Sleeping and Resting

Puppies

• Very young puppies shouldn’t have too much exercise. Running around and playing in the garden will do for the first few weeks. By the time they have finished their vaccinations they should be ready for very short walks in the park.
• Large breed puppies in particular, must have restricted exercise during their first year or so, or may develop permanent lameness. Until your puppy is fully grown slowly build up the amount of exercise that you give.
• You will need to restrict exercise but at the same time you need to allow your puppy to rest and sleep as much as he wants. You wouldn’t wake up a baby to play with it so don’t do it to your puppy. Give him an area away from the noisy centre of your home, where any children in the house can’t disturb him when he needs a sleep. Take the opportunity to do things around the house and encourage your puppy to spend some quiet time resting alone.
• A puppy will sleep better at night if he has company (for the same reasons as adult dogs - below), so consider having him in the bedroom, or on the landing with the bedroom door open so that he can still hear and smell you.But don’t let him sleep on the bed.

Adult dogs

• A normal healthy adult dog will sleep or doze in many sessions across the day and night, adding up to 12-14 hours over a 24 hour period. Dogs sleeping more than this are likely to be depressed and those sleeping less than this are likely to be what we call hypervigilant (overly anxious). The amount of sleep a dog gets directly affects his serotonin (a brain hormone) levels. Serotonin levels directly affect behaviours like depression and aggression – and depression directly affects serotonin levels. Because of this, it is very easy for a vicious circle to develop and problems to escalate.
• You’ll need to providing an appropriate bed or sleeping surface. The key thing here is room (and comfort) as a dog must be able to lay flat on his side with his legs out to achieve true REM sleep. He will need access to comfortable beds during the night and the day, so that he can sleep comfortably at any time. REM sleep is essential for processing the day’s events, learning from them and forming new memories.
• The temperature must be appropriate for the dog. Some heavy coated breeds may not be able to sleep if too hot and dogs like Whippets easily become too cold.
• Dogs need to sleep with others in order to sleep properly. Wild dogs sleep in groups with individuals taking turns to be awake on ‘guard duty’. Dogs forced to spend the night alone may not feel safe enough to sleep properly and this will impact on his behaviour during the day. Dogs are much happier sleeping with other dogs (or cats, if friendly), or in a room with a human family member.

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