Do dogs chill out more in the evening as they get older?

[Teeh]

So I have an 8 month old puppy. She is quite good in the daytime. Gets a couple of walks. I play with her a bit and in between she does settle quite wel. But come evening she just does not seem to settle the same. We walk her sometime between 6.30 and 8.00 for about 40 minutes and after that she just seems to be up and down in and out to garden for ages before crashing at 10pm. It reminds me of toddlers at this age. Does this change as they get older? I feel at the moment that no amount of exercise in the day would give us a chilled evening. I read somewhere that evening is their natural hunting time of day, so when they are most active. So just wondering if this is always the case. Or it it’s a puppy thing.

I would be encouraging calm in the evenings at 8 months of age. It is harder when they can not go out for walks at 8-12 weeks but by 8 months you should be able to regulate the activity and rest.

If she has had enough exercise I would prevent her from going outside and expect calm chilled behaviour in the evening.

I can cope with almost anything if I have calm evenings so this is an area I do work on a lot!

I have working collies and wcs (and a lab puppy) who will run around all day and all night if I let them. Evening feed happens and then they know that at home they are to chill. We may go out to work in the evening and then that of course is different but in the sitting room they chill

We've got a King Charles Cavalier who has just turned 6m old and he must be lazy as he starts his evening chill at about 8 ish and pretty much dozes on the sofa all evening until bedtime

How do you encourage calm polly? In the daytime I capture calm and reward it when she makes the choice to settle. But she doesn’t seem to make the choice in the evening

Ours was a nightmare from dusk until last wee. But he was a herding breed so I think it was how he was hardwired.

My puppy’s 6 months and he spends the evening chewing his chews on his bed in the living room or sleeping in his crate (his choice).

@freshcarnation

Ours was a nightmare from dusk until last wee. But he was a herding breed so I think it was how he was hardwired.

Our cattle dog was exactly the same. He would happily go out for jaunts across the fields at any time during the night if someone would let him out.

Mine is 3 and she spends her evenings until bedtime lying on top of a sofa looking out of the window. She barks manically when she sees a fox/cat/dog and then settles in her watch position very quickly when they’ve gone.

Mine is three and a half and sleeps/dozes on the sofa from about 6pm until 10pm, gets up to go for a wee, then can easily sleep from 10pm-9am if he's not woken before then

My 6m puppy has his last meal at 6pm, after that he likes a fuss/play or chew his beef tail then he is outers for the evening until his last wee before bed. He sleeps all night.

He is currently sleeping next to me on the sofa although today he has had a busier day than normal as we are away but if we were at home he'd be the same.

I'm very happy actually as it shows me he can adapt.

Could she be over stimulated from the evening walk? I found if we played ball or played chase with another dog on the evening walk she'd be wired up rather than tired!

My pup is nearly 8 months and has her last meal at 5.30ish, slow sniffy walk at 6.30/7 for half hour and then when we get home she'll generally chill out on her mat with a lamb braid or goats ear and sleep most of the evening and out for last wee at about 10 and sleeps until 6.45.

Can she see outside? My pup is more excitable when he thinks there's something going on outside. I distract him and try not to let him out if he's recently been for a wee. He chills most evenings. Nearly 8mths old.

We have a crazy beagle but he settles on the sofa after dinner these days. You will probably need to experiment to see what routine works best for your pup.

At some points when ours was little an evening walk would tire him out, then it started to just energise him! We then switched to a game of fetch in the garden to use up the last bit of energy which worked for a bit. Then we moved on to either offering an antler or a frozen kong after dinner which he’d happily work on until he crashed out (we took these things away for the rest of the day so it was always a novelty when he was given them to keep him interested).

Good news is it definitely gets easier over time :)

My dog is 17, quite chilled in the evenings but still likes to do about 4 garden inspections.

Yes they calm down, but it's easier in the winter anyway because they take their cues from the fact it's dark too, keep lights low and be calm and they will be calm. My ddog can barely be bothered to check out people at the door now (at 10) and I struggle to get him to bother to get up before I need to leave for work

@RiotAtTheRodeo

My dog is 17, quite chilled in the evenings but still likes to do about 4 garden inspections.

