Does my puppy sleep enough?

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Apples

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I've been wondering if we should encourage Dash to get more sleep. He is 14 weeks old and for the past two weeks in particular, he is more interested in running and playing than taking naps. I used to play for an hour, sleep for a couple of hours and repeat that through the day.

Now, he plays for 2 or 3 hours, sleeps for half an hour, then is up demanding to play some more.

But - I've noticed that the longer he goes without a nap, the more likely he is to forget his manners and regress on things like bite inhibition or nipping at feet and pant legs (how long does it take to convince a puppy not to do this, any way!)

I had always figured he would sleep when he needed to, but I'm now thinking I may have been wrong and he's misbehaving because he just too tired to do it right.

Any thoughts?
 
puppyhood

I think puppies are a ball of contradicts and confusions...they are so eager to experience the world, that they just are quite goofy most of the time.

Kaleigh did that too...she was so afraid of missing something that she would wear herself out and become cranky at times. The regression thing occurred mainly when she was tired..

Hang in there...and reinforce the good, ignore the not so good, and enjoy the time, it does go so quick....
 
They don't seem to sleep as long as you'd expect. But yes they can get cranky. I'd institute a routine for sleeping or down time, just like you would a child. And like a kid he'll probably complain about it too. It's a really good thing to teach a pup to have some down time, and allow you some time away from pup. Reduces separation stress and it's a good habit for the future - it's nice to do things without a dog attached to your leg all day.
 
Caro said:
They don't seem to sleep as long as you'd expect. But yes they can get cranky. I'd institute a routine for sleeping or down time, just like you would a child. And like a kid he'll probably complain about it too. It's a really good thing to teach a pup to have some down time, and allow you some time away from pup. Reduces separation stress and it's a good habit for the future - it's nice to do things without a dog attached to your leg all day.
Click to expand...

Ditto Caro's advice. It is really important for a pup to spend time alone...he needs that alone time to build confidence that he doesn't always have to be right next to his human and everything will still be OK.

Scheduled nap/down time is really necessary just as with a human child. Both puppies and human children get bratty when they are too tired and often don't yet have a "self off button", so we need to be the ones to provide that off button.

Trini
 
yes to nap times:yes:
all three boys when they were puppies had to be crated so that they would take a nap- they did get cranky when they were getting tired but they didn't want to miss out on anything.
 
Another vote for instituted nap times. We had to FORCE Annabelle and Clarabelle to take naps. Tara would just go until she fell over. But at least she WOULD fall over. Annabelle just got bratty. Not mean, but she could go from sweet to intolerable brat in about 3 seconds flat.
 
When I brought Keiran home at 4 months old we made him take naps off an on throughout the day. Now, just a few months later (he'll be 8 months old on August 3rd), he's actually resting and napping on his own.

I work from home one day a week and have put him down for naps. It seems since he reached the 7 month mark he's quite content to curl up and sleep during the day just like the nearly-9 year olds. It's amazing what difference just a few months makes.

I've also noticed Keiran forgets his manners when he's tired and when he's very excited. Recently though, and again this is within the past few weeks, I've noticed he'll move to mouth my hand and switch to licking it instead. He gets BIG praise and rewards for this behavior. (He does get corrected when he mouths also.) It's not a constant behavior yet because he'll still mouth when over excited but it is improvement.
 
I worked from home when Cubs was a pup. He had a crate at first and then I got a waterproof liner and he just napped on the couch. He actually learned when I sit down to the computer to either chew on a toy or nap. It helps the older dogs modeled this. I vote for naps on your pup too. Learning early to have an "off switch" is a good thing.
 
My puppy had enforced nap breaks during the day. It's important that your pup learn to entertain himself, or to chill and take a break without you. If I let Spirit go without naps, she would keep going until she dropped. She has a lot of drive, but I needed her to develop an off switch - and thanks to enforced nap times, she did. It truly is a life skill that puppies need to learn.
 
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