Many dog owners report that their pets have a carefree life, and they are ready to sleep all day long. Is it really so? How many hours a day should a dog sleep? Let's get acquainted with the opinion of experts.
- All over the world, studies of the characteristics of animal behavior have long been carried out. Dogs, as pets, were the first to come under the attention of specialists. In the course of the study, comparisons were made. A person is awake during the day and sleeps at night. At the same time, the phase of REM sleep takes 25% of the rest time. Dogs do not sleep for 6-8 hours in a row, so they spend only 10% on REM sleep. The rest of the time, pets just doze to restore energy.
- Also, experts divided dogs with sleep duration by age and external size of breeds. So medium-sized pets need about 12-14 hours of sleep a day. Puppies are known to spend more energy learning and exploring the world around them, so they need to sleep up to 20 hours a day. Old dogs and large breeds of dogs also need the same long rest. The latter include Mastiff, Newfoundland, and St. Bernard.
- To determine how many hours a dog should sleep per day, scientists had to track the dog's entire day (states of wakefulness and rest) and convert everything to a percentage. It turned out that 50% (that is, exactly half) of the day, dogs spend on sleep, 30% of the time they just lie, and the remaining 20% they are active. However, in comparison with a person who needs a mode of work and rest for good health, dogs can be called "flexible" sleepyheads. Judge for yourself, they are easy-going when someone rings the doorbell or can take a nap when they are bored. Hunting and service dogs rest less, and chain dreams spend most of the day in a nap.
- Despite this difference, owners should always be attentive to their pets. Observe their behavior and mood. If there are deviations from the norm (for example, the dog has become less active, more or less sleep), you should immediately contact your veterinarian. The changes may be related to a routine change in diet, or heart disease or thyroid disease. All this needs to be checked.
