Why Do Dogs Wake Up So Easily?

For a pet owner, it’s a great pleasure to see his/her little poach sleeping silently. Its cuteness and sleeping behavior can be compared to a toddler, and both wake up easily. It may seem to you that it’s sleeping perfectly, but really it’s not that peaceful as you see. Very often, you may find them doing various things while sleeping, and this is most likely acting out of their dreams. Their deep sleep doesn’t last long, and even a little sound can wake them up immediately. Dogs wake up easily because of their sleeping pattern. Not like humans, they sleep longer, but most of their sleeping time they spend in a stage where their brain and pulse activity slow down but remain active. Because of the nature of their sleeping, they can wake up fast and also go to sleep in a few moments. 

Why do dogs fall asleep so fast?

To answer this question, you need to be familiar with the sleeping pattern of a dog. It’s close to human sleeping patterns but different in some key areas. Firstly, there are transitions between the stages of sleeping, not like humans, dogs take a little time to move from one stage of sleep to another. Secondly, both humans and dogs need a substantial amount of deep sleep, as the amount of dog’s deep sleep is very low, only 10% of total sleeping hours, it compels the animal to fall asleep quickly. Finally, they need more sleeping time than humans to compensate for their lost REM.

Sleeping Stages for Human and Dogs

There are four stages of sleep both humans and dogs go through while sleeping. The below presents a short discussion of all the stages – 

1. Stage 1: This is the lightest stage of sleep where you just get out of consciousness and lose control over your limbs. You might be aware of what’s happening around, but it would seem like background noise. 
2. Stage 2: In this stage, you won’t have any awareness of your surroundings, pulse rate and brain activity will become slow. You will be in sleep but not deeply. We need some more time to reach the stage where the brain moves to subconsciousness and processes the inputs it receives throughout the day. 
3. Stage 3: This stage is also known as the slow-wave stage. In this stage of sleep, our body functions at its slowest. Some of the key activities like heartbeat rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and breathing take place very slowly. You are completely out of consciousness in this stage, with no knowledge of what’s going on around you. 
4. Stage 4: This is the final, and the deepest level of sleep humans and dogs can have. Also known as the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage, this is when you are in a complete subconscious mind with an active brain to process all the events of the day. 

From the sleeping stages above, most of a dog’s sleeping hours are occupied by stage two. This happens because of the dog’s natural sleeping pattern, and this is the main reason dogs can wake up fast when needed. As they spend only 10% of the sleeping time in stage four, their body requires longer hours of sleep to make up for the deficiency of deep sleep. Dogs go to sleep fast because they wake up frequently, don’t have enough deep sleep, and very often out of boredom and tiredness. 

Why does my dog wake up so early?

Dogs’ natural sleeping pattern allows them to wake up fast, but that doesn’t always mean that a dog will wake up early. This can be a reason for fast waking up but not waking up early. There are several reasons behind dogs waking up early. It can happen for a single reason or because of a combination of reasons. You can figure out the main reason by considering some aspects.

5 Most Common Reason Dogs Wake Up So Early

1. Hunger: If the dog is accustomed to eating at a certain time every day, it will get up right before that time out of hunger. Once the dog is awake and needs to be feeded, it will try to get you up. This is one reason, and another associated reason is changing a dog’s diet and diet time.  
2. Separation Anxiety: As like humans, dogs are very social. They expect to receive love and affection from the owner always and be with the person. They can wake up sometimes out of anxiety. This anxiety can be created because of various psychological, physical, and environmental factors like separation, fear, and aging.
3. Need to Pee: It is one of the reasons dogs get up early in the morning. It doesn’t matter if it is a puppy or elderly, when a dog feels the need to pee, it will wake you up too and seek to go outside.  
4. Change in Routine: Normally, dogs love to cover their activity in a routine. You can expect your cute pup to behave normally once you are putting it in a routine. Abnormal behaviors like waking up early can be caused by a disruption in a regular routine. If a dog is accustomed to a certain time for sleeping, waking up, peeing, having food, and so on, the dog will seek to do the tasks at the routine time. 
5. Medical Conditions: Sleeping disorders in dogs may also happen on medical grounds. A dog may wake up early out of discomfort caused by illness, injury, or any other medical issues. To be sure if the dog is waking up out of discomfort, you should look for signs of illness, injury, or other medical grounds. If so happens, arrange a visit for the dog to a professional vet. 

Apart from these, there might be several more issues that can wake up your dog early and create inconveniences for you. If you find it out of the medical ground, don’t delay meeting a vet.

How to make your dog sleep longer? 

