How much do dogs sleep?

My dogs sleep a lot.  A really lot.  So I decided to see if I could find the real answer to "how much do dogs sleep?" According to Sleep and Dreams in Dogs and Cats:

Under controlled laboratory conditions both cats and dogs sleep about 13 hours per day but they wake up more frequently than people do.

According to Planet Dog:

• Adult dogs spend approximately half their life sleeping,   typically 12 hours a day.

• Some breeds need more sleep than others –   as much as 18 hours per day! (typically larger breeds).

I think mine sleep more than average - closer to the 18 hour limit.  They sleep 8 hours a night with us.  They sleep while we read or watch TV in the evening.  And they sleep all day if we leave them inside.  I'd bet they are only awake 4-5 hours a day during a normal day.

How much do your dogs sleep?

See reader comments at the original post location.

Photo by mikecpeck.

Comments

[veronica]

thanks for answering my question, i was getting worried about my dog because he's fat and old now. he sleeps when we leave, he sleeps when im on the computer and watching tv, hes only up 2 hours to play and when he has to pee or when we are eating dinner

[Christian]

Yes that makes sense. They sleep a lot because of course they can't read along with us or watch TV with us so they don't have a choice haha... Thanks for the article.

[DKamath]

We have a dog that is getting old. She is alone at home for about 7 hours when we go to work. She sleeps then. But at night she
wants to get out of the house 3 -4 times a night which means we do not get a good nights rest at all. Any suggestions please.