3 Ways to Help Your New Puppy Sleep
Puppies are a lot like curious toddlers. They are bundles of energy getting into anything that piques their interest. Despite their wealthy stores of energy even puppies get worn out throughout the day. While this may provide you a bit of peace, it is also easy to recognize that their 24-hour wake-sleep schedulecan cause problems at night when you are trying to sleep and your puppy is yelping to play or be let out to go to the bathroom.
Early in life around 8 weeks becomes a transition period for your puppy as she learns to sleep through the night. While this can be exciting, it can also be difficult if you don’t focus on easing your puppy into a full night’s sleep.
Here are 3 ways to help your puppy sleep throughout the night.
Go for a walk before bedtime
Puppies have a ton of energy, but they quickly wear those stores of energy away. An energetic walk or jog around the block will do two things to promote sleep for your puppy. For starters, exercise before bed will help to wear your puppy out which should lead to quickly falling asleep once the walk is over. Secondly, exercising outside will give your puppy ample opportunity to go potty. Ensuring that your puppy relieves their self before bedtime will help prevent some of the sleep disruption that will otherwise occur.
One thing to remember is that you should feed your puppy 20 to 30 minutes before going for a walk or exercising outside. This will promote the likelihood that your puppy goes to the bathroom during your walk.
Introduce a white noise machine
Puppies tend to be excited with every new sound they hear at night. From barking dogs and noisy neighbors to thunderstorms and sirens, the nighttime isn’t always as quiet as you’d like it. White noise machines help to blend external noises by playing all frequencies at the same soothing tone. This not only provides a relaxing sound for you and your puppy but can also blend or hide unexpected and unwanted sounds which reduces the likelihood that your puppy experiences sleep disruption.
Give your puppy a comfy space to sleep
If you have a puppy it is likely that you are using a crate to ensure your ball of energy isn’t getting into trouble at night. In addition, crates are useful for potty training as dogs prefer not to urinate or defecate where they sleep. A comfortable sleep space will include a soft laying area and toys. One way to tell if your puppy is comfortable in their sleeping area is if they enter unprovoked whether you use a crate or a corner in your home.
Just because your puppy has a lot of energy or is still in the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle doesn’t mean you can’t help to promote sleep habits that will induce sleeping through the night. Good sleep-promoting habits include going for a walk or exercising before bed, utilizing white noise to blend sleep disruptive noise, and providing a comfortable sleep space for your puppy.
- Krista Harper