Often wondered what your dog does while you are work. You may think they are waiting patiently for your dog walker to show up, or for you to come home. I have a surprise for you, they sleep. Ever notice on the weekend when you are home, how much your dog seems to sleep? So the question is how much time do dogs sleep?
Dogs sleep anywhere from 12-18 hours a day, now you may think that is a lot, but they do not sleep the same as we humans do. Humans usually are awake for 12-18 hours and then sleep for 6-10 hours straight, with about 25% of that being REM sleep. Dogs on the other hand only have about 10% of REM sleep, so they sleep in shorter bursts. That way they don’t miss the UPS delivery person.
There are certain factors that can play into how much time your dog sleeps, here are 5 of those of those factors.
- GROWING – Puppies will definitely sleep more than an adult dog, as they are growing they need more sleep.
- AGE – Senior dogs will sleep more also as they need to recharge the batteries more often.
- ACTIVITY – An active dog, like a service dog will sleep less, as they tend to have more energy and are just plan doing more during the day. An inactive dog will sometimes sleep out of boredom.
- SIZE – A dogs size can play into the amount of sleep needed; smaller dogs need less sleep than a larger dogs does.
- DIET – Your dog’s diet can be a huge factor on how much your dog sleeps, if the dogs diet is poor quality your dog will have less energy and not the correct nutrients to give your dog the energy needed.
The key is to get a feel for how much sleep is normal for your dog and be aware if that seems to increase, this could be a sign of a health issue. Want to decrease your dog’s time sleeping throughout the day? To help eliminate them from sleeping out of boredom, hire a dog walker to get them some exercise.
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