Author Topic: Puppy resistant to sleep  (Read 2174 times)

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Offline Philippa

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Puppy resistant to sleep
« on: April 22, 2021, 08:30:39 PM »
Hi, 16 years since I had a cocker puppy, and I'm rapidly realising he was sooooo good compared to my new land shark!

I'm hoping for any suggestions on how to convince my 13 wk old puppy to sleep. It is especially bad in the 6-8pm stretch of the day, where he is really over tired, very bitey (people, clothes, furniture,  his toys, blankets, the carpet... ), but flat out refuses to sleep, despite yawning and literally having red rimmed eyes.

I've tried calming things like lickimats,  chew toys, making sure the "big" exercise is earlier in the day, slow sniffing in the garden, snuffle mats, gently stroking him, Youtube calming videos... ultimately the only thing that (eventually) works is putting him in his crate and/or pen, turning the lights out and leaving him- but this does seem mean.

Does anyone have any thoughts on a) how I can convince him to settle quicker, and b) more long term activities/behaviour that I can start working on to convince him settling and sleep is GOOD ?!!

Offline SuperCockerMax

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2021, 01:57:03 PM »
Hey Philippa!

Our Max is also 13 weeks old now, still so cute! and I'm delighted I can finally take him outside, such a happy pup :D

I totally hear you with the over tiredness, we found the key! Max never went to sleep by himself and always woke up instantly. We now have quite a strict schedule. Not sure if you are crate training him, but Max has his crate in a corner in the living room, when we think he's getting tired we just put him into his crate and put a blanket over it so he doesn't get too many impulses and he sleeps! Sometimes he moans and cries for a bit, but usually not more than 5-10 minutes before he passes out.

Generally he sleeps from 9-11:30 - then up until 13:30 and then he sleeps until 4pm again. Then again from 18:30 until 20:00 when we feed him his last meal. Since we put the blanket over the crate he sleeps and he is in great vorm :)

Hope it helps!

Offline cazza

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2021, 03:10:07 PM »
Hello both, I also have a 13 week cocker, like you Philippa my last pup was over 14 years ago

I also have the cockerdile from hell when she is over tired  >:D so know how you feel

Blimey supercockermax wish mine would sleep that long - she is a working cocker and boy does she live up to it

Ash, when she gets tired and is a pain I distract her with 2 min clicker training, she then curls up on my feet and goes to sleep

Might have to try crating her to sleep in the day next week as I will be home alone with her and trying to work. Putting her in her crate for a sleep is not mean at all as long as you don’t use the crate for punishment purposes

Look forward to seeing how you get on

Offline Philippa

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2021, 08:02:21 PM »
Hey Philippa!

Our Max is also 13 weeks old now, still so cute! and I'm delighted I can finally take him outside, such a happy pup :D

I totally hear you with the over tiredness, we found the key! Max never went to sleep by himself and always woke up instantly. We now have quite a strict schedule. Not sure if you are crate training him, but Max has his crate in a corner in the living room, when we think he's getting tired we just put him into his crate and put a blanket over it so he doesn't get too many impulses and he sleeps! Sometimes he moans and cries for a bit, but usually not more than 5-10 minutes before he passes out.

Generally he sleeps from 9-11:30 - then up until 13:30 and then he sleeps until 4pm again. Then again from 18:30 until 20:00 when we feed him his last meal. Since we put the blanket over the crate he sleeps and he is in great vorm :)

Hope it helps!

Hi, thank you for replying!

I have a fairly strict schedule, and am crate training, but my problem is he will never sleep for more than 40 minutes- just now he had 40 ish minutes, but then woke up and barked until we let him out...

I will keep trying!

Offline Philippa

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2021, 08:05:33 PM »
Hello both, I also have a 13 week cocker, like you Philippa my last pup was over 14 years ago

I also have the cockerdile from hell when she is over tired  >:D so know how you feel

Blimey supercockermax wish mine would sleep that long - she is a working cocker and boy does she live up to it

Ash, when she gets tired and is a pain I distract her with 2 min clicker training, she then curls up on my feet and goes to sleep

Might have to try crating her to sleep in the day next week as I will be home alone with her and trying to work. Putting her in her crate for a sleep is not mean at all as long as you don’t use the crate for punishment purposes

Look forward to seeing how you get on

Hi Cazza,

Yes, the puppy years seem so far away!!!

