The “Witching Hour” Many owners find that 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. bring out the worst in their puppies! If you know that a particular time of day prompts crazy biting, do your best to manage/prevent the behaviour and engage your puppy otherwise.
And puppies are especially crazy during the Witching Hours: roughly between 5-8pm every night. It's 100% normal and common.
First of all, it's their body clock. Dogs and even more notably cats, are crepuscular. Which means they nap during the day and the night and then are most active in the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset.
Insufficient mental stimulation
If your dog's mind isn't sufficiently stimulated during the day, he may get the zoomies. Not having mentally challenging exercises during the day set him up for night-time zoomies.
Dogs are more prone to zoomies after periods of inactivity or long periods of sleep, particularly in the morning or evening when they may have built up pent-up energy.
Zoomies also happen quite often at night. Especially with puppies who have been crated all day or have not been given enough opportunities to exercise. As soon as they get the chance to run around, they take it. Even adult dogs get the zoomies, although the younger the dog the more frequently it seems to occur.
Your puppy will need regular physical and mental exercise. If they are not receiving enriching walks and mental stimulation, this can trigger the witching hour or make it worse. While there are debates about how long you should exercise your puppy, try to focus on quality and not quantity.
The “Witching Hour”
This includes using baby gates to manage her movement, taking her for a walk or playing with toys in the yard, giving her a stuffed Kong or more active foodstuffed toy such as a Tricky Treat Ball, or arranging a play-date with a dog who wants to play with her.
By petting or massaging your dog in a calming way, you can help their muscles relax. In order to fully calm them down, it is best to avoid any more excited petting that could make them less tired. Instead, focus on long and soft pets through their fur.
It typically occurs daily between 5:00 pm and 11:00 pm. It can last a few minutes to a couple of hours. For most babies, the witching hour starts to occur around 2-3 weeks and peaks at 6 weeks. It will typically completely resolve by 3-4 months.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PUPPIES IN THE 4-7 MONTHS AGE GROUP
Around the 4-5 month age pups get quite naughty (cheeky), they have worked you out by now and know how to get around you and they begin to ignore your instructions.
For some babies, this fussy period only lasts for a short time but for others it can go on and on…and on. A baby's witching hours usually occur in the early evening from around 5pm and can last until as late as 11pm.
They are TIRED. Being overtired is one of the most common reasons we see puppies exhibit overly bitey and nippy behavior. Young puppies need 16-18 hours of sleep each day.
Dogs mark their territories, and by howling or crying at night, they might be trying to inform their companions or other dogs about their whereabouts. A dog's cry can also be understood as a sign of alertness to its owners about outside threats or trespassers.
Your dog may not look at the clock but most dogs do know when it is dinner time or time to go for a walk. How do they do this? All animals have a circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are the physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a 24 hour cycle, responding to light and dark in the animal's environment.
Generally, puppies start to calm down when they reach emotional maturity — around 1 year old. However, some dog breeds take longer to reach adulthood and emotional maturity.
Usually, it should be an hour or two before you go to bed, in my home, we're usually in bed at 10/11pm, so our dogs typically settle themselves down at 8 or 9pm. For a puppy? That might be a little earlier, so around 7 or 8 pm would be ideal.
Raised hackles are an undeniable physical sign of your dog's discomfort. Pacing: Your pet might walk back and forth nervously if feeling stressed. Shaking or trembling: This behavior is an obvious sign of dog stress. Whining, barking, or growling: Your pet will often “talk” to you when feeling uncomfortable.
Adjust their schedule.
If your pet is constantly waking you up at 3 am because they are hungry, then adjusting their feeding schedule can help them sleep throughout the night. Or your dog may be waking you up because they have to go outside to use the bathroom.
They need to be taught how to be independent slowly. We would never recommend ignoring your puppy when they cry at night, especially in their first few nights. Firstly, they may need the toilet, so it's important to take them out to check.
The second night should already be better. Most pups will cry for around half the time. By the third night it should be just a few hours, and an average pup is quiet for the fourth. Once they are settled, you will actually need to go in at least once overnight to take them out to toilet!
Add a feeding or cluster feeding
Adding in a scheduled feeding or cluster feeding a bit before bedtime can help avoid the excessive crying of the witching hour. If you're feeding on demand, babies often want to cluster feed during the witching hour.
Zoomies aren't actually bad
Give the dog time to run around, but make sure there's time set aside for training. Zoomies mean your dog is happy and wants to be interactive, and there's nothing wrong with that.
When it is too hot to walk your dog during the day, change your routine to go for a walk in the early morning or late evening, when it's cooler. The best times are usually before 8am and after 8pm, however there may be days where it is still too hot at these times, in which case, it is best not to go for a walk.