How much does your dog sleep?

[Al1son]

We got our 2/3 year old Jack Russell about a month ago from Dogs Trust.

He's a wonderful little fella who is very placid, affectionate, keen to please, obedient but still a little wary (if you speak at all sharply he flinches and hits the deck) which is a bit sad.

I'm a childminder so I'm home all day but he stays in the kitchen and utility away from the children. He's happy to see me come in and out but doesn't really do much apart from sleep. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely that he's so well behaved but he sleeps all evening and I assume all night too. In fact if someone isn't playing with him, feeding him or walking him he's asleep.

I was just wondering if that was normal. You hear about dogs who are left all day barking for hours on end out of boredom and loneliness and I can't imagine him being bothered to stay awake to do it. In fact I've only heard him bark once so far.

Could this be a hangover from being in the rescue centre? He is still coming out of himself and I know that he was very stressed by being there. Maybe this is a self-defence mechanism.

I expect I'm overthinking this and lots of people will come on and tell me that their dogs are just the same.

He's very fit and healthy and gets very excited if you pick up his lead.

Oh yes you definately can teach an old dog new tricks. You can get louder clickers and most dogs can hear the noise and sense the clicker. Our 15 year old lab has been learning a new trick a week so no excuses cos they are old.

I do alter the tricks for the oldies so not the running and chasing type tricks but she can lift each leg off the ground in turn great for her balance and muscles. She can stretch full out on the floor again great for her muscles. She balances on a gym ball and will sit and go down and stand on that. The only restriction is how inventive we can be.

This thread has bothered me a bit (but then pretty much everything gives me guilts about dog ownership - I see it as preparation for parenthood !)

I pretty much NEED my dog to sleep around 7-8 hours a day as I work from home, so I'm with him virtually all day, but I need to work full time.

That's not to say that he doesn't get walked (once a day at the moment as only 6 months, but will go up to twice as soon as his time allows), played with inside and out, clicker training sessions, cuddles and grooming, as well as toilet breaks obviously. And training class most weeks.

Whenever I get up from my desk or come into the kitchen if he's napping, then he's up and engaged with me. He occasionally has his puppy crazy 5 minutes (although not very often, so I don't think he's usually bored or stir crazy) so I certainly wouldn't describe him as 'flat'. But basically his default position is napping.

Obviously his walk time will increase as he gets older, but if a clicker session maxes out at 20 mins, and the same for a game, then actually he's probably only 'doing' stuff for about an hour a day. So that leaves a lot of time just.. chilling.