Early sunset and poodle sleeping earlier and earlier

I’ve never had that happen with any dog. She might just be more sensitive to the decrease of sunlight. I think dogs need to adjust to our schedules or their lives and ours will be disrupted. If it was my dog I would rearrange her schedule. One question though : how old is she and does she get to nap during the day ? If she’s a puppy, she should have one or more naps during the day, depending on how old she is.

So the first thing is to make sure her nap is at the right time. If she only needs one, make it a strategic time so she can last late enough before wanting to go to bed. If it’s at the right time, maybe she needs two. Make sure it’s not too close to her bedtime.

Then, arrange her routine so that her free time falls when she needs to sleep. For example, if she’s had enough sleep during the day and she still wants to sleep at 7pm, then maybe have a play session 45 minutes after supper (so she doesn’t get sick) or go on a walk. Then come back, give a small treat and let her cool down and play on her own.

You get the picture. Basil needs to follow you, not the opposite.

Where does Basil sleep? I would try to work on making mornings BORING. No toys, no chews at 4 am, just BORING until a more reasonable time. I would also work on forcing her to be awake in the evening. Maybe a 7 pm walk? 8 pm walk? At that age, Annie got walked 3-4 times a day, tiny short 5-10 min walks.

One thing I learned from Annie as a puppy is that dog sleep patterns are very flexible based on what waking up gets them. Annie got taken out at 11 pm, and then woke me at around 5 every morning. She didn't whine or cry, just shifted and kind of bumped around in her crate until I got up (light sleeper). I took her out, then stuck her back in her crate until 8 ish, second pee, short cuddle, walk, off to work. When she was about 5 months ish, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on my bed with her one night. Woke up at about 8, and got my puppy up for a walk. She wasn't lonely, she knew that if she woke me up, it was back in the crate for her after the potty break, and she decided to snuggle instead. I was so exhausted at that point, and she has slept in my bed every night since then This is definitely an example of dog training human, and I have zero regrets, the extra sleep was more than worth it.

Dechi said:

I’ve never had that happen with any dog. She might just be more sensitive to the decrease of sunlight. I think dogs need to adjust to our schedules or their lives and ours will be disrupted. If it was my dog I would rearrange her schedule. One question though : how old is she and does she get to nap during the day ? If she’s a puppy, she should have one or more naps during the day, depending on how old she is.

So the first thing is to make sure her nap is at the right time. If she only needs one, make it a strategic time so she can last late enough before wanting to go to bed. If it’s at the right time, maybe she needs two. Make sure it’s not too close to her bedtime.

Then, arrange her routine so that her free time falls when she needs to sleep. For example, if she’s had enough sleep during the day and she still wants to sleep at 7pm, then maybe have a play session 45 minutes after supper (so she doesn’t get sick) or go on a walk. Then come back, give a small treat and let her cool down and play on her own.

You get the picture. Basil needs to follow you, not the opposite.

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Yeaaah, your right, I think I need more strategic structure her day more. She's 6-3/4 months old.. very much a "play play play" mentality in a big girl body and she's starting to get the hang of being a dog. She sleeps for an additional hour between 9-10am (I go to gym, she sleeps on my bed), and 12:30-1:00pm (our daily lunch foodcoma). Then we'll go on another exercise-focused walk for a about hour while the suns up and then lounge around or play inside and only go outside for potty breaks after.

I'm furloughed for about a month so far so it's been her and I all day. Our day is structured around her potty schedule, but she's been leveling up in the being-able-to-hold-it department and had some record breaking 3.5-4 hour stretches (we're in an apt).

Tomorrow, I will try pushing back our afternoon excerise-focused walk to the evening when it's dark and just have a slow paced sniff-stuff walk in the afternoon instead.

Yeah, you're right, she needs to follow me

Vita said:

Hmm. Interesting. In the evenings I'm usually on reading on my desktop which next to my TV which I can watch Netflix movies at the same time. I keep a few squeaky balls on my desk, and do backhand tosses. The bring it back, I toss again, rarely needing to look up from what I'm doing. It keeps them happy and awake.

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Her drive to play is endless, her grandpa tried this during the seahawks game last Sunday at my parents and it was more tug and more fetch for over 2 hours - (sometimes "play" is more for the human then dog). Maybe there's a limit. Normally I'm on my bed in the evenings which is ideal for cuddle-and-scratch sessions, but not play. I'll try setting my laptop up on the ground and rotate toys once they get slobbery.

For Want of Poodle said:

Where does Basil sleep? I would try to work on making mornings BORING. No toys, no chews at 4 am, just BORING until a more reasonable time. I would also work on forcing her to be awake in the evening. Maybe a 7 pm walk? 8 pm walk? At that age, Annie got walked 3-4 times a day, tiny short 5-10 min walks.

One thing I learned from Annie as a puppy is that dog sleep patterns are very flexible based on what waking up gets them. Annie got taken out at 11 pm, and then woke me at around 5 every morning. She didn't whine or cry, just shifted and kind of bumped around in her crate until I got up (light sleeper). I took her out, then stuck her back in her crate until 8 ish, second pee, short cuddle, walk, off to work. When she was about 5 months ish, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on my bed with her one night. Woke up at about 8, and got my puppy up for a walk. She wasn't lonely, she knew that if she woke me up, it was back in the crate for her after the potty break, and she decided to snuggle instead. I was so exhausted at that point, and she has slept in my bed every night since then This is definitely an example of dog training human, and I have zero regrets, the extra sleep was more than worth it.

Click to expand...

Basil sleeps in her crate with the door open or at the base of my bed on the ground. She goes back and fourth every 1 to 2 or to 3 hours on her own, then from ~3am-7am she'll be in her bed most mornings. I attempted to crate train her a a puppy for like a day or two, but the screaming was too intense.

I just took away her animal friends and chews for the evening (9:40pm). She gave me a "what are you doing?" look. We'll try this for a few nights and see what happens.

Check, good idea, push back evening walk time. I don't enjoy long walks in the dark, but it sounds like I'll have to. We have a safe neighborhood.

Our current general walk schedule looks like this:
6:45/7:00-~7:30 - sniff, pee, and poop around the neighborhood
10:10-10:30 - quick pee walk
Lunch & foodcoma nap
1:30-2:30 - exercise focused walk in residential. Sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little less
6:00-6:45 - leash manners/city manners focused walk
9:30-9:40 - last evening pee walk around the block

Obviously somedays time varries, but that's in general what is looks like most days on a regular basis this last month.