Nothing can be as exciting as bringing a new puppy home for the first time. Possibly the cutest thing ever, baby dogs are incredibly playful, happy, excitable and generally great to be around. However, getting your puppy sleep through the night can turn into a nightmare if necessary steps are not taken.
Any dog owner will tell you, the first few weeks can be rather stressful, with constant attention needed to be paid to them throughout the day and plenty of training needed to make sure they know how to obey commands, when and where to go to the toilet and when it’s time to go to sleep.
Dogs will learn the sleep patterns of the family eventually, but it can often take a while for young pups to acclimatise. It’s important to teach them that nigh time is for sleeping, and in the event of them being awake during this period, that they know how to behave!
This can be troublesome of your pup is constantly wanting to play in the evening, cannot quite get used to being left alone yet, or is still working out your households routine.
Check out these simple ways to help try and get your puppy to sleep through the night:-
Knowing When to Feed and Water Them
Puppies should always have their final meal no less than three hours before their bedtime. Not doing this will make it likelier that your pup needs to go to toilet during the night, as they won’t have sufficient time to let things digest. Make sure you stick to this time frame to allow him to have plenty of time to get to the toiler before its time for bed.
Water can still be allowed a few hours prior to sleep, as it will help avoid them being thirsty closer to their bedtime, as long as you make sure they have had a final trip to the toilet to relieve themselves.
Toilet Visit Before Sleepy Time
We cannot stress enough how important it is to give your puppy enough time to go pee before bed. If not, they may end up waking up to do their business, and then struggle to get back to sleep and try to wake you.
Always make sure the final act of your pups day is to go to the toilet. This will help them understand they won’t get another chance until morning time. It doesn’t matter if they don’t go every time, just making a routine out of it should help them learn the pattern.
Make them Tired
It’s simple really – a tired puppy will be sleepy!
Having excess energy prior to their bad is always a bad sign that they aren’t tired enough for the land of nod. You can then look forward to a battle when trying to get them down to rest, so its always worth trying to tire them out.
Tiring a puppy is plenty of fun of course, as you can enjoy plenty of fun and games a few hours before bedtime to tire them out sufficiently. Even taking them for a walk will work wonders in tiring them more.
It’s important to get a fine balance of course, as if he is still excited come bedtime, then he won’t be going down with much ease! Make sure to wind things down so he is more calm and ready for sleep when the time comes for it.