Dottie is 7 months old and had been sleeping beautifully through the night (from 10pm-6:30 or 7am) for ages. In the last couple weeks, suddenly she's back to waking me up 2-3 times a night. She doesn't have to pee...the first few times I would get up to take her out, but as soon as we got out of the bedroom she'd grab a toy and zoom around like the does when we first wake up in the mornings! When we did get outside, she very obviously didn't have to go and was just wanting to play. She's trained to go as soon as we get outside, and after 20-minute laps around our complex she still wouldn't have gone but had enjoyed a lovely nighttime walk! Now when she wakes me, I just ignore her and hope that she settles down again, or pick her up (getting harder as she gets bigger) and settle her back on the bed with me. I've tried bringing a bone in with us so she had something to do besides wake me up, but she was too excited by the bone to even go to sleep. Then I tried bringing in a toy for her to chew on in the night, but I just got woken up by a slobbery toy getting dropped on my face! Is sleep regression a thing in dogs? She used to do this when she was younger, too. Not sure what would've caused this sudden need to wake up and play every few hours. Any tips on how to stop it? She doesn't sleep in a kennel - never has. She starts out the night in bed with me and then gets too hot in the night and moves to the floor. I love the nighttime cuddles as we fall asleep, but might have to revisit the kennel idea if she keeps bouncing on me and licking me awake at 4am because she wants to play!
Hi Fern, Sorry to hear you are getting woken up in the night. I've got a 10 week old baby, so I feel your pain... I don't know that dogs have sleep regression as such, but they do sometimes get into the habit of waking in the night for a variety of reasons. We've got an article which goes over some possible causes and solutions here. I hope it helps! Do let us know how you get along
