Hi.
Our three and a half year old black labrador "Bonnie" sleeps too much in my opinion.
Lately i have been off work due to a collar bone injury. I have noticed that she sleeps, between the hours of 8am and 5pm. Roughly 6 hours asleep. She comes to life from 4.30pm onwards as the wife finishes work at 5pm.

After 8pm she dozes and its bed at 10pm.

When i am in work we obviously don't see this patern. She has been in season some 2 weeks ago, so do not think this is a factor. She is certainly not distructive.......never been actually even as a puppy.

My daughter is always saying she is too soft. She has a very gentle nature but is aloof with strangers to the point of being very nervous. (Particularly Men) She is a pedigree, we have had her from a pup. She is small for her breed being 22kg in weight.

I have read the trials and tribulations of owners who leave their pet at home and return to carnage, due to boredom.
I am concerned that Bonnie's boredom is manifested in excessive sleeping.

Am i over reacting in my opinion.
Any constructive answers would be greatfully appreciated.
Thanx.
Dai.

Sounds normal to me, unless my lot are out for a walk or ahving a game they sleep and doze most of the day. :D  What did you think she did when you weren't there in the day??  they don't read books or watch TV and there is a limit to the amount of bone chewing any do would indulge in alone, adn unless there is another dog to play with no=one to interact with.

Thanx for the prompt reply.
What did i expect her to be doing all day???
Sleeping yes. I also thought she would be more mobile within the home and not so much of the sleeping though.
She sleeps at the foot of the bed and voices her request to go to bed, of an evening. As i am home,she has "voiced" this request during the day, which i find quite concerning. Although she feels it is quite natural i suppose.

Ah well, she is healthy and thats ok.

Dai.

Hi Dai, If there are no medical problems then I don't think you have much to worry about. At 3.5 years she is now in a mature stage and it is not unusual for dogs to sleep this length of time, IF it is normal practice.

My adult labs sleep from around 9am after walks and breakfast till around 4pm, with the occasional rouse from slumber to see if they have missed anything or if pups disturb them, but on the whole they probably sleep for 4/5 hours. Then sleep from around 7pm till around 11, for some reason this is playtime in my house and a mad half hour starts without fail. Then its bed around midnight till about 6am. So yes, unless I am actually doing something with each of them, ie; individual training, walking or eating, they sleep. 

I have to say that she does seem very small for a Lab and I would be concerned at the aloofness and nervousness.  Labradors are by nature very people orientated and should show no signs of nervousness at all.  But I am not an expert on behaviour so I will not comment further on this.

If there are no health issues relating to the sleep patterns, then look at her other behaviour. When awake, is she alert and bright. Does she follow you in case she misses out on something, Does she enjoy her walks. Are you training her, brainwork is very tiring, more so than a long walk. Is she stimulated in other ways. Does she like to play games, retrieve etc.

If other Lab owners say it's normal then I wouldn't worry too much, but I would have thought dogs would not literally sleep all day - they would break it up by maybe looking out the window, chewing a chew toy, moving around the home a bit etc. Perhaps she has got herself into a habit :)

It may be worth a chat with the vet, because lethargic behaviour and nervousness can be a symptom of hypothyroid.
If you do a search for more info on tne internet, you will discover that some dogs show hardly any symptoms and some dogs show several; some dogs show hardly any at all! It's just a thought but if it was me I'd probably look into it. Many vets are not that good at diagnosing the problem, or reading the results after the test, esp. if dogs show up borderline hypothyroid, so IMO a bit of research is necessary. The vet will need to do a 6 panel test - this examines the dog's thyroid feedback system. For more info, check out

www.doggiedoor.com/forums.archive.index.php/t-560.html
www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/behaviourandthyroid.htm

I'm not trying to worry you (thyroid problems can be treated anyway)but just trying to offer some kind of suggestion :)

Lindsay
X

I don't have labs so can't comment on them - but my two certainly don't sleep if there is someone home. They are constantly depositing balls etc at our feet - nudging them nearer if no-one plays and trying generally to get noticed so that a game may follow :) Trying to do anything while they are around with those eyes looking at you is difficult - even though we do ignore them most of the time - but they are always hopeful :) Even if they have been out for a long walk and a long game of ball, they are still ready to play :)

Daisy

This may depend on the breed.  I have had a herding breed and now a hunting breed.  They are totaly different at home, but both very energetic when on walks.  My current breed basically do sleep/doze/laze around for the greater part of any day.  I am mostly home except when I am out with them, and they get left at home alone if I go somewhere where they can't go.

