I dread 9pm… when my perfectly wonderful puppy turns into a demon straight from Hell

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isabelle_88

New member
Seriously. Since I brought him home at the end of March, the MOMENT the clock strikes 9, he changes. He goes from mouthy playfulness to breaking skin. Completely and utterly relentless.

It doesn’t matter what we did that day. It doesn’t matter if it was a lazy day or a jam-packed exhausting day. It doesn’t matter if I “encourage” it (thinking he has steam to blow off) or ignore it.

He suddenly becomes incapable of putting himself down. I know this can be a problem with puppies but all day long, he will take a nap when he needs a nap. But come anything after 9, he will play until I realize he’s truly exhausted and I hit the light—and he immediately passes out (on lucky nights).

Last night, we were watching tv in bed. At 8:57 he was asleep and I thought wow! maybe he’ll stay asleep. Nope. I kid you not, 9:01 he woke up and charged me. I was continuously putting myself in time-outs from his biting. After one time-out, he actually peed right next to his grass pad. He doesn’t miss his grass pad. From the day I brought him home, if he sees it, he uses it. It felt like a “f u” from my 4.6lb monster.

I finally decided okay, bed time, I can’t take this. While getting into bed, he bit my thumb HARD. I immediately just started sobbing. I was done. I cried for ten minutes, all the while he did his sweet “omg mom is crying I should excite her” leaps around my face. When I laid down and turned off the light, he curled right up and chewed his bully stick until he fell asleep.

HDKSLSNHAHDOFNAGHAJDK.
 
@isabelle_88 Have you tried putting him to bed earlier? Mine usually goes to bed at 8pm, which seems earlier than a lot of other puppies I read about on here, but it suits him and I rarely get the biting anymore.
 
@imagebeastmarkbeast I have, but then he was waking up ready for the day at 3am. I’d love to let him bark it out at 3, but even my completely understanding neighbors would probably be livid at that (apartment-dweller here). I pretty quickly nudged it to 9:30-10 but clearly that’s not working out.
 
@isabelle_88 This is the issue we have with our pup. We’ve started feeding ours another meal around this time and whilst it doesn’t fix the issue, it does definitely help. We do training until he stops paying attention (about 20 mins) and then we feed him. It’s working out ok for us.
 
@isabelle_88 Ah yes, mine used to wake up at 3am too... I would let him in bed with me then he'd go back to sleep until 6-7am. Now he sleeps in the crate until 5am (and still comes into my bed after). Obviously that's not for everyone.
 
@isabelle_88 Our corgi often needs a little 'me time' in the crate after supper. He falls asleep between 7 and eight, but a little breather after the zoomies helps make him a more palatable family member.
 
@imagebeastmarkbeast This is the same time for my pup. You can almost set your watch on him whining to go to bed at 8 pm. He will grab his blanky and walk straight to our bed and flop down. Doesn’t care what we are doing cause he’s going to bed lol
 
@imagebeastmarkbeast My 12 week old goes to bed at 8 too. She stays in the crate until about 7 am and sleeps all the way through.. I tried keeping her up the other night to “cuddle” (I’m dreaming, I know) and she charged my face and slit my nostril on one of her razor sharp baby teeth. Epic cuddle fail.
 
@imagebeastmarkbeast We put our puppy to bed by 8 up until he was about 5 months. Now (6 months) he goes around 8:30-9. I also felt like I was putting him to bed way earlier than most people on this sub. He sleeps until 6:30ish am which is perfect timing for us during the week (but super annoying on the weekends).
 
@isabelle_88 My 10 month old hound does this too. It was worse last month but it still happens every night between 8:30—9 pm. I call it puppy witching hour and it's a sure sign he's overtired and it's time for crate and bed. Once I figured out why it was happening and what to do it got much easier for me to enforce bedtime. He might hate me that moment but a few minutes when he's fast asleep and not going crazy it's worth it.
 
@juelrei Overtired is the key here. When puppies start acting like overtired toddlers, that's how they need to be treated. Put to bed and all attempts by them for "just a few minutes, read me a story, I need a drink of water" should be met calmly but firmly, by returning them to bed.
 
@cubus123 By 5 1/2 months terrier puppy is the same way. I put her to bed at 8o’clock sharp every night, because that’s what she starts to get insane. Goes in the crate and immediately falls asleep.
 
@cubus123 Seriously, I'm convinced my puppy just has severe FOMO and forces himself to stay awake long past when he needs to rest because God forbid he miss out on anything fun. I haven't been able to convince him that humans have to do boring things like laundry and cleaning sometimes and I'd rather him sleep while I get it done so we both have time and energy to play later.

But forcing bedtime and ignoring the cries got so much easier when I learned why it was happening. He'll be mad at first but he'll thank me later when he has energy to go back to the dog park the next day.
 
@juelrei Maybe puppies have a cranky time like human infants do. I remember both of my children, I had them bathed, nursed them again, then each at the same time every night. For my son it was 7:30pm. He screamed no matter what I did. I changed up the routine to bathe him at 7:30. The warm water soothed him, after nursing him one last time, I put him in his swing to fall asleep. This minor change let him sleep through the night. For a puppy, try giving him more exercise before feeding him supper. Do not try to tire him out before bed, this just riled him up more. Take him outside one last time, let him run around. Put him in his playpen with a bully stick and leave him be. He will settle down and sleep.
 
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