Teaching your puppy to sleep through the night is arguably one of the most important lessons so that you can both get into a good night time routine.
Puppies will often decide that it’s time to play at night and most won’t like being left alone so there is a lot of potential for disruptive nights without the right routine.
Make Them Enjoy Going to Bed
If your puppy’s bed is somewhere they enjoy being, they’re more likely to sleep than if they don’t feel any positive links to the area.
A warm and comfortable bed area is a given but beyond that, it helps if it’s in a part of the home that they like to spend time in.
Some puppies find it comforting and reassuring to have something of yours that smells like you in their bed area and may sleep better if this is the case. This can be worth trying along with our other tips to see if it has a soothing effect.
Don’t Feed Too Late in the Day
If your puppy’s last meal of the day is a few hours before their bedtime, they’ll be able to digest it in time. If you cut it much finer than this, you run the risk that they will need to go to the toilet in the night.
Their drinking can be more flexible as you don’t want your puppy to be thirsty during the night. On the other hand, it can be tricky to get the right balance so they don’t need to wee in the night either. However, dogs are very good at regulating their water intake so shouldn’t be prevented from drinking water when they want to.
Use Up Their Energy
If your puppy still has boundless energy at bedtime, your chances of getting them to sleep are pretty slim!
You can use up some of this energy by making sure that they get plenty of exercise, stimulation and playtime during the day so that they’re tired enough to want to sleep when they go to bed.
Encourage Them to Go to the Toilet Before Bed
If you can make sure that your puppy has gone to the toilet before they go to bed, they’re less likely to have to wake up in the night for these reasons.
Take them outside for the toilet regardless of whether they do anything or not to encourage them to learn that this is the time to go to the toilet or they’ll have to wait until the morning.
Eventually your pup will begin to realise that this is going to be the last window of opportunity to do their business before morning and take advantage.
Do you have any other tips for encouraging puppies to sleep at night? Let us know in the comments section below!