We already know that dogs sleep more hours than humans. Having that in mind, if you expect to have your dog sleeping longer hours in the morning, the below points are for you – 

1. Don’t let the daylight reach inside your dog’s sleeping place: As we know, dogs are descended from Grey Wolf, they used to live in the backcountry. Their inherited sleeping habit is aligned with the rise and set down of the sun. That’s why you may find your dog waking up once it finds daylight. To get the dog to sleep longer, you can draw all the curtains of your home closed. 
2. Make the dog tired: If you used to take your dog for a walk in the morning every day, consider to make it two times in a day, take the dog for exercise in the evening too. The second walk in the evening will help to burn some energy and make it tiring to sleep longer at night. 
3. Resist the dog when it tries to awaken you: You dog may wake up early and whine for food, don’t leave your bed unless it’s an emergency. If the dog wakes up earlier than usual, make it understood that you won’t leave your bed until your regular rising time. Ignore your dog’s whine, bark, or any other act to get you up. 
4. Don’t feed them right after waking up: Wait at least 30 minutes, if you offer food immediately after getting up, your dog will take it as a wake-up time to have breakfast and will continue to rise early. 

How long should dogs sleep? 

Like humans, dogs’ sleeping time and pattern varies based on several factors such as breed, age, and size of the dog’s body. So, there is no direct answer to the question of how long do dogs need to sleep. The below comparison may help to extend your knowledge on this and nurture your dog to have a perfect sleep every day.

The first comparison presents average dog sleep hours by dog breeds – 

Let’s have a look at the sleeping hours of dogs based on the age of the dog – 

And at last, find below a comparison of dog sleep need based on its size – 

How to wake up a dog?

There is a saying that “Let the sleeping dog lie.” If you have a pet dog, you need to follow this rule because forcefully waking up a sleeping dog may have serious consequences. Think about a nightmare you have gone through, how long have you taken to be expected and realize it was a bad dream? You are safe. The same happens to a dog if you touch or shake the dog in the midst of the dog’s dream. If the dog’s dream is terrible, it may end with an unintended bite. Sometimes, you may have to wake up your pooch. To avoid the dog’s sudden surprise and anxiety, you can just rouse the dog gently and keep speaking its name. 

Should I Let My Dog Sleep Late Every Day?

Dogs have their own sleeping needs. If they have enough sleep and lead their life usually, there are no issues, no matter if the dog goes to sleep late at night or any time else. You may think about the health consequences of the dog, in this case, some dogs just do fine starting their day on their own terms. If you find it unusual in your dog, you should consult a veterinarian. Apart from this, getting your dog’s daily activity aligned with yours and making a schedule can bring an excellent output. 

Why do dogs wake up in the middle of the night? 

As dogs sleep so lightly, your dog won’t sleep through the night, and the dog may wake and bark mid-night. Apart from this, dogs can wake up early and bark to use the bathroom, to have some food, or they just want your company. A dog can keep waking up early because of – 

• Sleeping disorder in the dog; 
• Older dog waking up early; 
• Strange odor; 
• Anxiety; 
• Urinary or digestive problems; 
• Extreme Itchiness; 
• Joint pains, etc;

How to treat sleeping disorders in your dogs? 

If your dog has developed a sleeping disorder, before going for treatment, you should know first why it has been developed. A dog can suffer from various kinds of sleeping disorders such as REM behavior disorder, narcolepsy, insomnia. Your treatment should be based on that. 

For REM behavior disorders, your vet may prescribe medication like clonazepam, anti-anxiety drugs, and anticonvulsants. In the case of narcolepsy, some behavioral therapies are recommended. Insomnia treatment requires first to determine what’s causing it and then focus treatment on eliminating that.

FAQ

Why do dogs get happy when you wake up?

Dogs become happy to see you waking up because you are the only one who makes fun with them, you prepare the meal and feed the dog, you take the dog for a morning walk in a nearby park, you do everything else for her. They become happy to realize that as you have woken up, it’s time you will feed them and have all the fun they missed out on while you were sleeping. 

Why does my dog get up every time I move? 

You may know that dogs’ sense of smell and hearing is much stronger than humans. As they spend most of their sleeping time in stage two, their strong sense allows them to wake up when listening to a little sound or realize that something strange is passing by. To protect the owner’s life and property, they can respond instantly in stage one and stage two levels of sleeping.  

Why does my dog wake me up so early?

Naturally, dogs’ sleeping cycle is aligned with that of nature. Once a dog is touched by daylight and wakes up, the later moment the dog wakes up, the owner. Apart from this, dogs can wake up early to pee, to have food, to avoid separation anxiety, or because of illness, injury, or medical aspects. 

How to get a puppy to sleep longer in the morning?

At first, you need to train your dog to sleep in a routine where the longer period of uninterrupted sleeping rest in the morning. Apart from this, to avoid the dog’s waking up in the daylight, you can draw all the curtains of your home close in the evening before going to bed, make the dog tired with two walks and another exercise in a day. 

Conclusion

Sleeping patterns of dogs and humans are almost the same, and only a few differences exist, as mentioned in the above discussion. As we already know that dogs spend more of their sleeping time in stage two, it’s natural that they would wake up with a little strange sound or noise. But their early waking up may have some other reasons that need to be examined. There might be issues working behind sleeping disorders to the dog, if you notice any of them, consult with a vet and arrange treatment.