They get up at 7am, when they can go out in the garden and stay in the kitchen until the rest of the household are ready for breakfast at 8am or later at weekends, during this time they have a game with each other.

8.30 Let them into the living room where mad games with each other ensue until told to pack it in by my grumpy offspring, so they make do with some petting sessions with the humans that are still home or a goodby pat from those leaving (in tha past they would then have walked the kids to school with me).

Sometime during the morning they will go out for at least an hours walk, but usually 2.

Back home crash out and doze until Tea Time, watching my doings move when I vaccum or go into kitchen, alert if the doorbell goes.  When  they have eaten their supper have Evening Mad half hour. 

Spend rest of the Evening lazing about watching the people in the house, chewing a bone, having a cuddle and the older ones sleeping.  Any pup or youngster will invite the others to play.  Chances are there will be another walk in the offing if I need to run an errand to the shops/takeaway or just fancy one.  If the dogs are restless then they get taken for a walk, but that is rare unless we have had several days of only short boring walks like when we have girls in season with no free running.

Bed at around Midnight.

They are not the dog to run up and down for no reason at home unlike my freinds Border Collies who if not taken out would still excersise them selves, mine simply would not unless taken out.  My freinds has one of mine and she looks on the Border Collies antics as if they had gone mad, she certainly would not play with a ball, and won't do a retrieve more than twice.  she will chew on her bones while they run around doing Border collie Things, but on walks she ranges much further than they do investigating all the smells, while the collies run abak and forth to their owner with a ball.  she will run back to her Mum if she thinks she will get a treat, otherwise she keeps and ey on her and appears close by when she is alerted to the fact that thye are going home.

>and won't do a retrieve more than twice.

Lol! Another breed that's too clever to find retrieving interesting! Bright enough to work out that if a person throws something away after the dog's kindly rescued the item from being lost, then they obviously don't want it. Only a fool (in their opinion) would keep bringing back something that clearly wasn't wanted.
:)

>if a person throws something away after the dog's kindly rescued the item from being lost, then they obviously don't want it. Only a fool (in their opinion) would keep bringing back something that clearly wasn't wanted.

My Labs have taken complete umbridge at that lol :D

Lol! When we had a lab as well as the dals, they'd point at her and laugh when she retrieved stuff - then mug her and make off with it when she got back to us ... she got very miffed!
:D :D

Well thanx to all the people who replied. We are more happier now.

Bonnie is certainly "alive" if a walk or training is ongoing.

She is one chilled babe.

Health wise in my opinion she is ok.

Thanx once again.

Dai.

We go to bed about midnight, other half gets up at 5.30 and me and my scottie stay sleeping.  I usually get up about 9 and although Millie has been much better lately, getting up about 10am, I would say that 11.30am to 12.30 is the norm, however she has been known to sleep till 4 or 5pm, sometimes not getting out of bed (i.e. my bed!) until she hears other half arriving home at 5.30pm.  As soon as she gets up and has had a wee, she'll get in her downstairs bed and sleep again, and sleep for most of the evening unless there's food activities going on.  I have to say it did worry me when she started staying upstairs in bed till 4pm, not even getting up for a wee even though she hadn't been since the night before - but last Friday my sister came and kidnapped her for a sleepover.  First thing next morning we got a text from her husband asking if Millie has a job in the city that she needs to be up for - she'd had the whole household up since 6am that morning (Saturday!) and had been non-stop on the go ever since.  So its just because here she's home in familiar surroundings, with no other dogs to excite, when she stays at my sisters, she wakes up, sees Max (her favouritest dog in the whole world) and can't contain her excitement.  So I wouldn't worry too much, it used to worry me now I just accept that Millie likes her sleep but would be just as active as other people's dogs if she lived in a two dog (or more) household.

My two young pups 21m and 18 wks (on Tues) run around the garden from around 8.00am until tea time except for walks and meals times they dont stop it its unusual to see them lying down if they not running they are digging  or <lumberjacking> I'd wonder what was wrong if they sat quietly I have my own agility equipment jumps weave long jump etc....which I tire them out on  They do fall asleep about 9.00pm then at least I can watch the tv in peace.(They are Beardies bye the way)