Help!

This problem’s fixable, but first you need to do a bit of detective work to discover the cause, advises Toni Shelbourne.

TONI SHELBOURNE has over three decades of experience working with dogs and wild canids. She is an animal behaviourist (full member of INTODogs and ICAN), a Tellington TTouch instructor, real dog yoga instructor, and author. She lives in Oxfordshire. For more information visit www. tonishelbourne.co.uk

As abehaviourist, I often get calls about disturbed sleep. Sleep deprivation is devastating and dangerous for both humans and dogs, but at least dogs can catch up on their much-needed ZZs during the day with no effects on health! For humans, daytime naps just aren’t as restorative, so it’s a concern when guardians are being disturbed.

The problem is usually easy to fix but first you need to work out the root cause. There are many reasons why dogs wake us during the night; here are the most common ones.

Many dogs need extra warmth at night, especially in the colder months.

“Sleep deprivation is devastating and dangerous for both humans and dogs... ”

I’M YOUNG

Puppies — very young puppies, just separated from their mothers and siblings — may never have been alone, not for a single second. At this age, it is extremely scary and stressful to be isolated; in fact you can set up a lifetime of anxiety trying to make a puppy sleep on his own, so it’s a good idea, at least for the first months, to have your puppy with you at night. You can wean him out of your room later, but initially puppies need warmth, company, and to be let out regularly to toilet. Dogs have a different circadian rhythm to us, which means their sleep patterns differ from ours. They are most active at dawn and dusk, so an adolescent dog is likely to be awake and ready to go at these times. Dogs can and do learn to adapt to our cycle, but it can take a while, so be patient and try to encourage a later start by adding on a few minutes at a time before you get up.