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D is for Downtime | Settling & Sleeping | SEEDs HoundTable with Kelsey Weber
Who, among us, is getting enough sleep!? ???? Sleep is such an important component of being able to cope with stress. It’s true for our doggos, too. ????
Kelsey Weber talks about how rest & relaxation matters for dogs in this portion of last month’s HoundTable LIVE event. Check out the attached video. Then, join the conversation:
How do we know if the dog is getting enough sleep and “Chillax” time?
Pop your ideas in the discussion.
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16 Replies
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Aren’t dogs supposed to sleep 17 hours a day?
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Pet MD, AKC, Hill’s Diet, and the Sleep Foundation all are saying about the same time – 12 hours. Do your dogs sleep more than that? @JCongdon
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Yes my dogs sleep 11/12 hours at night – then about 4 hours during the day napping. The 4 hours napping are broken up during the day, therefore about 17 hours of sleep during a 24-hour period.
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NICE! I wish my dogs rested that much!????
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At my volunteer gig at a local shelter, I often use Reiki (Japanese relaxation technique) with some of the dogs to get them to relax. It seems to work really well with all the dogs so far. It doesn’t involve a lot of hands on, as with Reiki for people, unless the dog asks for it.
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Fascinating, Gwen – that sounds like a really special skill.
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That is such a cool idea and especially for the shelter dogs or any dog. It’s great that you volunteer too.
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I think some dogs are up for a nap if we leave them to it. Currently, I have a client (past training) privately boarding at my home. This is Maisie, a beautiful 11 month old Dane. Her owner just dropped her off at 4:30 pm today. We had a walk, sniffed around the snowy yard, I left her with a stuffed frozen Kong while I walked another dog, came back and she was ready to go out again and see the snow. We came in and she played a little, then lie down on the couch with me and she’s taking a lovely nap while I watch some TV.
I have other clients where that is not the case! They are awake and “on” a lot.
It depends on the dog, the environment, etc…My house is pretty calm and dog-friendly, only a parrot and some fish in an aquarium.
I’m hoping to sleep well with a big dog next to me tonight, ☺️ I’ll let you know how many hours. Have to be up at 6:30 to get her out before I go see another dog for a morning visit.
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What a pretty girl! ❤️ ????
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Maisie is a beauty! Enjoy her company, @bernerlabreclectus . ????
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What an awesome nap buddy!
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I’d love to know more about that technique for dogs, if you care to share, @Atticus.
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There are many schools of Reiki for humans and the principles are basically the same in all the schools. From various Reiki teachers Kathleen Prasad has developed a Reiki method to be used specifically with animals which she calls “Let Animals Lead”. The main difference is that with humans Reiki is hands on but with animals we don’t really touch an animal unless they specifically indicate that they want us to do hands on. (Some Reiki practitioners do hands on with animals but in Kathleen Prasad’s method hands on is not emphasized.) If you are interested in learning more you can find information on the internet by googling her name. She also wrote a book in 2012 (“Reiki for Dogs”) which was my initial introduction to Reiki for dogs. There is actually an organization that is dedicated to promoting Reiki with animals in a shelter setting called SARA – Shelter Animal Reiki Association. If you would like more information please feel free to contact me again.
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Regarding being able to tell if the dogs are sleeping enough… For example, my older girl gets a little bit testy around the younger dogs if we aren’t sleeping well… so I know it’s a clue we need to have more downtime in our schedule. Sometimes that means the puppy rests away from the others.
I’ve also been experimenting with various blankets for her. (She doesn’t get foam beds because she marks them and they are difficult to wash). The winner so far is a King-size thick comforter which piles up very nicely. In fact she’s on it right now, just a few feet from where I’m working. I love seeing her crashed out and cozy.
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Aww ???? looks very cozy!
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A cozy happy pup ????
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