Odd question to those of you who have dogs

[VladmirsPoutine]

Question: Do your dogs follow your own sleep habits? In that do they usually wake when you do or are they barking at 3am for no apparent reason? Is 'sleep training' also part of general dog training?

Sorry, meant to say I didn't train them to do that. They just sort of picked up my routine. When it's dark and quiet they sleep. Puppies might cry at night though if they are lonely or afraid downstairs alone. Ddog1 won't sleep downstairs but I just chuck her bed in the corner of my room and she's fine. Sneaks into my bed if fireworks are going off though.

Mine gets audibly huffy if we aren’t in bed by 10pm I start work at 9am and sometimes he will join me downstairs, but often doesn’t surface until 11am.

Weve got a 6 month od puppy, the first few weeks were pure hell. He now nods off about 8pm and we let him out at 10pm for a wee and he sleeps outside our bedroom. He does have an internal alarm clock though and is up at 5.35am without fail - my alarm goes off at 5.40am. He starts pacing the landing and I know he needs a wee. Its not an issue in the week but not so good on days off!. Im hoping he manages a bit longer as he grows up.

If you aren't keen, don't do it
If you get a puppy there is a degree of sleep training. We have had dog flaps for 25 years so if the fog wants to go out for a wee they can
Have got 2 they have beds on the floor in our room,and both sleep on the bed. One will growl in the night if she hears some one or maybe a fox. When she was a puppy crated in the conservatory,she started barking on the night. My vet said you can either warn the neighbours,and leave her to it,or let her sleep in the bedroom. We chose the latter

I've got a sighthound so she spends most of her day asleep. She snoozes all evening but goesinto her crate around 11pm. If we don't get her up she usually begs to go outside then goes straight in and we lock her in after. She then gets up when we let her out at about 6am when my DH gets ready for work. She then gets in bed with me before finally getting up at about 8.30 (I work lates so have a lie in, no DC yet)

It does take some degree of sleep training yes. And certainly the early weeks is like having a newborn baby again. They might wake for the toilet, or cry because they want reassurance. But quickly changes and like anything, you soon forget.

We have noisy, pain in the arse neighbours who sometimes wake our dog in the middle if the night (slamming their front door, shouting outside, tooting the car horn) but it's rare and DH knows I don't hear the dog barking at night so he comes down to settle him....

Ours follows our sleep pattern mostly. He takes himself to bed around the same time each night, just as I go. If I stay up longer he stills goes to bed.

He gets up when I do, reluctantly sometimes.

He sleeps in a bed on the floor next to me but does jump up onto the bed sometimes to cuddle up to my back.

They wake in the night as puppies, but generally settle as they sense you settle, and then sleep as you do. Dogs like sleep so I wouldn't worry too much about barking in the night.

When we got our pup I made the fatal mistake of trying to crate train her too fast. The first night ended with her crying, me crying and my husband crying 😂

We did similar to what I expect is a sort of toddler sleep training. So we put her in her crate and shut the door, and slept on the floor where she could see us, slowly moving away throughout the night.

Now, she's 2,and can sleep with us upstairs or downstairs in her crate interchangeably with no problems at all.

Up until about 6 months ago, she would sleep with the crate door open, free run of the kitchen but behind a baby gate. My husband went away for work and this unsettled her, and for about 2 weeks she would wake up multiple times in the night and poop and pee on the floor, despite me legging it down the stairs at any slight whimper.

We then went back to closing her crate door and she would happily sleep through, unless she called for us to take her to the toilet.

I don't expect we'll get another puppy again as she is perfectly well behaved and I thank my lucky stars and don't want to mess with the status quo... She also gets along with the cat 😂 but my God of we did ever get another puppy, I would have that baby in my bed with me and not try to rush crate/sleep training because of what other 'well meaning' people suggest. However, each to their own and different dogs react differently

We have an 18 month old lab who sleeps in the kitchen at night. He was in his crate until recently but he now gets the run of the kitchen. If we're late to bed he takes himself off.

Our dog goes to bed when it get's dark and generally gets up at 8am. Once she can no longer see out of the window to alert us to any sound or movement she calls it a day and goes to bed. She huffs, and groans if I wake her before she is ready to get up.

