Restless Dog at Night? Helpful Tips for a Great Night’s Sleep

If you have a restless dog at night, it can disturb your sleep and add stress to the household.

Depending on whether or not your dog sleeps all day and is more nocturnal as a result or if their activity is due to separation anxiety, there are a number of things that you can do to help minimize their nighttime activity. A restless dog at night is no fun for anyone and can lead to sleep deprivation for the entire household.

Nighttime can be a particularly stressful time for your dog, especially if they suffer from separation anxiety and don’t sleep in your bedroom. Many dogs experience nighttime anxiety and symptoms can range from pacing, loss of appetite, crying when left alone, trembling, and general restlessness. Nighttime anxiety is very common in older dogs, for example, especially as separation anxiety tends to grow as dogs get older.

Distance Training

One solution is to try letting your dog sleep in closer proximity to you, whether in your bedroom or just outside. The goal is to try to make them be able to just close enough to you at night so their anxiety is alleviated. Each night, you move their bed a little farther away until they can slowly adjust to sleeping at a greater distance from you. Trainers will often recommend careful discipline, especially not rewarding bad or stressful behaviour. Preparing your dog for evening by teaching your dog to stay in a room alone during the day, starting with a few minutes at a time and then rewarding their behaviour, can build your dog’s self-confidence and assurance that they will be okay being alone at night.

Isolating the reason behind the stress itself is a useful way to begin understanding the best approach to solving your pet’s evening anxiety. Whether you have a dog, cat or any other kind of pet, it’s important to distinguish whether the anxiety at night is caused because of the time of day or if there is a factor in their life that is causing them stress all day long, which is simply heightened at nighttime. The best way to determine this is to evaluate if your pet show signs of anxiety all time time (even if they might be heightened in the evening) or only at night.

Exercise

Exercise can also be very useful in helping your dog fall asleep at night more easily. This is also helpful for pets which are awake and active at night. When it comes to nocturnal animals, it can be hard to calm the nighttime restlessness that is natural for their species. Even if cats aren’t anxious specifically at nighttime, they can be very active after dark, which can make them challenging housemates. Essentially the goal, for smaller pets, is removing toys and items in their cage that make lots of noise can help reduce the disruption of your sleep. Keeping your pets active, busy, and engaged during the daytime will help them get on a more nocturnal sleep cycle. If you have a restless dog at night, it could simply mean that he’s been catching to many zzzs during the day and is awake and ready to play at night instead.

Calming Aids

In addition to working towards positive behaviour modifications, providing your pet with calming aids can significantly add to the time and energy that you’re investing in helping you and your pet get a good night’s sleep. Before looking to medication to calm your pet’s nighttime anxieties, there are a number of natural solutions for stress which many pet owners have found to be extremely effective.

One such solution that has been clinically tested and proven for effectiveness is Pet Remedy. It is the preferred choice by many veterinarians and pet owners worldwide. Pet Remedy works in conjunction with any other calming solutions that you are trying, so it’s a perfect thing to add to your attempts to keep your pet calm and stress free in the evening time.

Just spray some of thisnatural calming spray or plug in the diffuser if you have a restless dog at night and Pet Remedy will begin working instantly to reduce your pet’s restlessness, which means that both you and your pet can have a better night’s sleep.