DISCLAIMER/DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. The information contained in this site is for educational and informative purposes ONLY and is NOT advice. Also, this website and the information contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Please refer to our Disclaimer Policy for more information.
Last Updated on June 26, 2023 by Thee Puppypreneur
DO YOU HAVE A RESTLESS DOG AT NIGHT OR MAYBE YOUR DOG WON’T SLEEP?
If you have a restless dog at night or your dog won’t sleep or just isn’t sleeping well. There could be an underlying reason why your dog is so restless or unable to get comfortable enough to stay asleep. Depending on how old your furbaby is could also factor into their sleep patterns.
If you have a puppy, they are more then likely sleeping more hours during the day and less through the night than an adult dog.1Kinsman, R., Owczarczak-Garstecka, S., Casey, R., Knowles, T., Tasker, S., Woodward, J., Da Costa, R., & Murray, J. (2020). Sleep Duration and Behaviours: A Descriptive Analysis of a Cohort of Dogs up to 12 Months of Age. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 10(7), 1172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10071172
Sleep disorders could be another reason for you having a restless dog at night as this could be caused by many things such as behavioral, breathing issues or even pain.2Sleep Disorders in dogs: A Pathophysiological and Clinical Review – ScienceDirect
Pain could be related to bones and joints, stomach issues or something else.
Also, you need to assess did this restless dog at night thing just start happening or did this happen maybe during a move to a new environment or weather related or a new addition to your family.
Signs of discomfort could include;
- Labored or heavy breathing
- Groaning or grunting
- Air licking or lip licking
- Constantly moving from one spot to another
For example, when I was trying to determine what food allergies one of my pups had, I would think she was sleeping very sound and not wake up but her sleep score on her
would notify me something was off and then I would make it a point to stay up later.
I noticed that she was constantly air licking and getting up and moving from one end of the bed to the other signifying uncomfortableness.
Air licking can have multiple meanings from anxiety to stomach upset to pyoderma on the face which were little pustules, crusts and scabs around her lips caused by her allergies to the food.
I knew if she was air licking and there was no pyoderma that meant her stomach was upset from something I fed her that hadn’t outwardly manifested as an allergy symptom like pyoderma yet.
If you suspect that it could be anxiety related there are products on the market that contain melatonin, valerian and chamomile to help relax your furbaby like
For me however, I swear by
and it’s an invaluable tool for me that I use to monitor my fur kids sleep patterns.
This little fitbark2 Doesn’t have a monthly cost like others that require monthly service and it tells me things like how much she is resting, playing and sleeping, how many miles she walked and calories she is burning.
At the end of the week, it sends me an email and compares the previous information from the week before to let me know if she has improved in any areas like sleep or play.
Usually, her sleep score is over 94% but if it dips below that I know that she is getting up in the middle of the night because she is uncomfortable.
Regardless of your situation, if your pup is not sleeping comfortably through the night then you should take your furbaby to the vet for a thorough workup as maybe there is an underlying reason not listed above.
Check out our other articles for more helpful information such as;
