Is your dog struggling to sleep through the night? Is your new puppy unwilling to settle into a good nightly sleep routine? Sleep is essential for your dog’s growth, adaptation to its environment, and overall health. To ensure that you and your dog get the needed rest, we’ll give some tips on how to get your dog to sleep through the night.
How to Get a Dog to Sleep Through the Night
Some dogs and especially puppies, struggle to sleep through the night. Here are some practical tips and strategies to get your dog to sleep all night:
Get Your Dog on a Predictable Schedule
It’s crucial to establish a nightly routine to train your dog to stay on their bed and sleep all night. Dogs love a predictable behavior because it helps them feel safe, reduces anxiety, and helps with training. Although, you shouldn’t keep the routine too structured, or your dog will struggle to adapt when the schedule changes.
Getting your dog on a sleep schedule is particularly important for puppies to train them to sleep for longer durations at night and learn bladder control. Be patient. It may take time before your puppy can sleep through the night.
Stimulate Your Dog Mentally and Physically
Dogs sleep better when they’ve been mentally and physically challenged during the day. This means taking your dog for walks, training your dog to learn a new trick, and playing with your dog. But don’t rile them up too much at the end of the night, or they may become hyper and over stimulated.
Give Your Dog Lots of Bathroom Breaks
Until your dog is ten months old, it will be pretty difficult for them to go through the night without a potty break. You’ll need to offer your dog a potty break before bed, and then they should be okay until morning. But it’s a good idea to restrict their food and water about an hour or two before bed if your dog struggles with bladder control.
If you have a puppy, you can determine how long a puppy can go before needing a potty break by adding one to how old they are in months. For example, puppies that are three months old will need a potty break every four hours.
Power Down for the Evening
An hour before bedtime, you should create a calm evening routine that helps your dog power down for the evening. If you’re busy and high key, your dog will be too. Create a relaxing atmosphere and chose quiet activities right before bed.
Train Your Dog to Sleep in Its Crate
Training your dog to sleep in its crate is a great way to train your dog to sleep through the night. But you need to make the crate comfortable and a positive experience to help them adjust to crate sleeping. Do not use your dog’s crate as a punishment, or your dog will associate the crate with bad behavior.
