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

[juelrei]

@neogenesis92 I do this evening walk before dinner most nights and it works. He's doing well now but it took me a few weeks to figure out the pattern. I'm convinced he's just afraid of missing out on fun and tries to stay awake far too long. I'm waiting for him to finally figure out humans have to do boring things sometimes and he won't miss out if he naps and saves his energy for when we do have time for something fun.

 

[rachelcheyenne]

@juelrei Wow that explains a lot. My girl will chill with me and nap while I game, but the second I'm up for a drink or to get ready for bed(literally anywhere between 9-11) she freaks out and is running around like a super insane crazy pants puppy. Luckily she never bites too hard. Just play bitting. But I'm still trying to get her to not use me as a chew toy.

 

[surrendermyheart]

@juelrei I have a hound too, that also goes nuts around 9:00pm. But in her case I think she may smell deer outside.

I've mostly seen her go insane at that time if the windows to the back are open, or if I just happen to be taking her out around that time.

 

[juelrei]

@surrendermyheart I live in the city so there aren't many deer by me. Although my pup has next to no prey drive considering he's a hound. I got him as a rescue after he failed hunting training on the farm he was on. He could care less about squirrels and birds, he likes to chase lizards but has never caught one (we live in Florida so there are lizards everywhere). He shows interest in cats and possums but I can generally redirect him. He bays but generally only at other dogs and human children (who find it hilarious) as his way of asking to play.

 

[feargod102501]

@isabelle_88 My puppy dies that same thing at 8:00. After months of crate training, relaxation training, every kind of training I could imagine, the only thing that has helped is a thundershirt. It instantly calms his overstimulation and he goes right to sleep!

 

[isabelle_88]

@feargod102501 I will check this out!

 

[nhwarmbythefire]

@isabelle_88 I'm sorry to hear this, puppies are adorable demons when they are tired. I am assuming this is for both venting and for advice, so here is my advice:
Send puppy to bed at 8:45 in their crate/playpen. Doesn't matter if they are being good or different, make a routine of it for a few weeks, and then try not putting them to bed at this time. They might fall asleep on their own (this is how it went with my pup)

 

[isabelle_88]

@nhwarmbythefire Love this advice! Thank you!

 

[burks_patrick]

@isabelle_88 Can I piggy back on getting advise with this too? My 8 month old pup goes insane from 6-9pm. He tends to want to sleep at 10pm but those hours before are absolutely horrible. I’m seeing a lot of recommendations for putting to bed earlier, here’s the thing, he consistently wants to sleep at 10. He has dinner around 5. And right before that he’s napping in his crate maybe from around 3-5pm. Does he need another nap after dinner before bed time?? Will that fix this ???

 

[loyola]

@burks_patrick We started doing a pre-night nap from 6:30-7:30. Puppy goes to bed at 8:30. It just wasn’t possible to try and keep him awake until 8:30 without him turning into a bitey gremlin. We let him have his little cat nap and it’s working a lot better and has absolutely no impact on him going to bed & sleeping his normal 8-9 hours (with a potty break)

 

[godslovewillblesstheworld]

@loyola I second this - we do a pre bed nap at around 7 for an hour and then wake him up again - he still is snoozy and tends to doze on us until we go to bed at around 11 and sleeps through till 7

 

[aquahemo]

@burks_patrick

Is he getting enough exercise during the day? My 7+month old pup (of which we rescued when he was just about 6 months old) used to be super hyper, but after we started taking him out on walks and exercising/playing with neighbor's dogs, he just gets knocked out soon after he gets home

 

[neogenesis92]

@burks_patrick Exercise him more between 3 and 6 pm, feed him, take him out then put him in his play pen with a chew toy, chewing toys are stress relievers. It surely sounds like being over tired.

 

[winston87]

@isabelle_88 Crate training will help, when my pup gets over tired he gets bitey and generally mischievous and the more he gets over stimulated the harder he finds it to switch off.

Now he takes himself into his crate to sleep when he's tired but it took some positive reinforcement with his crate to he happy in there.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@winston87 Was gonna say that it doesn’t sound like OP is using a crate unless I missed something. Honestly would have lost my mind without a crate at this point haha.

 

[winston87]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Same here haha. I've got 2 children so I wanted our pup to have somewhere that was his to chill in without being disturbed.

 

[laurence10]

@isabelle_88 Put him in the playpen with a long. Don’t give him the opportunity to go crazy. After that, it’s time for bed in his crate.

 

[risensoldier]

@isabelle_88 I HIGHLY recommend lickimats for pups who can’t calm themselves down. My dog used to have a witching hour right at 6pm, and we started giving her a lickimat at like 5:55 and it seemed to help her calm herself down. They are great and it helps your pup calm down since licking is soothing!

 

[isabelle_88]

@risensoldier Ohhhh I hadn’t thought of utilizing one like this. Checking it out!

 

[channtheman]

@risensoldier I second this. Makes our pup manageable during witching hours. Still can become a demon, but then have her lick and she chills out for a bit. Might become a demon again in 20 minutes if we don’t time things super well but at least her calm lasts for a bit either way.