01/05/2023
Sleep is so important!
🎉 January is National Train your Dog month! We couldn't think of a better reason to celebrate!
Stay tuned each week as we bring you new inspiration and insight every Tuesday this month.
✅ Tip # 1 Puppies need SLEEP!! 😴
Good quality sleep is essential to brain health. Insufficient sleep inhibits neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons), and disturbed sleep impairs communication between the brain areas needed for emotional regulation. Sleep plays a part in energy conservation, brain waste clearance, immune system modulation, cognition, performance, disease, and psychological state. Ensuring that puppies have access to a comfortable place to sleep supports brain health and behavior. 🧠
Puppies can sleep anywhere between 18-20 hours per day. And because puppies are quickly developing during their first year of life, sleep is vital. It's during sleep that puppies consolidate information, such as where to eliminate, what to chew, and what behavior you taught them. Puppies need a nap after playing, learning, if they have just been out for a walk, or have just eaten. The important thing is to observe your puppy and provide what they need; when your puppy chooses to sleep, let them be. It’s especially important to teach your kids to let sleeping dogs lie, as the old saying goes. 😉
There are periods during the day when you might experience a puppy that seems wilder and more excitable–like an overtired child who is more emotional and/or physically disruptive, a puppy can seem overwhelming, biting, barking, zooming around simply because they are overtired. This is a perfect opportunity to place your puppy in a puppy-proofed, quiet space for sleep. 🐶