The plain answer is yes; they do fight sleep.
Just like humans, puppies may fight sleep due to issues with their physical well-being, emotional well-being, or just crankiness.
Whenever your puppy’s head drops unconsciously, and then they snap it back up, that’s an indicator that they’re trying to fight sleep.
However, you shouldn’t be alarmed. Unless your dog shows any signs of discomfort, then there is nothing to be worried about.
10 Reasons Why Puppies Fight Sleep
Here’s why puppies fight sleep.
1. Adjusting to a New Environment
Puppies experience loneliness whenever they get separated from their mothers. As such, it’s necessary to give them a sense of familiarity so they can adjust to their environment smoothly.
You can help them adjust by keeping their favorite toys close to them. When they have something from their previous environment, it gives them a sense of familiarity.
2. Pee Break
Considering that puppies are still in the developing phase, they can’t control their bladder that well. It might keep them up at night because they still don’t know how to get your attention.
When your puppy reaches 3 to 6 months old, you can only expect him to hold his bladder for 6 hours. If you don’t want him to be bothered while he’s sleeping, then it’s time to start potty training.
3. Your Pup Needs Security
Your puppy can experience anxiety if he isn’t comfortable in his space. This will make him feel isolated and will cause him to fight his sleep, which is the last thing you want to happen.
To avoid this, make sure that his bed is somewhat close to yours. If you’re not comfortable letting your puppy sleep in your bed, then giving him a blanket or a new bed will suffice.
Try one of the cuddler beds that help puppies relax. Or, maybe your pup needs a house-shaped bed that he can hide inside.
4. Too Much Energy
Puppies tend to fight their sleep when they have too much energy stored in their bodies. This situation is common among herding and sporting breeds, such as the Australian Shepherd and the Cocker Spaniel.
Your puppy needs to meet his physical, mental, and social needs daily to avoid being hyper and active during the wee hours of the night.
You should let him work out his physical body by playing fetch or other physically demanding games. Lazy days will only keep him up at night.
5. Overstimulation
As strange as it may sound, getting overtired is one of the most common reasons for puppies with sleeping difficulties.
Your puppy can get overtired whenever he doesn’t get enough rest from overdoing activities like exercising.
Keep in mind that this isn’t limited to activities but also loud and overwhelming environments. If the puppy spends his entire day in a crowded, loud place, he’ll likely have difficulties sleeping at night.
When this happens, your puppy becomes overstimulated, leading to restlessness. Overstimulation can lead puppies to be awake and playing all night long.
You can fix this by putting the pup in a calm, relaxing room with low lighting. It’ll help his body relax, hopefully lulling him to sleep.
6. Separation Anxiety
Most, if not all, dog breeds are prone to separation anxiety, especially the ones that used to live in shelters.
Your puppy will likely crave your attention and physical contact when you leave the room or the house.
A sign that your puppy might have separation anxiety is if he keeps following you around and if he gets ecstatic when you come home.
Being anxious for long periods of time leads to restlessness, and it might be causing the pup’s reluctance to sleep.
Anyhow, don’t worry; separation anxiety is one of the common conditions among dogs, and there are plenty of solutions for it.
7. Allergies
Just like humans get allergies, you shouldn’t be surprised that your puppy might have allergies too! Puppies older than six months old will start showing signs of irritations caused by allergies.
There are different types of allergies that your puppy might have:
- Gut-Induced Allergies (Also known as Food Allergies)
- Skin-induced Allergies
- Respiratory-induced Allergies
All of these conditions result in skin irritation, making your pup stay up all night scratching his skin.
Whenever you notice red splotches on the skin, it may be a sign of an allergy. Make sure to bring him to the veterinarian for an allergy test and treatment plan.
8. Sleep Apnea
Yes, you read it right. Puppies can experience sleep apnea. However, it’s uncommon. Most of the time, only flat-faced breeds like pugs are susceptible to this condition.
When sleep apnea attacks, your puppy’s respiratory tract can get narrower, causing him to wake up all of a sudden.
Continuous sleep interruptions due to this condition will leave your puppy having a hard time falling asleep, and he will feel tired all day.
If left untreated, sleep apnea can be hazardous for your puppy’s life.
9. Chronic Pain
Most of us think that old dogs are the only ones who experience chronic pain. In reality, it can happen to puppies as well.
These are some of the root causes of chronic pain in puppies:
- Developmental joint problems
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Gum disease
If your puppy is experiencing any of these, he will have a hard time sleeping at night.
You can easily recognize these conditions by your puppy’s behavior when awake. If he is whimpering and gets aggressive when touched, then a trip to the veterinarian is necessary.
10. Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a nervous system disorder that greatly affects puppies. It’s a congenital condition and can sometimes be hereditary.
Narcolepsy messes up your puppy’s hypocretin receptors, which then interrupts the regulation of his sleep cycle.
Say you’re playing with your puppy, and then out of nowhere, he acts like he’s sleeping but jolts back up after a few seconds. That might be an indicator that your puppy has narcolepsy.
The condition is not necessarily life-threatening, but you still need to consult a vet to learn how to cope with it. Plus, you’ll want to discuss the treatment plan.
Paul has been creating content for the dog niche for many years. The information he shares comes his first hand experience growing up in dog lovers household and then owning multiple dog breeds of his own as an adult. Paul enjoys doing the hard research to collect, analyze and present our dogtemperament.com readers with the best answers to their questions.