It’s common for humans to worry about getting enough sleep, but what about your four-legged furry best friend? When it comes to your dog’s sleeping pattern and their ability to rest, how easy are you making it for them in your house to accomplish that?
Luckily, with a few simple changes, you can create a space in your home that can help to calm and relax your pup right into the perfect doggy sleep. Just be certain that any changes that you make aren’t going to be more upsetting to the sleep pattern of your dog.
Helping your dog get a good night’s rest
In order to help your dog sleep better, it’s important to create a space that they can relax and rest in. A few simple ideas can be found below, but you can easily alter them to fit the personality and needs of your dog as you see fit.
Get in a routine for feeding
Dogs are a lot like people in the sense that they like routines! If you can get into the habit of feeding them at the same time every night, this can help them start to understand that it’s their last meal of the day and it’s time to unwind.
This will also alleviate any potential issues for an upset tummy from eating too late at night and then trying to get to sleep.
Take them outside to go potty before heading to bed
Even if you’re super tired, don’t skip tacking your dog out to go to the bathroom. If they don’t have the chance to empty their bladder, they’re going to be up all night or at random hours of the night trying to wake you up to take them.
This means less sleep for them, less sleep for you, and even the potential of them going to the bathroom inside the house and having an accident that could have easily been prevented.
Create a calming atmosphere
Dogs are great at picking up signals, so if you can get on a routine at night of turning down the lights about 30 minutes before it’s time for them to go to bed, you’re going to be amazed at how well they react to that.
Dimming the lights will create a dark atmosphere for them to associate it with nighttime which in turn will have them begging and ready for bed.
Talk to the vet
If you find that your dog is beyond help in what you’re capable of doing, talk to your vet and see what he or she recommends. There might be solutions and options available that you’ve never thought of!
It’s at least worth having the conversation so that you can have an “out of the box” conversation with your vet to find a solution fast. Vets are training in assisting and offering help that just might have your pup cutting logs as they sleep.
Give them their own space
Lastly, create a space for your pup that is all theirs. Sharing a bed with them might be tempting, but it’s not helpful. This will allow them to spread out and really focus on closing their eyes and resting through the night.
All of these options just might be what your pup needs to get a great night’s rest! The sooner that you can get their sleeping pattern figured out, the sooner that you can get more rest as well!
It’s so important to have a relaxing atmosphere. No dog is going to settle down if they are excited.
Too true, you can always see the difference in our dogs.
Routines can work just as well for animals as they can for people. This was interesting to read as we don’t have a dog although that may change when we move.
It is so important. We are doing major building works at home so our routine is very up and down which has been telling in the dogs’ behaviour.