Calming Dog Treats

TNDancer

Hey y'all,

We have a rescued yorkie mix. In the past two months or so she has not been able to sleep through the night. She is restless, running around the room. She also wakes us up around 3 or 4 to go to the bathroom. Per the vet, there is nothing medically wrong with her.

Does anyone have suggestions to help her sleep better? We have tried removing her water after a certain time at night, and walking to try and tire her out. I have recently been hearing about these calming dog treats, but don't know if that's really a good way to go. Has anyone tried them?

labro

We gave our dog Composure treats on a long car ride. The treats were recommended and sold to us by our vet. She's pretty high energy and we knew it would be tough for her to handle a 10 hour drive even with plenty of potty and play breaks.

The treats definitely worked, she stayed calmed and snoozed most of the time. There was a minor side effect though, she had pretty loose stools for a day afterwards.

lyndausvi

Sorry, I'm no help.    See my siggy?  Yeah he will sleep some 12 hours.  We pretty much have to drag him out of bed in the morning.

Our non-bulldog rescue puts himself to bed after his final bathroom break for the night.  Then he goes to the stairs.  Gives a nod as to say "good night" and then goes to bed.

kaos16

in lieu of drugging the dog at night, have you thought about maybe trying to retrain her.  Perhaps crating her at night so she can't run around or won't want to pee.  

When we first got our dog, a rescue, he would wake up at like 5-5:30 am and I would go downstairs and take him out.  I started just waiting longer and longer before responding and now he doesn't budge until 6:30-7 depending on when we go to sleep at night.

MairePoppy

I have two basset hounds who are trying to out snore each other on the couch right now.  

How old is your yorkie? 

peachy13

I've never used calming dog treats, but one sure way to get our dog to sleep well is to poop her out during the day -- playing with other dogs, going on hikes, going for a jog, etc. 

Is your dog a puppy? It could be an age thing. Most puppies are pretty hyper.

TNDancer

We think she is six. It is weird, because we have had her nearly 2 years, and it is just now an issue.

I did read that I could crate her at night, but she is crated during the day and I would feel so mean to put her back. I am trying to find new dog gates so she can run around in the kitchen during the day. She was able to jump over the ones we used to have (no idea how).

ShesSoCold

kaos16 said:

in lieu of drugging the dog at night, have you thought about maybe trying to retrain her.  Perhaps crating her at night so she can't run around or won't want to pee.  

When we first got our dog, a rescue, he would wake up at like 5-5:30 am and I would go downstairs and take him out.  I started just waiting longer and longer before responding and now he doesn't budge until 6:30-7 depending on when we go to sleep at night.

To the bolded - yes. Plus what everyone else said about wearing her out during the day.

Also, I've never had a small dog, but tiny dog = tiny bladder. Middle of the night potty breaks may be necessary for her, unfortunately.

thefanciestbeckler

kaos16 said:

in lieu of drugging the dog at night, have you thought about maybe trying to retrain her.  Perhaps crating her at night so she can't run around or won't want to pee.  

I am in 100% agreement with this. DH and I use wire crates for our dogs at night, which they seem to like as opposed to the plastic ones that feel really closed in.

My mom has a high-energy maltipoo who loves to run around, and he sleeps in a wire crate at night as well. There may be a little adjustment period for the dog if she's never slept in a crate before, but in the end it is worth getting to sleep through the night!

JediElizabeth

My mom has a very high strung Shepard mix, and usually needs calming treats whenever my mom is out of the house for more that 2-3 hours at a time. (She became very attached when mom had cancer and was home 24/7, and is now sometimes scared to let her out of her sight.)

We use Pet Naturals Claming treats for her, but we try to use them sparingly because she gets kinda dopey on them. I'd start with something like this + crate training, then ease her off of them as she gets used to the crate.

badbnagdway

TNDancer said:

We think she is six. It is weird, because we have had her nearly 2 years, and it is just now an issue.

I did read that I could crate her at night, but she is crated during the day and I would feel so mean to put her back. I am trying to find new dog gates so she can run around in the kitchen during the day. She was able to jump over the ones we used to have (no idea how).

If she is crate trained and is calm in her crate during the day she likely wouldn't mind being crated at night. Our female dog was a stray when we got her and she was extremely easy to crate train because she's so food motivated. She eventually graduated (when her peeing accidents were under control) to being lose in the bathroom where we keep her crate but I think she sits in there a lot of the day and never views it as punishment to be put in the crate. She loves her crate and it is her space. If there are fire works or thunderstorms she goes and hides in there. She sleeps in the bed with us most nights but if I put her in the crate instead she is never upset about it.