Research in dogs indicates that most puppies will vocalise when left alone between the ages of 6-10 weeks as they would normally continue to be fed by mum until 10 weeks and she meets their needs quickly (lonely, cold, hungry etc). Our dogs are a social species and as we looked at last week, they need to be near us to build a strong attachment – this is true when it comes to sleeping too.  The puppy will be more settled if they can be close by – either touching you, or very near you. This improves their sleep.

Dog sleep patterns are very different to humans – we have sleep cycles of 90 mins and have approx. 25% of REM sleep. Dog sleep cycles are 21 mins but only 16 mins of being asleep with 10% REM sleep. They can also wake and be suddenly aware of their environment. Dogs often wake in between cycles, change position or location and go back to sleep. You will see that your puppy is more active at dawn and dusk.

Your dog needs a range of places to sleep – from cool floors, to soft warm beds – and many like an elevated position (which they may not be able to reach yet or you may prefer they don’t get on). Dogs need to extend their head and neck out to sleep properly. Dogs often scrape their beds up, scratch them or drag the bedding into a different shape so they can get comfortable.

People sometimes worry about the puppy getting on the furniture that this is about ‘being dominant’ – we will explain this more in a later class, but please be assured that this is not the case. If you prefer not to have dog hair on the sofa, that’s absolutely fine as its your choice.

A restricted location (such as a small crate or being crated for long periods) or not having access to a range of places to sleep will impact on their sleep and an overtired puppy is not a pleasant experience!  It doesn’t matter whether or not you use a large crate, puppy pen or simply another room, but putting your puppy into a safe space with toys to chew, or something enriching (like a snuffle mat or food dispensing toy) and a comfortable bed will help prompt a nap. Remember to take the puppy out to wee when they wake. You can also play a sniffing game (more later) as this will calm them ready for sleep too.

In any new environment dogs don’t sleep well – they will initially have approx. 43 sleep cycles which then reduce over the next 3 nights once they feel more settled. Gundogs have been shown to struggle with feeling more secure and settled for up to 9 days compared to the average of 3 days for other breed groups. This is further worsened if you have a puppy which was single born, is the last puppy to leave mum and/or you want the puppy to sleep alone.

The impact of poor sleep – not enough, a lack of places to sleep, extended confinement, social sleep opportunities – all creates a chronic stress and affects part of the brain which is responsible for emotional and cognitive functions making the dog more emotional, slower to learn, feel more hunger and/or cold, reduced immunity, more anxious, higher levels of impulsivity and increased levels of aggression. Chronic stress makes your dog more likely to be more stressed by other factors – which can take up to 21 days to return to normal. Yes – 21 days!! This affects the ability for your dog to learn and remember the learning.

The less obvious impact of sleep is on the gut bacteria in your dog. These are significantly responsible for digestion, uptake of nutrients and have a direct impact on behaviour through the way they influence brain chemistry.