Sleepy Secrets – Some Things You May Not Know About Your Dog’s Snoozing Habits
It’s a little known fact that dogs spend more than half their life sleeping. The average dog spends 13 hours a day napping. So it is useful to know what their various sleeping habits mean.
The way that a dog circles before it goes to sleep is believed to be linked to a habit inherited from its ancient ancestor the wolf. In the wild, wolves trample down vegetation and long grass in order to make a bed for themselves. Its wolf ancestry also explains why the dog wakes up so easily when there is activity and can be snappy if woken up suddenly. The ancient wolf deep inside the dog sees this as a perceived threat and defends itself accordingly. No wonder they say let sleeping dogs lie.
As you’ll probably know, dogs will sleep in different places and in different positions.
The way a dog sleeps also varies according to temperature. Dogs will tend to curl up into a tight ball when it is cold in order to conserve body heat. You can also tell when a dog is dreaming or experiencing Rapid Eye Movement sleep. Its eyelids and whiskers may twitch.
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