How Much Sleep Does My Dog Need?

Let me guess what your dogs are doing right now while you’re reading this… sleeping? Am I right? There’s a reason we humans can often be heard to exclaim, “it’s a dog’s life”! Typically our dogs spend at least half of their day snoozing. But why do our dogs need so much sleep? And what happens when that amount of rest isn’t achieved?

How many hours should a dog sleep?

It often shocks new puppy parents when I advise them that their young pup should be getting in the region of 18-20 hours of sleep a day. Getting plenty of quality sleep allows our puppies to physically develop, to process new lessons from the day, and get rid of some of the stresses that come with being a new pup in a big human world. When we don’t allow our puppies the opportunity to get the right amount of sleep, we often see the over-tired toddler syndrome. Similar behaviours to the young child who’s been to a birthday party and now, at bedtime, is having a full-on meltdown. We see more nipping and biting. More zoomies! And we can often see more anxious behaviours in these young pups who are sleep-deprived. 

Our adult dogs, depending on lifestyle, will usually snooze around 12-16 hours per day - still, quite a lot more than we clock on an average night - and our senior dogs may creep up towards the same amount of sleep that puppies enjoy. 

On an average night, REM will occupy 20-25% of an adult human’s total sleep - much higher in babies, and slightly higher in the elderly. Dogs have similar sleep cycles as humans but the length of time spent in REM is substantially less - approximately only 10% of each sleeping session.  Dogs also sleep for much shorter periods at one time - which reduces the amount of opportunity to get into the all-important deep sleep that provides many benefits. So their whole day might be spent trying to gain the restorative effects of sleep we can achieve in one go overnight. 

Why is sleep so important for dogs?

When humans are deprived of getting into the REM phase of our sleep cycle, we can experience anxiety, irritability, and difficulty in concentrating. The same can be said for our dogs. Alongside dreaming, sleep allows our dogs to process memories, to consolidate learning, heal or build new cells, and awake feeling refreshed. When we have a dog that is too stimulated by their environment - maybe they go to a crowded office every day with their human, or live in a busy household of young children - then we can see over-tired, challenging behaviours, or even anxiety creeping in.  

As I’ve mentioned, sleep supports an array of learning and memory tasks. This can mean that an anxious dog working on a behavioural modification program, a young puppy being taught basic life skills, or even an agility dog trying to be the best in its field, will require regular, quality sleep to achieve the desired learning outcomes. When they don’t get that sleep, you might see that tasks learned one day are almost forgotten the next or they have gone back a stage in precision. 

When we have negative experiences or on-going stresses, this can affect the speed we fall asleep. You may toss and turn, your brain wired, replaying scenarios, or trying to find a solution to a current challenge. Conversely, research carried out in Hungary in 2017 (Kis et al.) found that our dogs actually fall asleep much more quickly - when given the opportunity to - after a negative experience than after a positive one. It is as if our dogs are trying to separate themselves from those stressful situations - to protect themselves from the “trauma”. It’s a pretty effective reaction when you consider it, as sleep actually allows cortisol levels (the stress hormone) to deplete. 

The difficulty is, that although the dogs who’ve had a negative experience fall asleep more quickly, researchers found that those same dogs spent on average 20 minutes less in deep sleep than the dogs that had positive experiences. They weren’t waking up but staying longer in the REM phase. So that’s why you may more frequently see a dog look like it’s dreaming after a stressful or busy day, than a really quiet one. You might hear your sleeping dog vocalising - whimpering or even a low growl, their muscles may twitch, or their paws tap. You may even see their eyelids moving to indicate REM is taking place. 

Just like for us, having the odd bad day of sleep isn’t going to be a disaster for our dogs. But if they’re regularly having tough experiences and not getting into a deep sleep - or maybe aren’t clocking up the right amount of hours of sleep - then this can lead to further behavioural problems. While dogs (and ourselves) need a certain amount of that stress hormone Cortisol in their body to perform natural bodily functions, a toxic amount can result in all sorts of physical and behavioural disorders. We can see suppressed immune systems, skin issues, pancreatitis, as well as heightened awareness and hyper-vigilance when awake. As I mentioned earlier, if you’re working with a stressed dog on a behaviour modification program, then taking them out into the world without them having had the right amount of sleep is setting yourselves up for failure. 

What do I do if I think my dog's not getting enough sleep?

Many dogs will get better rest overnight - as their home is quieter, it’s darker, and they’ve probably only lightly snoozed during the day. While dogs are actually crepuscular in nature - meaning that, when wild or feral, dogs are most active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk - domesticated dogs tend to follow their humans’ patterns. You could call them social sleepers, in that they react to your environmental cues and habits of sleeping overnight. 

If your dog struggles to sleep at most times of the day - or you see a sudden change in your dog’s sleeping patterns - then it’s really important to get some support from your veterinarian. Your dog’s sleep issues might be being caused by a physical condition that may not have been picked up on. This could be due, for example, to stomach issues, urinary tract infections, cognitive decline, pain, diabetes, or, for some breeds, breathing difficulties. 

Our ideal scenario is to see our dogs sleeping, as they should, reliably during the daytime and overnight. This can be a good indicator of how healthy they are, as well as how comfortable they are in their home environment. Dogs that sleep during both day and night will generally display a better sense of wellbeing. So how can we set up our environment to aid our dogs’ sleep?

The Right Level of Exercise

This needs to be based on your dog’s age, breed, fitness level, and ability to cope in the environment you walk them. A physically tired dog is more likely to rest. Just be mindful that over-doing exercise can sometimes be just as detrimental as under-doing it. 

Tiring the Brain as well as the Body

A dog that’s both physically and mentally tired is much more likely to be calm and ready to settle into sleep. Add in brain games or simple scent work activities into your dog’s day, alongside their daily walk. 

Remove Triggers or Distractions

If your dog is constantly on neighbourhood watch, they might spend most of their day on high alert. You can help block visual stimulus from windows by covering them in a temporary frosting sheet. White noise machines or calm music playing throughout the day can help our dogs be less responsive to traffic noises, car doors slamming, or people walking past. 

Create a Comfortable Environment

What’s comfortable for your dog will depend on the time of year, as well as their individual breed and characteristics. Some dogs love to be warm, cuddled up in fluffy blankets on a soft bed. Others want the coldest, hardest floor to lie on. Give your dog choices of sleeping areas and watch what their preferences are. 

Teach Children to Avoid a Sleeping Dog

Looking around the internet, you see many photos of young kids climbing into dog beds or hanging around the neck of a dog that’s desperately trying to sleep. It’s really important that we instill a household rule that a dog who is sleeping must be left alone. In fact, the phrase “let sleeping dogs lie” originates from the on-going observation that dogs are often unpredictable when they are suddenly disturbed. Safety says, don’t allow your child to disturb a sleeping dog as there’s the added danger they may bite. 

Introduce Nap Times

Particularly with busy dogs in hectic households, we see that daytime sleep may not happen frequently. You may need to set up specific times whereby everyone goes out to give your dog quiet alone time, or create a place that your dog goes to have solo chillout time while normal family life goes on. If your dog can’t cope with alone time, speak to a force-free behaviourist for help. 

So if now you’ve finished reading this, your dog is still calmly snoozing away, why not move onto reading some more of our blog posts and allow them a little more shut-eye - or perhaps take a little nap yourself!