PAWSITIVE CONNECTION
Settling Your Puppy
Settling Your Puppy
Some puppies and even older dogs are hard to settle, and it can be frustrating especially when you are tired yourself! Here are some tips to help you settle your puppy.
The Importance of Sleep
Proper rest is very important for all dogs, but especially puppies. Young puppies should be getting around 18-20 hours of rest per day, but they definitely need us to help them achieve this.
Over tired puppies can often become overstimulated very easily, so having a short-term confinement area or quiet place where your puppy can rest is crucial.
Short Term Confinement Area
This can be a crate, a sectioned off area with an exercise or play pen, an area or room gated off with baby gates for example.
Your dog or puppy can be taught to love this area by creating positive associations with it over time. This includes feeding them in there, playing with toys and giving food puzzles and other enrichment toys in there.
The position of this area is important especially regarding temperature. Be sure to assess at different times of the day - for example if the sun hits the area in summer, it may be too hot.
Providing fans or a cool area to rest in can help some puppies settle on hot days. You puppy may also get too hot in a cate with lots of bedding, so provide a choice of a cooler space.
Appropriate Exercise
It’s important to learn how much exercise your puppy needs, as this can vary with age, size, breed, environment and many other factors. A tired puppy doesn’t necessarily mean a happy puppy!
The wrong type of exercise and too much of it can cause long term damage. However, movement helps bone tissue get stronger and exercise is essential for normal musculoskeletal development. So it is about finding the balance between mental and physical exercise.
For more info on puppy specific exercise check out our Growth Plates and Puppy Exercise article.
Naturally Soothing Activities
Licking and chewing are self-soothing behaviours which can help to release endorphins which in turn help dogs and puppies feel good.
Provide a mix of healthy chews such as dried tendons, ears or jerky. Licky mats are also great for puppies but make sure you don’t leave them unsupervised as they can chew them up easily. Ask us for lickimat topper ideas!
Other filled food toys such as Kongs are great for puppies but be sure to not make them too hard in the early stages.
Sniffing such as finding food in a snuffle mat or in the grass can also be a calming activity.
Tactile (touch)
Techniques such as TTouch and gentle massage can help some puppies to settle, but it will depend on the individual. If you are too fast or too rough, your puppy may get over stimulated or want to get away or start to mouth/bite you. Start with very short sessions and allow your puppy the choice to move away.
Music
Music such as iCalm Pet or Pet Acoustics music boxes specially designed to help settle pets can be great additions to your puppy’s short-term confinement area. Classical/jazz/reggae music can help to settle some dogs as well. Play around and see what works!
Products
There are a few natural remedies and products to help calm pets in stressful or challenging situations including settling puppies.
Some tried and tested products we like and have used on our own dogs are:
Zylkene
Bach Flowers - Rescue Remedy
Therabis - Calm and Quiet
PetArk - Calm
Natural Animal Solutions – Calm
Anipal calm
Adaptil – collars, spray and plug ins
Essential oils such as Lavender can be useful but only applied to the area around where your pet is. Never put essential oils directly on your pet unless they are for a specific purpose and you are directed by a qualified naturopath.
Always check with your veterinarian before starting on any product, especially for puppies.
It is very much a holistic approach when it comes to settling puppies. Make sure you consider the whole picture, and don’t forget to have enough rest yourself!
For more information about any of the above, please get in touch with us.