My dogs have woken me at night. Because they were puppies or sick or had an upset tummy.
If you won’t countenance getting up with a dog at night ever then don’t have one.
Mine had me up this morning before 6. They needed the toilet and then were hungry.

@VladmirsPoutine

Is there any training involved wrt sleep? It seems everyone's dog somehow just 'gets it'. But is there any training? I'm asking because we are thinking about a dog - I'm not necessarily for it so I told my family I won't for a second entertain a barking dog at the dead of night.

When they're a puppy and still toilet training you will most likely need to take them out for the toilet multiple times a night, if not and they need to go, it is highly likely they will whine and bark.

For us we would stop "play time" about an hour or so before bed and start to wind down, when our pup was in his crate at night we would say "it's bedtime now" and put him out for his last pee of the night then bring him in, put him in his crate and give him a little treat. He generally stayed sleeping until we came down in the morning and let him out.
Now he sleeps in our room (in his own bed) with us and our older dog and they go to sleep when we do and come down in the morning once they're ready after we're up

Our greyhound usually sleep happily until we get up. He loves his people though so starts to cry as soon as he knows we are up and about- but can tell the difference between a midnight wee and getting up. He only causes an issue if he gets cold, pjs on him and he’s no bother.
Our older border collie started barking at night, we moved her into our room to sleep and she was very happy. She just wanted to be with her pack. She would decide when it was time for bed and as she was very fragile in her last two years we would help her upstairs and have to watch tv/ read in bed! Fine in winter, less great in summer when we still wanted to be outside.

Blimey, I don't think I did any sleep training with my dogs, although the only one left is 11 now.

He sleeps most of the day, when I go upstairs he comes to our center landing and starts his sleep there, moving into the kids bedrooms through the night, depending on which one of them gets up to use the bathroom.

He'll occasionally wake up when I do if I go for a 5am run, or, most likely when I get up to do yoga, but that just involves him moving from his current sleeping position and moving so he can sleep next to my yoga mat.

He's never barked at night, the only time I ever hear him is if we have a thunderstorm (caribbean so a lot during summer), which hes terrified of, so I let him in our bedroom and he sleeps in my walk in closet for safety.

@LaurieFairyCake

Mine follow my own sleeps habits (curled into my back)

Any slight indication of awakeness means the two fuckers right in my face staring at me demanding breakfast

They can tell you’re awake from a mile off 😂

Ours sleeps from 7pm until we wake up the next morning whatever time that is. She just waits for us and lies on the sofa. She’s 4 and the rest of the time she’s awake and like the Tasmanian devil.

Mine never wake in the middle of the night. They go to bed when we do and get up when we do. One of them quite often rejects the offer of getting up and tucks himself in again until about 11.

There was never any sleep training, they did need to pee in the night as little puppies but that was only for a very short period of time then they just went straight to sleeping our hours.

Mine's no longer with us, but yes, he used to follow our sleep routine. Towards the end of his life, though, he was asleep almost all day, when he wasn't being walked or fed.

I've had many dogs and they only wake you when they're puppies or have an upset stomach, or hear some kind of noise outside. Otherwise no, they are not nocturnal animals.

Yes, I'm sleep trained. My dog gets off the sofa and goes to his bed when he's ready to settle for the night, its my cue to go to bed so he can follow me up and get under the duvet. He sleeps all night and reluctantly gets up for his walk between 6.30 and 7. He would only bark if someone was trying to break in and would only wake me if he was ill and needed to go out to poop or puke.

Lurchers- take themselves off to bed about 7pm, get up for a wee when I get up about 7.30am then go back to bed and snore until 9 when I drag them out for a walk. Then go immediately to the sofa and snore for the rest of the day!

Mine is lazy. Sleeps pretty much all day except for a walk and food. Falls into a deep sleep at 7.30ish, gets dragged out at 10pm for a last wee begrudgingly and then gets woken by the kids at 7am, she has breakfast then goes straight back to bed.

When the kids are at their dads she sleeps until about 10am when I have to wake her.

My friends dog will huff if you're not in bed by 9. If it gets to 10 she takes herself off to bed
She also refuses to go out in the rain and half the time won't get up in the morning

Ours wakes anywhere from 4.30am to 6.30am. She usually just wants a cuddle so if she wakes me too early I get into the spare bed with her (she's not allowed on ours). DH struggles to get back to sleep tho bless him.