Find Out If Your Dog Is Sleeping Too Much

Theories abound why we sleep -- from the concept which holds that sleeping consolidates memories to that which claims that sleeping is a way of conserving energy. Biological creatures sleep at varying length: humans sleep eight to 10 hours per day, bats and opossums for 18 to 20 hours, while elephants and giraffes for only three to four hours. But, you must have observed that your pet used to slumber twice longer than you. And probably, your observation worried you. You probably wondered why your pet loves to doze off for long hours.

Take a look at the following facts to help you understand the underlying factors on your dog's extraordinary sleeping habit:

Since dogs are good hunters, they spend less energy landing at a prey, which gives them more sleeping time (approximately up to 16 hours) than humans. Dogs enjoy this unfair advantage over humans. Because they only spend little from the energy stored in their body, they dedicate most of their time slumbering significantly longer than humans do.

The sleeping hours of dogs are determined by several factors. The said factors are: pets' activities, health, age, and breed aside from environmental or weather conditions. Consider the following:

-- Pet dogs sleep longer than working dogs, and because they have lesser activities than humans, they normally sleep longer than the latter.

-- Dogs with illnesses, undergo medications, suffer from depression, hypothyroidism, and senility doze off longer than expected.

-- Middle-aged dogs require approximately 16 hours of sleep daily, while older ones slumber much longer. This perhaps, is the reason why dogs of this age bracket tend to be less mobile than the younger ones. Hence, they can stay idle quite longer. And, as humans probably know, idleness is a good reason for sleeping.

-- Dogs tend to sleep longer on sunny days.

Determining the desirable sleeping hours that your pet should only have every day is a hard task. It is simply because of the interplay of the above-mentioned factors. Thus, there can't really be a standard regarding dogs' sleeping hours because it is dependent on the above-mentioned elements.

Basically, you shouldn't be worried if your dog sleeps longer than you do. Just make sure that it immediately reacts to sudden bursts of noise or other activities. Older dogs' failure to react to such cases may be due to some hearing problems.

Experts advise that you immediately contact a veterinarian when your dog suddenly deviates from the activities that it normally does, as this is indicative of an unseen problem. However, always remember that only prolonged changes in your dog's sleeping habits need an expert's advice. To be sure, ask for help if you notice indications like when your dog is sleeping at a higher or lower rate than the usual or is visibly lethargic-- shows signs of sadness, depression, aggressiveness, or a sudden change in weight.