I recently read a post in a puppy support group from a puppy guardian whose 16 week old puppy began waking up in the night, after not doing so for almost 2 months. This guardian was distressed at the thought of going through weeks of interrupted sleep, like when her puppy came home at 8 weeks.
This is a completely understandable reaction. The first few weeks after a new puppy comes home can be extremely stressful when their human’s lucky to get a few hours of quality sleep each night for 1-4 weeks.
If this is happening in your puppy raising adventure, please know it’s far more likely that your puppy is experiencing a growth/developmental spurt than full on regression.
Puppy growth spurts impact their behavior in a wide variety of ways. Thankfully they’re typically short lived (a few days to a week), but that doesn’t make these changes any less annoying.
My top recommendation is to establish a schedule and a routine around bedtime, and follow them religiously.
30 minutes before lights out, reduce the amount of ambient light in the room they’ll be sleeping in, and lower the volume of any devices.
Turn on a small fan on the lowest speed near the pen for airflow and white noise. Many puppies run hot overnight, in my experience, and this helps.
15 minutes before you plan to turn the lights out, go to the elimination area for the last potty. Avoid talking to your puppy (human voices excite dogs), including praise.
Once your puppy’s eliminated, go directly from the potty area to the pen for sleep.
Once they’re inside the pen, give your puppy a small chew or a lick mat with a smear of something yummy. Both chewing and licking release endorphins in the puppy brain, activating the brain’s opioid system.
At this point, human voices will erase all of your efforts. I stop talking to and around a puppy that’s sleep-bound.
This series of events are known as a behavior chain. When we’re consistent with the application, a behavior chain is comforting for puppies because they know what’s coming next. Predictability builds trust, and trust calms puppies.
If you’d like one-on-one guidance with your puppy, reach out and tell me where you’re starting from and what your goals are.
©️2026 Dee Green, SantaMonicaDogCoach.com
Dee Green has been a puppy coach and canine behavior consultant for more than 20 years. She specializes in building trust-based, cooperative relationships between guardians and puppies up to 18 months, and fearful, anxious, and reactive dogs of all ages.