Many new puppy owners often fail to realize that their sleep schedules are going to be disrupted for a few months when they have a new puppy. There’s no way around this.
You’ll find yourself needing to wake up once or twice a night to bring your puppy to go potty, etc. Patience is crucial here and family members may take turns to care for the puppy every night.
The situation can be mitigated to some extent by following the tips below. This will prevent your puppy from waking up too often and interrupting your sleep. The good news is that most puppies need about 18 to 20 hours of sleep a day.
As energetic and exuberant as they are, these little bundles of furry joy do love sleeping and they need their sleep to grow into healthy dogs. You’ll need to make arrangements to assist your puppy get good quality sleep.
1. Schedule and location
Ideally, your puppy needs to have a schedule, which will be set by you. It’ll need to go to bed at the same time daily. Over a few days, the puppy will naturally feel sleepy at this time and crave sleep. So, that’s easier for you.
You should provide a comfortable crate for your puppy to sleep in. This crate should be in a place that’s quiet (free from excessive human traffic) and relatively dark. Just like humans, puppies need a conducive environment to rest well.
You may wonder if your puppy should sleep in the same room as you or in another room. This will depend on your preferences. If it sleeps in the same room as you when it’s a puppy, it will always want to sleep close to you even when it’s older.
A puppy that’s left to sleep in another part of the house may whine a little in the beginning, but will get used to it over time.
Another point to note is that you should not let your puppy sleep in your bed. Almost all puppies aren’t able to control their bladders for long. So it will end up wetting your bed and causing more hassle for you.
2. They need exercise
A puppy that gets sufficient exercise will sleep more readily at night. However, you shouldn’t tire your puppy out by over-exercising it. Balance is everything. Just ensure it gets sufficient activity daily.
3. Going potty
Always bring your puppy to potty just before bed time. This will give it a chance to clear its bladder and bowels.
A rule of thumb is that a puppy can hold its bladder for about as long as its age. For example, a 2 month old puppy will be able to hold its bladder for 2 hours. A 3-month old puppy will be able to hold in its pee for 3 hours and so on.
The older your puppy gets, the less toilet breaks it will need throughout the night.
If you wish to make things easier, you can place your puppy in a crate and have a pee pad close to the crate. When your puppy needs to pee, it can walk over to the pad and use it and then go back to sleep without waking you up.
Of course, initially you may need to train the puppy to use the pee pad. Some do it instinctively, while others need some guidance.
4. Use a dog sleep aid
If you did a search on Amazon.com for the term “help puppy sleep”, you’d come across soft toys that have a plastic heart which emits a heartbeat. Some even have heating packs and so on.
All these features are designed to mimic a mother dog, and the puppy will feel safe, secure and calm. You may wish to try this out with your puppy so that it sleeps peacefully.
Use these tips today and your puppy will not only fall asleep sooner, but will sleep well through the night – and so will you.
