# How much should a 4 month old sleep?



## Rkaymay (May 12, 2014)

Zelda had to have forced naps at 4 months old, either a long one or 2-3 short ones. She also slept until 11/12 every day because I had class. So she probably slept 15-16 hours a day, sometimes less, not usually more.


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

"So now I am wondering if instead of waiting for the craziness I should be putting him on some kind of enforced napping schedule during the day to head off the crazies before they start. Left to his own devices he simply does not nap much - he is too curious about everything that is going on around him and wakes anytime my husband or I are moving around the house."
*Each pup is an individual so your pup may need 20 hours or 16 hours etc. You will have to learn by trial and error and as the pup gets older it will most likely need less. Normal for adult dogs is around 13 hours give or take. 
I believe in a schedule with lots of nap times. These pups bodies are growing by leaps and bounds and those sleep times helps to reduce the stress on their little bodies. Many pups will not choose to sleep when there is activity around them. The world is such an exciting place. As the day wears on they can become way over stimulated and end up having quite a few melt downs. By having a routine with naps involved it helps to limit those melt downs. When pups are over stimulated they just can't learn during that time so it sets them up to make inappropriate choices. It seems lots of people don't like to confine their dogs unless they really have to giving the pups way to much freedom to learn bad habits vs just slowly building good habits.


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