’re sleeping!
To ensure your puppy is getting enough rest, take their sleep bursts into account and encourage them to sleep when they start to fall out by removing play and distractions.
Encouraging “naptimes.”
If you’ve been researching how to best raise a puppy, you’ve likely heard of “enforced” or “encouraged” napping. While we support this idea strongly for everyone involved, we absolutely do not support the idea of locking up a puppy on a strict schedule to force them to sleep. This can lead to issues with separation, developing normal coping mechanisms while alone/bored, and disliking being kept in a room, behind a gate, or in a crate. Remember, letting your puppy “cry it out” is as unhelpful and damaging as letting a human baby do it – do not do that!
To properly encourage a naptime, make them a part of your schedule (without making that schedule too rigid for you and your puppy). For example, if your puppy wakes up at 8am with you: take puppy out to potty right away, feed puppy, try for a potty again, let puppy play, then encourage puppy to settle down in a comfortable and quiet place. All of this should take place in about an hour or so for very young puppies.
A quiet, calm, comfortable place doesn’t have to look like a crate, or be in another room! For Tater, it was an area of the bedroom that contained his crate, with the door open, that was fenced off with a puppy playpen. This always included his bed so that I could encourage him to learn that the bed meant his rest spot, as we traveled a lot. (He prefers a different bed now, but still knows that where his Tater sleeping bag rolls out is where his sleep spot is!)
I also varied this based on what activity was up that day and what he seemed to be down with, not all dogs or people are best on highly regimented schedules. For example, since Tater spends time with me in the grooming room and stays with me during overnight pet sitting stays, it was important that he get adequate rest in those environments as well. Playing appropriate music or using a fan for white noise helped to cut out any noise of the grooming tools, though Tater has always weirdly enjoyed the hum of clippers and the blow dryer. In both these situations, he was encouraged to nap as usual, his space set up with his bed, a blankie for nesting needs, his comfort fuzzy toy, and a puppy safe durable chew. This went a long way toward me not having to work very hard on teaching my dog to entertain himself as he got older, too!
Your mileage will always vary, as they say, but I’ve often found that sticking to a reasonable schedule of events while allowing my dogs (and cats!) enough space to be themselves and adapt has prevented a lot of work in the future. You should always do what’s best for your unique puppy and lifestyle, but remember that every moment is a learning experience for a baby dog and take advantage of that in all the fun, easy ways you can.
If you want your puppy to see the crate as their place to nap, that’s perfectly alright. This can take a bit more time and effort, though, depending on the puppy! The adage that dogs are a “denning” animal because wolves are is, well, about as accurate as all other adages about dogs and wolves -not accurate at all. Dogs aren’t wolves, and wolves do not maintain puppies in a crate-like den either. Further, one can choose to leave a den, there isn’t a closed door. You need to habituate your puppy to the crate, and because your puppy is actually naturally conditioned to stick right to you at first, it can be challenging. You’ll need to be very patient, calm, and realistic as you guide your puppy.
Some tips to help your puppy rest in their spot:
- Designated spot/item indicators every time
- Crate, pen, bed-whatever you go for, stick to that spot/those elements
- Don’t overdo it with items
- Puppies can get to sleep and wake up easier if they’ve got something to chew and mess around with, but don’t give so many, or such exciting, toys and chews that your puppy doesn’t sleep
- .Make this a Really Good Spot
- Comfy bed, pleasant environment -only good, awesome things happen here! You can give treats here, and some people feed in pens and crates (just don’t leave the food, puppies need to potty soon after eating). You want them to feel like this is the place to be!
- Don’t forget the scent
- Scent matters immensely to your puppy; don’t forget about how important it is here! Include a shirt you’ve worn in their bed to encourage security, or try products like D.A.P. (Dog Appeasing Pheremone) and Thunder Wunders that use imitation pheremones to promote calm in dogs.
- Play with that baby!
- Don’t expect your puppy to pass out and stay that way for very long in the beginning, especially if they haven’t gotten some energy out first. Let them sniff, investigate, and play to get tired.
- Quiet time, seriously
- Especially if facilitating rest times where you are, instead of another room, you’ll need to make that environment a quiet, restful one. That’ll mean taking care with what you’re watching/listening to, I’d advise going with earbuds, and remaining in one place for a little while. The environment needs to be still, quiet, and dim. You know, for sleeping!
The one simple secret to a better puppy – sleep!
It’s easy to forget just how important sleep is, and you might not have known what a huge role it plays in behavior. Having a new puppy in the home is an exciting and often hectic time. We can get so hung up on doing everything “right” right away that we forget the seemingly small things, like getting enough sleep.
Be sure your baby dog is getting the sleep they need throughout the day to round out good diet and brain games for an easier puppy-raising adventure!
You might find you need a nap, too, while getting your little snoozer into their peaceful napping place!
