how to help settle pup in the evening?

[highlandcoo]

I would love some advice about how to get an overtired pup to settle in the evening. Highlandpup is lovely in the morning. He sleeps (or at least is in his crate peacefully) from 11pm till 7.30am, and is chilled and still napping on and off with a bit of playing in between till about 10. Then a one hour outing - walk and sometimes cafe visit or we go to see a friend with a dog - and he'll nap again after that and potter around the kitchen. We'll do a few games and a bit of training and it's all pretty calm. So that's all great.

He goes in his crate for an good hour/hour and a half around midday and is quiet and settled.

We take him for a good run round off-lead from about 3-4 pm and he'll sleep for a couple of hours after that. But from 6 till bedtime can be really hairy. Like he's over-stimulated, sometimes charging around, or prowling about looking for mischief. Attacking the doormat which he's ignored all day, jumping on the furniture etc. We try chews, stuffed kongs, disgusting body parts and he moves from one to the other but can't settle till about 10.30 when he runs out of steam and lies on the sofa finally, then goes for a last wee then bed.

I don't think at his age we can exercise him any more? We did try a sniffy walk at 8pm last night but he wasn't keen and just wanted to get home.

He's doing so well on the whole; I would love the evenings to be calmer though! Is this just a stage that will pass or can anyone offer some advice ..

How old is he?

Is he perhaps overtired? How old?

Mmm, that's what I was wondering too.

Its called 'Zoomies', it's completely normal for pups/young dogs.

I do agree zoomies are normal but I was just thinking that an hour walk in the morning, games/training, and another hour walk 3-4pm, albeit interspersed with sleeps, and possibly a sniff walk 8pm is a lot for a young dog.

Also agree that the zoomies are normal, but 4.5 hours of being unsettled every evening isn't just the zoomies. I wonder if he's uncomfortable from so much exercise if he's quite a young pup?

How old? Shouldn't be on one hour walks until he's at least a year old and you're doing that twice a day plus other stimulation. Bad for their joints

I remember our dog was a menace for a few hours a night at a couple of months old but assuming yours is much older?

He sounds over-tired and over-stimulated to me.

Two long walks plus a café visit or visit with a friend, combined with what seems like very little sleep during the daytime is a lot of stimulation for a young dog.

You don't mention his age but puppies and adolescent dogs need way more sleep than we think, or they become hyper toddlers who just can't switch off.

I would focus on adding more naps and downtime during the day - if he sleeps in his crate well then pop him in there with a chew as soon as he gets home from walks and enforce a good solid nap of 2-3 hours at a time.

In the evenings I would tether him to me using a lead so he can't move about and be unsettled - give him a chew and pop him on the lead so he has no choice but to sit calmly in one place and relax.

Good luck!

Totally normal. It will get better. Mine are 2 and 2 and a half and they have pretty much grown out of it. They still get the zoomies occasionally though.

I have a 17 week pup and 7pm this happens. We have found doing some fun training at this point helps calm it down. Doing some recall etc can focus her a little more or some sit practise can help take the edge off

I’d drop the evening walk or vastly reduce it and replace it with sniffy games. Biscuits in a tea towel knotted is good. Treats in a box of scrunched paper. Some simple training like hard touch, wait, fun recall - even some husbandry training is good too. Clicker training is amazing for tiring them out. Also anything that involves self control like ‘it’s yer choice’ games and waits and stays.

our pup is 5 months and only has a ‘big’ morning walk. Afternoons when I come home (OH is with her all day) we do games and training. Then she crashes for a couple of hours, we wake her for a kong or nice treat at 8 then she’s ready for bed again at 9.30 - 10.

Again how old? This seems a lot for a young dog.

Hard touch - hand touch 🙄

our pup is a high energy terrier who is really bright and keen to learn.

Hi, thanks all for your opinions. He’s sixteen weeks old. I was thinking myself are we overdoing it .. will cut back considerably and see how we go.
Trying to get a balance between him getting bored and getting over-stimulated and beyond tired and I must admit I’m getting a range of different advice which is hard for a first time dog owner.
We start puppy training this week so hopefully that will be super helpful.

Newpeep if she goes to bed at ten how long does she sleep? I was thinking earlier bedtime might be good.

Yep that’s way way too much. Pups need to sleep and grow. Plus too much exercise can damage young joints.

Ljc yes I agree, I’ve found some calm sniffy games help. I’ll hide tiny treats in the hall for him to find or we’ll practise Sit, Lie down and Drop. He loves that.
Just trying to get the balance right really

16 weeks you’re looking at 15-20 mins once a day. That’s way way too much. He’ll be sore and really overtired. At that age we mixed things up - some days it was JUST a coffee shop trip.

Peeppup sleeps from about 10.15 until 6.45 most nights straight through and has done from about 14 weeks. She’s in a crate in our room. Some nights she wakes and needs a bit of a fuss through the bars but mostly now she just goes through unless something wakes her. She does take a bit of time to settle though. I tend to lay beside the crate with the light off until she goes in and settles herself before shutting the door.

puppies NEED company. So if he’s not sleeping with you he’ll probably not be sleeping well therefore more tired. That may be something to look at too.

To give you an idea, my last dog was a terrier cross. We could walk her all day. She was super fit and always up for running. A training class and especially one that was choice based rather than command based (so games, clicker, self control exercises etc) would wipe her out for the whole of the next day as an adult. Our pup sleeps the day after dog school pretty much most of the day. Brain work is so much more valuable for them.

I must admit I’m getting a range of different advice which is hard for a first time dog owner.

It is! But there is no one perfect way to raise a dog so you'll always get a range of opinions so I'll not add my own here, except to say the evening witching hour happens to many young dogs and they pretty much all grow out of it, regardless of what you do, so there is light at the end

Way too much exercise . I'd have him in a pen

A really helpful mental shift for me was that dogs need mental as well as physical stimulation

Owners often focus so much more on the physical. But a kong can be as tiring as a 15min walk for a young dog

So if overstimulation is the issue, be careful that you don't just drop a walk but overstimulate mentally to compensate

Our pup is exactly the same age as yours. That's far too much exercise as had been said upthread, the advice is around 5 minutes per month of age, once or twice a day, to protect their growth plates. I wonder if your puppy is uncomfortable in the evenings?

Our girl over-played with a family member's dog one day and she was really unsettled that evening - am sure she was aching.

You'll hopefully see a difference with reduced walks. Mentally stimulating games early in the evenings will keep him busy too, followed by a gentle winding down.

We've had dogs who never stopped having the zoomies even in old age, so you may always have those to deal with

All the advice is so variable isn't it, but the exercise limits seen to be pretty universal, so I'd definitely start with that.

Far far far too much for a 16 week old, you risk doing some serious damage to his joints. He’s probably overtired and over stimulated

I remember putting mine on the lead and making him sit down at about 9pm as I was so fed up,of having no relaxing time.