Hi there, We are dealing with mid 40's temperatures now and quite humid,mornings are the freshest part of the day. Dex gets a 30 minute walk in the morning,which includes a little bit of running around with another dog if we meet a friend or chasing me if we don't plus a few runs after his ball.We get in,cool down,have breakfast,digest.....then go and have garden inspection,play ,wrestle etc.dry off if we've got wet,do grooming,I usually have a cuppa ,then we do 20 minutes training........and that's our mornings 6-9 ish... He lolls about,usually awake,chewing on a toy then while I get on with house chores and then I've noticed since I got back from hols he pretty much goes to sleep from 11am onwards into the afternoon......obviously if the door goes,or we have visitors he is up and about pushing in to the fun of all that ,and even in deepest sleep he rouses to get up and follow me around but I'm finding that left to himself he wants to sleep all afternoon.I usually do a bit of training mid afternoon in the house ,but nothing strenuous.. Do your dogs all sleep a lot when the weather is hot?Im worried he's bored?I was reading up about sleeping yesterday and it seems dogs can sleep up to 12 hours a day....and not to worry if they are well excercised and otherwise healthy? He is housebound ,apart from toilet breaks up until 4 pm,then we go and have a another roll around the garden,he gets an easy 15 mins,I call it socialization walk at 6 pm,then he gets another good 20-30 mins between 9 and 10 with chris,similar to what I do with him in the morning.....he's awake all evening when we are in with him( most nights)playing,cuddling ,chilling with us
Re: Too much sleeping? Sounds 100% normal. Obi usually goes to daycare, as you know, which is hours and hours of vigourous play with other dogs. Over the past couple of weeks he's been at home (due to having been bitten, as you also know) and so we have been able to observe what he does when not massively stimulated and then worn out by daycare. He sleeps all day!!! We'd come home at lunch to check on him and he'd be fast asleep - not waking up till we walked into the bedroom. Even when we got home he'd mostly be still on our bed. On these days I'd say he got less exercise that Dexter is getting (40 min morning walk and 10 mins training and about the same of games after work). He was maybe a bit more restless during the evening than you describe Dexter as being (but I think he is a less chilled dog than Dexter. But he doesn't have to deal with 40 deb heat either). So, I wouldn't be at all worried
Re: Too much sleeping? Thanks Rachael,eases my mind a bit,long as his activity level sounds ok ,he can sleep as much as he wants!im not rigid to the 5 minute rule but its a vital factor we consider for the amount of excercise we give him for now while he is young.The heat must drain him,it does us,I'd snooze all day if I could ! X
Re: Too much sleeping? It's been unusually hot here the last couple of days - mid-30s, and humid, which is also unusual. Simba has been sleeping a lot during the day too. Sounds like He's getting lots of interaction with his people and exercise as well so I wouldn't worry about it!
Re: Too much sleeping? hi angela, i am so jealous, we have nothing but rain, .........jasper sleeps all evenings, ......after a 15 min run late morning he will sleep for a couple of hours during the afternoon, please share that sun
Re: Too much sleeping? Dexter's day sounds absolutely perfect to me - Charlie's is a bit more random as my work time is unpredictable. The garden was out of action yesterday, as Charlie's new fenced off space was being finished and the guys had saws and toolboxes everywhere, so limited playtime. We were just going out for toilet breaks but Charlie was too excited by all the activity to concentrate on his business, so we had an accident in the house - first in weeks. Plus, OH insisted that Charlie got the main walk after work so he could come with us. I had a puppy bouncing off the walls all day - jumping up at my desk, nicking papers to chew, raiding my waste paper bin, killing the phone cable...totally exhausting and distracting so he had to go in his pen. He is having 2 walks today, and he is just going to have more than 20 minutes exercise plus playtimes - 20 mins is just not enough, with just that he won't sleep and I can't get enough work done.
Re: Too much sleeping? Angela, it sounds fine. He is a sensible dog, and realizes that he can't be outdoors in the heat - so curls up for a good long snooze!
Re: Too much sleeping? Smart dog! Do you use flavoured ice treats for him when it's warm? We get snack/dip trays and fill them with cheap tuna & water frozen. Each slab is about 4" x 4" and our lot love them. I'm a worry mummy though so I always just rinse them first so their tongues don't get stuck! Maybe I saw dumb and dumber too many times or something. Our Bernese loves to lie on a wet then frozen towel too. It radiates cold air, he loves it. TM x
Re: Too much sleeping? Sounds fine to me too Angela . When we lived in France , we had hot summers ( but nowhere near as hot as yours ) and our dogs just adapted , became almost nocturnal at times , play/walk very early in the mornings and late evenings with lots of snoozing in between
Re: Too much sleeping? Thankyou everybody,Ive been so busy out of the house today,grossly inconvenient.....not had a chance to catch up and appreciate all your replies....feel much better that he's not slipping into an apathy of boredom ....just pegged out! Yes,TM I freeze some of his toys in chicken stock in big blocks and give him one of those when we go out round 4 pm...that's when my garden goes into shade and he will keep going back to it for a cool lick : He's funny if I put a bowl of water out...he won't entertain it,he walks right through the house to his regular bowl to get a drink from that......he loves ice cubes as well so I gice him them through the day too
