08/08/2026
Ahhh! This is perfectly written! I feel itās an appropriate time to post as puppies are going home:) utilizing the crate for naps is also building that safe spot and making the crate a good place. Donāt be hesitant to crate your puppy often for nap time. This is soooo true! People always tell me about the āwitching hourā and it really is just an over tired puppy at the end of the day!
Your puppy doesn't need another walk... they probably need a nap. š³
If you've followed me for a while, you've probably heard me bleat on about puppy sleep and why I keep saying they need around 18 to 20 hours a day. It can sound excessive when you first hear it, especially if your puppy seems to have endless energy. But there's a reason I keep coming back to it... because what looks like a puppy that needs more stimulation is very often a puppy whose brain and body are crying out for proper rest.
One of the biggest misconceptions I see is owners trying to solve zoomies, biting, barking or general "madness" by adding even more activity. Another walk. Another game. Another enrichment toy. More visitors. More training. It makes complete sense because we've all heard the saying that a tired dog is a good dog. The problem is that puppies don't always work like that. Once they're overtired, they don't necessarily become calmer. They often become the exact opposite. Their nervous system starts struggling to keep up, frustration tolerance drops, impulse control drops with it, and before long they're making much poorer decisions than they would have made half an hour earlier. That's when people tell me, "It's like he's turned into a different puppy."
When puppies stay awake for too long, it's not just that they get tired.
Their whole body starts to change. They process information less efficiently, emotions become much bigger, little frustrations suddenly become a huge deal, and they're far more likely to bite, bark, zoom around the house or struggle to switch off. Those behaviours don't automatically tell me a puppy needs more stimulation. Quite often, they're telling me they've already had too much.
One of the reasons I'm so passionate about protecting puppy sleep is because so much of the learning actually happens afterwards, not while you're doing the training. During sleep, the brain is consolidating memories and strengthening the neurological pathways that support learning. It's sorting through everything your puppy has seen, heard and experienced that day. Growth hormones are being released, the immune system is doing its job, and the brain is effectively deciding what information is worth keeping. We tend to think training only happens while we've got treats in our pocket, but it doesn't. The learning carries on long after the session has finished. That's why a puppy who sleeps well will often seem to "get it" much more quickly the following day.
And this is where you can inadvertently put pressure on yourself.....
It's really easy to worry you're not doing enough. To think you're not interacting with your puppy enough. To wonder whether you should be doing another training session, another game or another walk. Actually, some of the most valuable parts of your puppy's day are the quiet ones. Sitting in the garden watching the world go by. Pottering around the house while nothing exciting is happening. Having protected nap times where their brain gets a chance to reset. Those moments matter just as much as the training sessions.
If I had a euro for every client who's looked at me and said, "But she can't possibly be tired..." I'd probably be retired by now. (LOL). Because overtired puppies rarely look sleepy. They look hyper. They fly around the furniture, bite harder, ignore cues they knew yesterday and seem as though they've suddenly got a second wind. It's incredibly easy to look at that behaviour and think they need burning off. In reality, they're often like an overtired toddler who desperately needs to sleep but simply can't switch themselves off anymore.
So next time your puppy turns into what feels like a tiny furry tornado, pause before reaching for another toy or heading out for another walk. One of the first questions I'd be asking is, when was their last proper nap? You might be surprised how often the answer to better behaviour isn't more stimulation at all. It's giving a growing brain the chance to recover, process everything they've learnt and come back ready to take on the world again. š
