How much sleep does a puppy need? By age, and how to tell it is not enough

How many hours a day does a puppy sleep?

The UK Kennel Club gives 15 to 20 hours of sleep a day for puppies of 4 to 12 weeks, and 14 to 16 hours for puppies of 3 to 6 months. After 6 months they gradually move towards an adult rhythm: around 12 to 14 hours a day, though this varies from dog to dog.

Dogs Trust, a large UK welfare charity, says puppies need 18 to 20 hours a day, and most adult dogs 12 to 14 hours. So the two organisations differ by a few hours, and neither says where its figure comes from. Use the hours as a rough guide, not a target.

Do the sums and a puppy of 4 to 12 weeks has only 4 to 9 hours left to be awake, spread across the whole day and night. For a young puppy, being awake comes in short stretches.

Why so much? While a puppy sleeps, their body builds muscle, bone and tissue, and sleep is essential for their cognitive development, the Kennel Club says. Puppies also often get sleepy after eating, so a nap after a meal is perfectly ordinary.

Why did owners in a study count less sleep?

Nobody knows exactly. In the UK Generation Pup study, owners estimated that their 16-week-old puppy slept an average of 11.2 hours in 24 hours. That is less than the 14 to 16 hours the Kennel Club gives for puppies of 3 to 6 months. At 12 months, owners came to an average of 10.8 hours.

For the night they came to an average of 7.0 hours, and for the day to a median of 3.5 hours. A mean and a median do not simply add up, which is why the total does not match exactly.

The study followed puppies whose owners lived in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and was funded by Dogs Trust. At 16 weeks, the owners of 2,332 puppies filled in the survey. They estimated the minimum and maximum number of hours their dog slept by day and by night. The total sleep was calculated for 349 dogs whose owners answered the sleep questions at both 16 weeks and 12 months; elsewhere the paper gives 352.

The researchers do not compare their figures with the guidelines, but they point out the weak spots themselves. The owners were not watching all the time, and during the day they could not always tell whether their dog was asleep or just resting. What counted as 'daytime' and 'night-time' was left to each owner. And the night figures are uncertain when the dog did not sleep in the owner's room.

They also call their 11.2 hours slightly longer than the 10.1 hours found in an earlier study of dogs. Such differences, they say, may come from different definitions of sleep periods or different methods of measuring sleep.

What this means for you

Treat both the guidelines and the estimates as a rough guide. Do not count hours; watch your puppy instead. Do they settle by themselves after play, and are they bright and playful again after a nap? Then things are probably fine. Below: how to tell your puppy is not getting enough sleep.

How can you tell your puppy is overtired?

An overtired puppy looks busy, not sleepy. According to Dogs Trust, puppies who do not get enough sleep often show signs of excess energy: racing around (the 'zoomies'), wanting to play, and mouthing. You might think they have not done enough yet, but an extra walk is not what they need then.

Dogs Trust adds a simple check. Is your puppy this wound up even though they have been fed, been out to the toilet and done something physical, mental and social that day? Then they are probably overtired. Prevent it by spreading short naps and longer sleeps across the day.

• More mouthing than usual. Overtired puppies mouth more. For a punishment-free way to handle it, see stopping puppy biting.
• Racing around and unable to stop, especially after a busy day.
• Unable to settle, even in their own spot. Too much exercise can cause that as well.

How do you get a puppy to nap during the day?

You cannot make a puppy sleep, but you can make it easy for them. Dogs Trust's approach: walk, play or train first, then a chance to go to the toilet, and then a quiet, slightly darker spot with their own bed or open crate, something to chew or lick, and water nearby.

1. 1Move first, then the toilet. A short walk, a game or a few minutes of training, then out once more. A puppy who has just been to the toilet relaxes more easily.
2. 2A sniffing game as a bridge. Hide a few pieces of kibble in a towel or in the grass. Sniffing helps them calm down.
3. 3Something to chew or lick. A sturdy chew toy or a lick mat. Ask your vet which chews suit your puppy.
4. 4A quiet spot. Put their bed or crate where people are not walking past all the time. It can help to have a radio on quietly and a slightly darker room.
5. 5Breaks during play. Build in a short break every 5 to 10 minutes of play. That stops them getting over-excited, so they settle more easily later.
6. 6Move them gently, then leave them be. If your puppy falls asleep somewhere else, the LICG says you can calmly pick them up and lay them in their crate. Once they are asleep, leave them alone so they are not startled by a sudden touch.

An example stretch of the day

For a puppy of 4 to 12 weeks it can go like this: wake up, straight outside for a wee, a meal, another wee, a short game or sniffing game, then a nap in their own spot. After the nap the round starts again. This is our own example, not a guideline. If they start nipping or racing around, it is time for a nap.

The crate: helpful, but not shut for hours

The LICG, the Dutch information centre for companion animals, calls a crate a helpful tool, provided your puppy first learns to like it. Give them their food and chews in the crate and lay them in it when they want to sleep. Do not shut them in for hours. An open crate can stay their regular place to sleep or rest, as long as they find it a pleasant spot.

Does your puppy spend the day with a sitter or at dog daycare? Tell them how old your puppy is and when they usually sleep. Then the carer can protect their rest.

Where should a puppy sleep at night?

Close to you is a good place at first. The LICG says you can put the crate in your bedroom at night in the early days. That way you notice straight away when they need to go out. Later you can give them a regular sleeping place wherever you like. Many puppies also seek out people at night by themselves.

Generation Pup shows this too. Of the 16-week-old puppies who could get to people at night, 86.7% chose to sleep near people. Even so, owners most often left their puppy to sleep alone for the night, in a room or area without people.

If your puppy needs to wee at night, take them out briefly and then calmly back again, without games or chat. At first this can happen several times a night. Our guide to house training a puppy explains how to build that up.

As your puppy gets older, they should sleep through the night. If they struggle with that, talk to your vet, the Kennel Club advises, so they can rule out an underlying health problem.

Does sleep help a puppy remember what they learn?

Research in adult dogs suggests it does. In a Hungarian study, 53 adult pet dogs learned new words for sit and lie down. A week later, the dogs who slept, walked or played after the lesson did better than at their first test. The dogs who went straight on to learn something else did not improve.

In the hour after the lesson, the dogs slept in their owner's parked car, walked on a lead around the campus, played with a Kong toy while lying on the floor, which did get them excited, or learned new commands in 10-minute sessions. The dogs who played did worse straight after that hour, but a week later they had improved as well. The researchers put that down to the dogs' ordinary night's sleep at home.

Bear in mind: these were adult dogs, 12 to 14 per group, not puppies. What you can cautiously take from it: keep a training session short, follow it with something calm, and do not teach your puppy another new trick straight afterwards.

When should you take a sleepy puppy to the vet?

Sleeping a lot is no cause for alarm, the Kennel Club says: according to the LICG, a puppy needs plenty of rest to process all the new impressions. Watch for changes above all, such as sleep that is suddenly different from what you are used to, or a puppy who cannot settle. In these cases, call your vet:

Has your puppy only just come home? Then everything is new, and rest matters even more. A calm plan for that period is in our piece on the first weeks with a new dog.

Frequently asked questions about puppy sleep