A puppy sleep schedule outlines your puppy’s daytime naps, the way the evening winds down, and what happens overnight. Most people underestimate how much sleep a puppy requires: approximately 18 to 20 hours per day at 8 weeks old. Enter your puppy’s age, your wake-up time and your bedtime below for nap times, a bedtime routine and a night-time potty plan.
Sleep is not time off from raising your puppy. It’s the time when the body grows and the brain files away what it learned that day. A puppy that sleeps enough will be calmer, will learn faster and will bite less. A puppy that doesn’t sleep enough is the one running around the living room at eight in the evening with your sleeve in its mouth.
Puppy Sleep Schedule Planner
Enter your puppy’s age and your household’s hours to get nap times and a night plan.
Nap times are a guide. A puppy that is biting hard, racing around or ignoring cues it knows is overtired, so start the nap early.
How Much Sleep Does a Puppy Need? Sleep Chart by Age
| Puppy’s age | Total sleep in 24 hours | Awake at a time | Daytime naps | Night potty breaks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 to 10 weeks | 18 to 20 hours | 45 to 60 minutes | 5 to 6 | 1 to 2 |
| 10 to 12 weeks | 18 to 20 hours | About 1 hour | 5 to 6 | 1 |
| 3 to 4 months | 16 to 18 hours | 1 to 1.5 hours | 4 to 5 | 0 to 1 |
| 4 to 6 months | 14 to 16 hours | About 2 hours | 3 | 0 |
| 6 to 12 months | 12 to 14 hours | About 3 hours | 2 to 3 | 0 |
| Adult dog | 12 to 14 hours | Varies | A few short naps | 0 |
Notice how short the awake periods are. A nine-week-old puppy can stay awake for less than one hour before it needs to go back to sleep, and that hour includes a toilet trip, a meal and some play. If we take the whole day into account, a young puppy is properly awake for only four to six hours. A good puppy sleep schedule plans the day around naps instead of trying to fit naps around activity, and that is the adjustment most new puppy owners need to make.
Sample Puppy Nap Schedule
| Age | Naps for a 7 AM wake-up and 10 PM bedtime |
|---|---|
| 8 weeks | 7:50 to 9:25 AM, 10:15 to 11:50 AM, 12:40 to 2:10 PM, 3:00 to 4:35 PM, 5:25 to 7:00 PM, 7:50 to 9:15 PM |
| 12 weeks | 8:15 to 10:00 AM, 11:15 AM to 1:00 PM, 2:15 to 4:00 PM, 5:15 to 7:00 PM, 8:15 to 9:15 PM |
| 5 months | 9:00 to 11:00 AM, 1:00 to 3:00 PM, 5:00 to 7:00 PM |
| 9 months | 10:00 to 11:00 AM, 2:00 to 3:00 PM, 6:00 to 7:00 PM |
- Put your puppy down for a nap after every awake period, whether or not they look tired.
- Use the crate or a pen, in a quiet room, with the crate covered. Puppies left to choose rarely choose sleep.
- Always go outside straight after a nap ends.
- Do not let children wake a sleeping puppy. Interrupted sleep leaves a puppy grumpy and nippy.
Signs of an Overtired Puppy
- Biting harder and more often, and ignoring toys offered instead
- Zooming around the room and crashing into things
- Barking or whining at nothing
- Ignoring cues they normally know
- Humping, grabbing clothes or digging at the carpet
- Getting worse, not better, the more you try to play
An overtired puppy looks like one that has excess energy. That is why trying to solve the problem with more activity, such as a longer walk or more playtime, makes the situation worse. An overtired puppy needs the opposite. Take the puppy outside for a quick toilet trip, then place the puppy in the crate with a chew, cover the crate and leave the room. Most puppies fall asleep within ten minutes. If this happens at the same time each evening, add an earlier nap.
A Bedtime Routine That Works
- Three hours before bed: last meal, followed by a toilet trip.
- Two hours before: take the water bowl up while your puppy is under about 16 weeks.
- One hour before: last proper play or training session. Keep it gentle.
- Thirty minutes before: lights down, voices low, a chew or a quiet cuddle.
- Last thing: toilet trip on a lead, calm praise, straight into the crate.
Follow the same routine every single night, using the same steps in the same order. Within a week or two the routine itself becomes the signal that sleep is coming, and your puppy will start to settle before being placed in the crate. Keep the crate near your bed during the first few weeks. A puppy that can hear and smell you settles significantly quicker than a puppy left alone in an empty kitchen, and you will hear when they need to go out.
