Helping Your Puppy Get a Good Night's Sleep ✨💤

Here are some tips to help your puppy get a good night's sleep!

Ensure your puppy's bed is in a quiet, draft-free, warm place. Encourage your puppy to use it to nap during the daytime too! Close the curtain or blinds, if any, at night. Your puppy may take some time to get used to surrounding noises.

For a start, you can place your puppy's bed close to yours if you feel that your puppy seems to feel uneasy and hence require some form of security. If doing so is not possible and your puppy is feeling distressed, you should never leave your puppy to cry or bark. Instead, offer your puppy some comfort and company, and then try leaving your puppy alone once settled. You may need to alter your own sleeping arrangements at the beginning (perhaps bedding down on a sofa or camp-bed so you can be close-by).

Ensure that your puppy has had the chance to go to the toilet before bedtime. Night-time disturbances will still occur, but in time, this should reduce and eventually cease, especially if you wake early for morning toilet opportunities.

Chewing can help your puppy to feel more relaxed as this is an appeasing behaviour that helps to relieve stress through the release of endorphins. Allowing supervised access to a safe, appropriate chew before bed may help your puppy to settle. A bedtime biscuit may help reduce night-time hunger-pangs and acid build up as a result of an empty stomach.

Dogs like music (especially Classical and Reggae). Playing restful music in the background can have a calming effect. It also helps to mask unfamiliar noises outdoors. A pheromone diffuser or spray can be beneficial too.