Why is my dog sleeping so much? Normal sleep by age

Most adult dogs sleep between 8 and 13.5 hours a day (VCA Animal Hospitals, Sleep Foundation), senior dogs about 12–15 hours (American Kennel Club) and young puppies 15–20 hours (The Royal Kennel Club). Large and giant breeds sleep more, up to 18 hours even in middle age. A dog that sleeps a lot but still eats well, plays and wakes for the things it loves is almost always fine. The two warning signs are a sudden change in your dog's own pattern, and sleeping over about 20 hours a day.

How much dogs sleep, by age

The Sleep Foundation adds detail from studies: adult dogs average just under 11 hours, sleep about 60–80% of the hours between 8 pm and 8 am, and spread the rest over daytime naps. A study of shelter dogs found the same 11-hour average. Puppies sleep more hours by day and more overall, even though many sleep less at night; our guide on how much a puppy should sleep covers the puppy months week by week, and senior dog sleep changes covers the other end.

Puppy, 4–12 weeks15–20 h

Adult dog8–13.5 h

Senior dog12–15 h

06121824 h

Life stage	Sleep per 24 hours
Puppy, 4–12 weeks	15–20 h
Adult dog	8–13.5 h
Senior dog	12–15 h

Sources: The Royal Kennel Club (puppies), VCA Animal Hospitals and the Sleep Foundation (adults), American Kennel Club (seniors), as in the table above.

Why dogs sleep so much more than we do

Dogs don't sleep in one block. They take their sleep in several periods, with naps through the day, so a dog you see dozing at 11 am and again at 3 pm isn't necessarily sleeping more than normal, it is just sleeping when you happen to look. The Sleep Foundation notes that dogs need a lot more sleep than we do, and that daytime napping is normal. RSPCA NSW puts daytime naps at roughly four to six hours on top of the night.

Two things raise the total within the normal range:

• Age. Puppies and senior dogs sleep most, for opposite reasons: growth, and slowing down.
• Size. The AKC says large and giant breeds can sleep up to 18 hours a day.

A hot day, a long hike or a busy weekend with visitors will also produce a sleepy dog the next day. That is recovery, not illness.

When sleeping a lot is a warning sign

VCA Animal Hospitals make the point that the answer doesn't lie in timing total hours of sleep. What matters is behaviour. Their checklist:

• Your dog no longer wakes for its favourite triggers: the doorbell, the treat bag, the lead coming off the hook.
• It chooses sleep over dinner or play.
• It seems groggy or listless when awake instead of alert.
• Sleep changes come with other symptoms such as vomiting, coughing or hair loss. Those should always be checked.

The AKC adds a number: dogs sleeping over 20 hours a day may have an underlying medical condition, and so may a dog whose sleep pattern has clearly shifted even below that. The conditions it lists are canine cognitive dysfunction, pain and arthritis, kidney disease, hypothyroidism, heart disease and some cancers. In older dogs, hearing loss can also mean longer, uninterrupted sleep, which is harmless in itself but worth knowing about.

Signs the AKC says should prompt a vet visit: losing interest in meals, becoming less active, seeming to ignore you, not waking to sound, trouble finding a comfortable position, and sleeping in new or hard-to-reach places.

What to tell your vet

"How much is he sleeping?" is hard to answer from memory, because naps are easy to miss and a worried owner tends to overestimate. Before the appointment, keep a week of notes:

1. Hours per day, split into night sleep and daytime naps.
2. What changed and when. A gradual rise over months points one way; a change in a week points another.
3. Appetite, water and toilet habits, because the diseases on the AKC's list usually show up there too. Our guides on how much water a dog should drink and how often a dog should poop give the normal ranges.
4. Energy when awake: keen for walks, or dragging?

Most of the time the notes will show a dog well inside the normal range for its age and size, and that is the reassurance you wanted. When they don't, you have given your vet a week's evidence instead of a feeling.