5-6 month old puppies - how much sleep do they need?

[Puppypuppypuppy]

Just that really - I can't find an answer to this online. My puppy has had a few days of being really wired, and not really sleeping during the day and I'd just like a sense of what is 'normal'. He's teething and rubbing his jaws poor lamb so I think that might be having an effect too.

A lot more than you'd think - about 18 hours a day is a good guideline for most young dogs.

Can you enforce a nap time for him? If he's crate trained, pop him in there with a chew so he settles, or pop him in on a lead so he has no choice but to calm down - we did that a lot with ours when he was a teenager

Thanks @sunflowersandbuttercups - I was about to try and do an enforced nap this am and then discovered he had wee'd in the crate which he has only ever done once as a little pup. He is crated happily at night but never wants to go in it during the day - anything I put in there he just goes in and takes out to have somewhere else. Hadn't thought of the lead idea

They're a bit like toddlers and need enforced naps sometimes! Else they get over-tired and over-stimulated and don't know how to switch off.

mine probably sleep a good 17/18 hours a day. 6 months.

ours is the same age and went through terrible teething for a few weeks (having not really had many symptoms before) but I think it was his back teeth coming through and he's a bit better now

he is still asleep much more than he's awake but we do sometimes enforce naps (like now I really need a wee but he's fallen asleep on me so I'm sitting still for a bit!)

I can still tell the days when he hasn't slept enough!

If yours does sleep 17/18 hours what sort of routine do you have? I assume that means your pups are doing really mammoth sleeps in the day?

When mine was that age, he was up around 7am, and had a walk around 8.30am or so. Then he'd get home and a have a chew or kong, and he pretty much slept all day until dinner - he'd wake up for the toilet and for a fuss or a cuddle but otherwise he was sleeping. He got dinner around 3-4pm and would stay awake for a couple of hours after that - then during the evening he would sleep on and off until bedtime.

I also think a lot depends on your household. We locked down in my house now which is totally boring and pup sleeps so much more. In dp's place, there's a lot more going on, he can get out into the garden easily and he sleeps a lot less.

he got up at 730am this morning. We got dressed and took him for a walk. Got back had breakfast and he's been sleeping since around 930am. If he isn't disturbed, he'll probably sleep for over an hour, likely to be nearing 2 hours.

depending on our work schedules, we'll take him for a walk at some point in the afternoon - after the walk, he'll sleep till dinner at around 5 then he'll be up till about 7 when we take him round the block for a final poo and then he'll start settling down to sleep when we're back (8ish) for the night.

So he probably sleeps 8 till 7, 930 to 1130, 3-5 which is about 15 hours.

I think @HappyThursdays that's right re household. My puppy gets v excited at anyone coming downstairs, anyone knocking at the door and that's in a boring lockdown situation!

Also puppy won't go to bed particularly early - he will catnap in the living room but often that's only from 9 in the evening. One of our cats comes down from teatime onwards and he is a huge source of excitement too.