I never sleep well when we have a foster dog. I am always acutely aware that there is another living creature in my house for whom I am responsible. No matter how quiet the kids may try to be if they're on overnight duty, the minute I hear a bit of dog noise I am AWAKE AWAKE AWAKE.
Before I had kids I worried that they would need me in the night and I would sleep through it. I used to be such a heavy sleeper. And now I seem to have permanent mom-ears. The click of a dog's toenail on the floor is enough to send me SPROINGING into the new day.
I assume at some point I would get used to this, if we were to adopt a permanent dog. Mickey has been a little more wakeful at night than most of our other foster dogs. If he's sleeping upstairs, where it's hotter, he wants to get a drink toward morning and then go back to sleep. I don't know if it has to do with being 50 or if I have somehow broken something in my brain, but I can't really go back to sleep these days. I hear him come downstairs and it's as if a bugle chorus, a hundred members strong, just played reveille in my bedroom.
Nobody would own a dog if this were a permanent state of affairs, right? How long does it take to go away? Our longest foster stays were 3.5 weeks, and that wasn't long enough for my brain to settle down.
It’s also not long enough for a dog to settle down, especially one who has been uprooted from the familiar. If you adopt, the likelihood is that you and the dog will settle, learn each other’s routines, and adapt to a new, shared rhythm. It might take a while, like months before you’re fully settled, but it won’t take THAT long to start breathing easier. More than 3.5 weeks though.
Posted by: Maria | June 19, 2021 at 01:17 AM
If you adopt your own dog, it will depend on the age of the dog. A puppy will take longer; they have to go out frequently. An older dog would take less time to settle in but still have a period of adjustment. When we adopted our now 13 year old mix, he was about 8 months. He took about 3 months of settling in. He needed that time to feel secure and attached to us.
Fast forward to this past April when he became ill. A few things going on, but one that had us taking turns to get him out 4x a night. Wow, what a way to realize how much sleep you’re actually getting and a stark realization of why children arrive when you’re younger. I am thrilled he is back to sleeping all night. But, if not for him right next to my bed, he wouldn’t have been able to nose me awake to take him out.
He is better, but I can see the beginning of sunset and it makes me sad.
Posted by: Lynn | June 19, 2021 at 06:24 PM