greyhoundqs

Yes, she's definitely a puppy! We kind of expected that going in, but she's been well-behaved so far -- just energetic and loves to run. She has plenty of toys -- plush toys and puzzle toys and "fetch" toys -- so I think she's using a good amount of mental and physical energy indoors and in the yard, given that its been below freezing basically the entire time we've had her. We have a big enough yard for her to get up to speed and tire herself out -- usually 4 or 5 laps and then it's nap time. I think she's lazier than most 2-year-olds, but still certainly more energetic than an older dog! Once it warms up and she can be comfortable on walks again, we will definitely do more of those. Thanks for the advice!

Yes, I've never looked forward to Daylight Savings Time day before, but I'm thinking that will help her a lot! The sweater did seem to make a difference, but I think we are also going to try to force her to eat a bit more regularly like you suggested. Her last trip outside is already around 11:00 or so, moments before we go upstairs for bed, so it would be hard to push that further back... Thank you so much for all the ideas -- we're going to experiment with them over the weekend and hopefully figure this out!

We tried leaving her sweater on overnight in case she was cold (easiest suggestion to start with). I didn't think she was cold, because she has blankets but always ignores them, and she doesn't seem to get cold outside even in what I'd consider chilly outside weather (she'll go lay in the yard even when it's 40 degrees out). But!! She slept through the night successfully! I'm not sure if she was truly cold for the last two weeks, or if she just was calmed by having the sweater on, but either way -- thank you to everyone who suggested pajamas!! We will definitely be patient with her while she deals with hookworm treatment. It's good to know she's not the only greyhound to get restless after taking her medicine. Poor girl...it sounds very uncomfortable. Thanks to everyone who shared advice!

We adopted a two-year-old girl in January. She's been wonderful so far and we love her, but she's recently had a change in her sleep pattern that is causing difficulties. For the first month and a half, she slept soundly through the night. For the last two weeks, she's woken up once each night between 2 am and 5 am, whining or sticking her nose in your face to ask to go out. If you ignore her, she'll bark until someone takes her out. She sleeps in our upstairs bedroom, so when she wakes us up, we always take her straight downstairs and to the door, and she goes outside for 3-5 minutes, then almost always comes right back upstairs with us and goes right to sleep. We both work during the day, so we can't keep waking up in the middle of the night, and we are at a loss for what is causing her to do this. Nothing has really changed in her routine. She seems to *only* want to go outside, not to play or eat, so it seems like a bad idea to just ignore her. So far, we've tried making sure the curtains are fully closed, taking her out multiple times before bed, and going out with her to make sure she isn't eating something that will upset her stomach. I've read online that waking up can be a sign that they are hungry, but she's a grazer and there's food in her bowl almost at all times -- it's not like she wakes up and instantly wants to scarf down some breakfast, or finishes dinner at 6 and doesn't eat again for 12+ hours. I don't *think* it's a medical issue, because she's crated for 9-10 hours while we are at work and she hasn't had an accident since her first week with us. (And she's not typically anxious/impatient when we check in on her camera -- she seems happy to nap in her crate for that amount of time). It's way too cold to go for actual walks right now, but we do play with her in the yard and she does zoomies every day until she gets cold, plus we encourage her to play with her toys indoors as well. She is being treated by her vet for a minor ear infection (ear drops) plus hookworms (pyrantel), and the waking up did start within about 3 days of giving her the hookworm treatment, but I don't see that listed as a side effect anywhere. We're going to ask him about it when we go for her followup visit in a couple days, just to make sure it's not medical, but I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced a weird change in sleep patterns with a young dog, or if anyone has any ideas about how we can correct it.