Rex is sleeping like a baby

It’s one thing when your kids wake you at night but quite another when it’s your dog. At six months, Rex the Labrador should be sleeping through the night. Instead he is providing an early wake up call at 5.30am each morning. Puppy sleeping problems are a common complaint but can usually be overcome with a few adjustments in the home.

This proved to be the case with Rex. The owners have a young family and Rex was controlling in the home. He was nipping their young child and biting the husband. I quickly identified on our virtual lesson that this was because he was taking part in stereotypical male rough play with the dog. If you are rough with your dog, they will think that’s the way to behave. When dogs are playing rough, they bite.

In the evenings, they were allowing the dog to fall asleep with them, then putting Rex in his sleeping area under the stairs. They were not using a crate but just a gate so of course, Rex was trying to get out. In the process he was destroying the floor – it was like Escape From Alcatraz in their house.

After taking my advice, the owners felt the benefit of their virtual lesson less than 12 hours later:

Morning Damian, Andy and I were laughing this morning at how less stressful the morning was and we got to have a lie in for the time in almost seven months. Rex is currently sleeping in his crate listing to Smooth FM.

Posted: April 16, 2021