I do use clicker training first thing in the morning after he wakes up (6am😴), which does send him off to sleep again- unfortunately at night any training just sends him more hyper!!!

Thanks for the suggestions and good luck in your situation too!

Offline cazza

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2021, 08:36:03 AM »

Hi, thank you for replying!

I have a fairly strict schedule, and am crate training, but my problem is he will never sleep for more than 40 minutes- just now he had 40 ish minutes, but then woke up and barked until we let him out...

I will keep trying!

Make sure he is quiet before you let him out of his crate, otherwise you are reinforcing if he barks you you will let him out

I don’t put Ash in the crate to sleep in the day, but may have to start if I have a meeting and no one else is home.

Ash will go in her crate throughout the day on her own accord and play in there with a toy etc. I always feed her in her bed time crate which is in the kitchen.
I also have a crate in the study / office and she goes in and out of there also on her own and takes toys in and plays while I am working (with the door open)
Ash loves to curl up on your feet or near you in the sunshine on the floor to sleep.

This morning hubby was up with her at 6am, out for toilet, then food (we have to close the back door on her in the morning (we are outside with her) other wise it’s a quick wee to half empty the bladder and run back in to be fed  :shades: ) then out in the back out in the garden with a mug of coffee (us, not Ash  :005: )

Then it’s a mad hour of cockerdile then second coffee sat on settee and a cocker curled up sleeping next to us on the kitchen settee. This is for around an hour (one of us sits on the settee and the other goes and gets dressed in peace  :shades: )

Then it’s human breakfast time, then first walk or training session of the day - then we get on with our day and she mooches around and finds someone’s feet or a sunny spot to sleep in

Interested to hear what your strict routine is

Wishing you all the best with your bundle of joy  :luv: what’s his name?



Offline Nolajen

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2021, 10:31:16 AM »
Hiya,
Sounds just like our Scout - the only thing that worked for her was a blanket over the crate. She was a different dog once she got the levels of sleep she needed! Now she’s 5 months old I rarely have to crate her during the day and she just naps of her own accord - however - in days she is resistant to sleep (or I don’t have meetings so I’m more active and thus she wants to be involved) I’ll still pop her in for a few hours in the afternoon!
Best of luck, it gets much better very quickly!!

Offline Philippa

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2021, 08:49:20 PM »
Hi Cazza,

Sorry for the late reply- been a manic week, with all kinds of early morning wake ups from the pup- his name is Bisto. The routine has gone a bit haywire this week for various reasons, but the usual routine is attempting rounds of "wake up, train or play or walk, food,  attempt to sleep, repeat". I've just moved him to 3 meals and that's thrown him a bit, including 3am 5am wake ups, urgh! On the plus side, today he actually voluntarily had a morning nap for the first time ever- small victories!

Nolajen,  thanks for the reply! I tried the blanket over the crate, he's really not a fan!

I think ultimately at the moment the biggest issue is I'm having to stay at my parents whilst a house purchase is going on. Which means Bisto is constantly being disturbed by someone, as his crate is in the kitchen and I can't put it anywhere else- and the kitchen is a main thoroughfare (it is very frustrating...). Hopefully I will complete in 4 weeks, then I will be able to have much better success at creating boring quiet times to encourage him to sleep...

Offline cazza

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2021, 06:58:15 AM »
Good luck with the house move

Re blanket over crate, I did this with my first cocker but this time I have the blanket just over half of the crate and it stays there all the time ( ok not strictly true, as madam has pulled it off twice  :005: )

In the study I have another crate with vet bed in as like her one in the kitchen - I have the spare vet bed on top of this crate and when I am working Ash now puts herself in there and goes to sleep  :angel:

Offline Philippa

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Re: Puppy resistant to sleep
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2021, 02:05:28 PM »
An update: after multiple nights of howling wake-up calls at all hours (zero pattern), I moved his lordship’s crate into my bedroom. Zero wake ups and zero howling since then- a week ago. Goes in around 11pm (after snoozing from 9pm on the sofa) and sleeps through til 7am when I wake him.

Guess the monkey just wanted to be near me.