Hey all, we recently got a new lab (Dexter) and I'm wondering how often is ok (too much, too little) for him to be sleeping/in his crate? Dexter's currently almost 14 weeks old. I've read online that puppies of his age sleep for 16+ hours a day, although I'm sure there are exceptions. I'm lucky enough to be home all day, so he can theoretically be out of his crate all the time... What happens normally though is he will be out for maybe an hour and playing fine, behaving wonderfully, and then eventually start being 'naughty' - running off, ignoring me, being very nippy. Usually I end up putting him into the crate after an hour and a half and he falls asleep, and when he wakes I take him back out again and we play until he becomes (what I perceive as) tired (e.g. nipping, running around frantically, ripping things up, etc.). Sometimes I put him in the crate and he calms down but doesn't sleep and I let him out again for a while. Is this okay/normal, or should I be leaving him out of his crate and working harder to redirect him? He very rarely falls asleep outside of it. But it feels very strange to 'lock him up' so often when I'm right there!
Sounds good to me. Growing is hard work. Puppies do sleep quite a bit. I take it that you are also devoting some of the waking hours to socialisation activities, which can be both interesting and tiring for the puppy.
