Some puppies and even older dogs are hard to settle, and it can be frustrating especially when you are tired yourself! Here are some tips to help you settle your puppy or older dog.
The Importance of Sleep
Proper rest is very important for all dogs, but especially puppies. Young puppies should be getting 20 hours of rest per day, but they definitely need us to help them achieve this. Over tired puppies can often become overstimulated very easily, so having a short-term confinement area or quiet place where your puppy can rest is crucial.
Short Term Confinement Area
This can be a crate, a sectioned off area with an exercise or play pen, an area or room gated off with baby gates for example. Your dog or puppy should be taught to love this area by creating positive associations with it over time. This includes feeding them in there, playing with toys and giving food puzzles and other enrichment toys in there.
Older dogs may even find their own area such as a bedroom or crate that is always available to them.
Appropriate Exercise
It’s important to know how much exercise your dog or puppy needs, this can vary with age, size, breed, environment and many other factors.
A tired dog doesn’t necessarily mean a happy dog and many dogs need to be taught how to ‘switch off’. Running a dog for 5kms per day will only create a super athlete that takes longer to tire out. It is much better to vary their exercise with games and play.
