Let sleeping dogs lie, literally!

Sleep is vital to our pets’ wellbeing and as pet parents, it's vital to keep a tab on our furry pals’ snooze habits.

The pandemic forced our pets to become a part of the ‘virtual office culture’— from joining water-cooler conversations with their barks and whines to appearing on Zoom meetings to even making a celebrity appearance on live TV! (The Irish President’s Bernese mountain dog did not shy away from asking for some love during his live address!) But Pippi got into no such adventures! What he succeeded in doing was to figure out a daily routine that let him sleep — a lot at times — and we are extremely proud of that.

Coming from the streets, Pippi was always on the edge and his innate guarding instinct did not help. He reacts to all kinds of sounds — vehicles, calling bells, phones and people. Our house, being on a busy street, did little to help him relax. With the ding of the city starting in the wee hours, he was up and ready to go on a barking spree that lasted until the city slept at night. For Pippi, that meant always being on his toes (or paws), increased anxiety and stress and elevated levels of adrenaline and cortisol. Instead of chilling out in our beautiful yard, he paced up and down chasing bikes and got all riled up through the day. Clearly, something had to change.

As Bengaluru slowed down with the pandemic and the streets became quieter, Pippi changed too. Since there was nothing fearful to bark at, he chose to hang out with us while we worked. Slowly but surely, he began to enjoy his siestas, however short they were. After a couple of months, he showed us he could throw up his paws in the air and sleep, with some cute snoring involved. As he slept more, he remained less edgy through the day. He eventually figured out there was an option to switch off from the world if he wanted to. Soon, he would walk up to the room as we began our workdays and sleep under the bed for a few hours.

The importance of calm

All this isn’t too surprising considering how powerful and therapeutic sleep is. Dogs are supposed to sleep for most of their days — not run around all the time like Pippi used to do in the past.

In the wild, carnivores like the big cats spend much of their days lazing around and sleeping. I have seen lions in the South African wilderness sleep with their bellies up — I was not brave enough to give them a belly rub, though! Sleep slows down our thumping heart and relaxes our tensed muscles that do all the work. Animals, especially those that hunt, have their muscles and brain worked out during a hunt and hence are tuned to sleep more to recuperate.

Unlike us, dogs and cats are crepuscular — meaning they are most active during dawn and dusk and relax during other times of the day. Hence, they need all the ‘extra’ sleep they can get, even if it means a good 16 hours! Studies show that adequate sleep boosts immunity and keeps neurological conditions like dementia at bay. Sleep also helps our body to rejuvenate and replace our workout cells, keeping us good as new, well, almost! All this translates to helping puppies, kittens and older pets get all the sleep they can to live a healthy long life.

It’s also important to consider comfort in our pets’ sleep. I don’t mean fancy beds but a cosy place for them to switch off from the world, which they can enter at their own will. Pets are also polyphasic sleepers — unlike us, they sleep in short bursts and move around quite regularly in between sleeping sessions. Pippi, for example, chooses five different surfaces to sleep on during the day — starting from a made-at-home spongy bed to the sofa. The floor is his favourite during the summer months.

Having moved to a quieter city, Pippi now sleeps for at least 15 hours a day and is too busy chasing squirrels in his dreams to make any celebrity Zoom appearances. He has finally figured out a daily schedule that includes lots of naps and we follow it to a T. My only crib — he is not a snuggle bug — but who cares!

Tailspin is your monthly column on everything that’s heartwarming and annoying about pet parenting.

The writer is a science communicator and mom to Pippi, a five-year-old rescued Indie, who is behind her drive to understand dogs better. She tweets @RamanSpoorthy