Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by kenny j.

I have an 8 month old male that loves to sleep alot. Is this normal or should I be concerned? I had him neutered when he was 7 months, he still plays but still seems to sleep more than he plays.

DISCUSSION:

I wish MINE would sleep. She is 10 months and is in high gear all the time. The only time she'll sleep is at night in her own kennel. I'm wondering if this is normal. Anyone else seen this behavior?
-Jack

Kenny, My girl was more like Jack's - on the go all the time - I could hardly keep up with her. It could just be your puppys personality but i would have him checked by your vet - just to make sure!
-Robin

Jack, We have a 5 month old female Maltese, and she is in high gear pretty much throughout the day. She may sleep somewhere around 3 hours during the day, and that's only because our other dog is 7, a male and sleeps a lot, probably has something to do with his age. I've seen a big difference between male and female dogs in general in how active and aggressive they are. Our female is pretty aggressive--loves people, but really likes to play hard, she has since the day we brought her home. It's just a generality, but I've noticed it quite a few times.
-Pamela

Our 4 month old male is still a pup. I would love to see him slow down. He also is in high gear most of the day. He sleeps well through the night in his crate, but I have to put him at the other end of the house where he can't see me.
-April B.

Sassie (7 months) loves her play time, but she makes sure she does not miss nap time. She sleeps about half of the day. The rest of the time she goes full force. I guess a they are a lot like kids. Some need more sleep than others.
-ChrisL

NiNi (7 months) is a lazy bum. He sleeps all day and all night. He wakes up only when he needs to go outside, eat, or play with DaDa(ferret). When he's sleeping and we want to play with him, we lightly shake him and he just rolls over for a tummy rub or all-over body scratch and most likely fall right back to sleep. But when he is awake, he turns into psycho-dog and runs and barks around the house like crazy.
-Linda/NiNi

Lucy is a big sleeper during the day--mostly on my lap while I work. I think this is her way of letting me work--though not always easy to use the computer with a puppy head across my right arm! In the evenings she's a whirling dervish! Between about 5 o'clock and 9 or so she just doesn't stop racing, tossing her toys, and playing "catch me if you can" with me. By the time she crawls into bed, she's one pooped pup--one minute she's kissing me to death and the next she's totally conked out. I imagine that these little fur babies develop a routine based on yours and the time available for paying complete and utter attention to them.
-cathy brown