17 is amazing!!

My 13 year old boy loves chilling on a nice fleecy throw.

I have a 5 year old JRT. Mostly he is curled up on a chair snoozing away from around 6 pm until bedtime, although he happy to go for a short walk if we haven't managed to take him before tea .

I do remember the evenings when he was a puppy spent trying to entertain him with stuffed bones or other dog treats . I don't remember at what point he really calmed down .

That's what puppies do

We have a ten year old. He's relatively awake/needy in the evenings and will paw for attention (a habit we're trying to break- he's a recent rescue)

Have found a frozen Kong keeps him nicely distracted and busy whilst still being a calm activity while we're watching TV

I have always made a thing of toys put away after his dinner and it is now 'boring' time in front of the tv.

This became routine and sometimes if we are still doing things around the house he will take himself off and wait for us.

If you are taking her for an evening walk I am not surprised she can't calm down at that age as she is alert and has had a nice stimulating walk.

My 9 year old shih Tzu sleeps most of the evening but soon livens up when it’s time for the last walk about 10pm .

I would agree with others that the walk might be wiring her up instead of leaving her tired. Can you try and do the walk a bit earlier than 8? then when you get home give her a chew toy and encourage her to settle in bed/on the sofa. I also find completely ignoring them when they start to go a bit mental can help, my dogs quickly learnt trying to wrestle, running round the garden etc after 9pm resulted in no attention but settling nicely in bed, next to me on the sofa etc. resulted in as much attention as they liked.
Now I have one ex lunatic puppy that takes himself off to bed at 9pm, one who snoozes by the door because he is the self appointed guard and 2 who will sit as close to the fire as possible even if it isn't lit in the hope maybe I will light it for them

Ah ok, thanks. We will try cutting the last walk and a few other suggestions here.

My dog was like this when I adopted him at 8 months old. He’s 14 months now and has a routine for settling.

What worked for me was:

1. Using a covered pen to enforce rest. I’d put him in it around 10am for a few hours, then around 7-8pm for a few hours.

1. Reducing to one walk per day. When we did two per day, he became extremely hyper and hard to handle. Even now if he has a playdate or walk in the evening, he’ll be wired and snappy afterwards.

1. Different types of activity for different times of day. He gets toys and a kong puzzle in the morning when he’s being wild. Then he gets balls and tug toys (interactive play time) in the afternoon before his walk. Then in the evening, he gets a bone or pizzle to chew.

1. Teaching him the “settle command”.

If you don’t know how to teach “settle”, just say “good settle” when she’s lying down calmly, and drop a treat or two in front of her.
Eventually you can then say “settle” and see if she lies down on cue. If she does, reward her calmly. Over time, she will understand what settle means and will comply when you ask (within reason / most of the time!).

So my dog now automatically settles around 10am, by himself. He’ll snooze on the floor or sofa until around lunch time, on and off.

In the evening, I still put him in his pen around 7-8pm. He usually starts falling to sleep on the floor around this time anyway, because it’s become a routine. He sleeps in his pen until I go to bed, then he gets let out to have one last pee break and sleep in bed with me.

Do you use a pen or crate at all? It might help to have a way you can encourage calm / remove stimulation and distractions.

Might also be worth skipping that evening walk and giving her a bone or chew instead? :)

My dog (no longer with us) gradually spent more and more time snoozing the older he got. When he was young we would tire him out with long walks during the day so he settled down at night. By the time he passed away he was essentially asleep all day apart from when he was being walked, let into the garden or when he was eating.

We take ours out for a sniffy walk sometimes as that tires her brain out. Or do some training as that knackers her brain too. Or hide treats in a box of newspaper or an empty egg box. Snuffle mats good too, or just wrap a toy or treats in an old towel.

Google brain games for dogs.

Ours always takes herself to bed at 9….

She’s 2 now and sleeps a lot more, or at least goes into stand by mode.