Puppy Sleep Schedule at Night: What to Do by Age
| Age | What to expect | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 8 to 10 weeks | Wakes one or two times | Set an alarm for about every 3 to 4 hours. Take out before the crying starts |
| 10 to 16 weeks | Wakes once | One alarm in the middle of the night. Move it 15 minutes later every few nights |
| 4 to 6 months | Sleeps 7 to 8 hours | No planned break. An early waking usually means an early breakfast habit |
| Over 6 months | Sleeps through | Waking again can be adolescence, a noise, or a health issue worth checking |
Night-time toilet trips are best done with minimal lighting and almost no talking. Carry or lead your puppy outside and be patient until they go. Praise them softly as soon as they finish, then put them back into the crate. There should be no play, no food and no cuddling on the couch. This sends the message that night-time is only for toilet trips and sleep, and it is the difference between a puppy that wakes because it needs to and one that wakes because it is fun.
If your puppy cries in the crate at night
Work out which kind of crying it is. If several hours have passed since the last potty break, assume your puppy needs to go and take them out, quietly. If your puppy was outside 10 minutes ago, give them a few minutes, as most puppies settle. If the crying escalates, put your fingers through the crate door or bring the crate closer to you. Comforting a frightened puppy does not spoil it. Taking a puppy out of the crate to play does teach them that crying gets results.
The full method is in how to crate train a puppy overnight, and the right crate is covered in the dog crate sizes chart.
Is My Puppy Sleeping Too Much?
Most likely no. Young puppies can normally spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping, and they often sleep more after vaccinations, a busy day or a growth spurt. The key point is how your puppy behaves while it is awake. A healthy puppy will wake up bright-eyed and eager to eat and play, even if the burst only lasts for approximately 40 minutes.
See a vet if your puppy is hard to wake, floppy or uninterested when awake, off their food, or has vomiting or diarrhea along with the sleepiness. In very small puppies, weakness and wobbliness can be a sign of low blood sugar and need urgent attention.
Puppies also twitch, paddle and make tiny yips while they sleep, and this is normal behavior. Puppies spend a large share of their sleep in the dreaming stage, and the movements are simply that. We cover it in why dogs twitch in their sleep. To fit sleep around meals and training, build the whole day with the puppy schedule planner.
Related Reading
- How to Crate Train a Puppy Overnight
- How Much Sleep Dogs Need by Age and Breed
- Why Does My Dog Twitch in His Sleep?
- Best Dog Calming Beds for Anxious Pets
- How to Stop Your Puppy From Biting and Nipping
FAQs
How many hours a day should a puppy sleep?
Between 8 and 12 weeks old, a puppy needs 18 to 20 hours of sleep in every 24. At 3 to 4 months of age, that decreases to 16 to 18 hours, and at 4 to 6 months to 14 to 16 hours. From six months, a puppy’s needs are similar to those of an adult dog, at 12 to 14 hours. The sleep is split between a long night and several daytime naps.
When do puppies sleep through the night?
Most puppies can get through the night (7 to 8 hours) without a toilet break by about 16 weeks of age, and some as young as 12 weeks. Small breeds may take a bit longer, as they have smaller bladders than larger breeds. A regular bedtime routine, an evening meal about 3 hours before bed and a final toilet trip all help to bring that date forward.
What time should a puppy go to bed?
Bedtime should match your own, since the last toilet trip needs to be as late as possible. Between 9 and 11 PM suits most households. Consistency matters more than the hour. A puppy put to bed at the same time each night settles faster and wakes at a more predictable time.
Should I wake my puppy up from a nap?
Typically no, because sleep is the time when the puppy is growing and consolidating what it has learned. Wake them gently if a nap runs more than 30 minutes past a mealtime, or if a nap late in the evening is going to push bedtime back. Take your puppy out immediately after any nap, regardless of whether they woke up on their own or not.
Should my puppy sleep in a crate or in my bed?
A crate by your bed is the ideal starting point for a new pup. The crate keeps your pup safe, prevents night-time accidents around the house and lets you know immediately when your pup needs to be taken outside. If you want, you can invite an adult, house-trained dog onto your bed later, but it is much harder to undo the habit than to start it.
Why does my puppy go crazy in the evening?
The witching hour, or evening craziness, is almost always down to tiredness. When a puppy has been awake too long, it loses self-control and begins nipping, barking and racing about. Adding a nap in the late afternoon and another after dinner generally resolves the problem within a few days.