If your puppy won’t settle and seems to have two speeds, full sprint or flat out asleep, with nothing calm in between, you’re not doing anything wrong. Most puppies genuinely don’t know how to settle yet. Settling is a skill. Just like sit or come. And like most skills, your puppy needs someone to actually teach it to them rather than picking it up by accident.
New dog owners often assume that if a puppy is tired enough, they’ll calm down on their own. In practice, the opposite often happens. A puppy who’s overtired gets wired instead of sleepy, the same way an overtired toddler gets louder and more chaotic instead of drowsy. More zoomies, more mouthing, more barking at nothing in particular. If your evenings feel like your puppy is bouncing off the walls right when you want to relax, overtiredness is usually part of the story.
What’s actually going on
Puppies are born without much capacity to regulate their own arousal. Their brains are still developing the pathways that let an adult dog notice they’re tired and choose to lie down. Add in a nervous system that’s picking up every sound, smell and movement in a brand new environment, and you’ve got a puppy who’s constantly switched on because switching off hasn’t been learned yet.
This is part of why so many puppies seem to get worse in the evening, right when everyone in the house wants some peace. It’s often the point in the day when tiredness has built up without ever being allowed to turn into rest.
Teaching settle instead of waiting for it
Rather than hoping your puppy tires themselves out, it helps to build rest into the day the same way you’d build in meals or toilet breaks.
Give naps somewhere boring. A crate, a pen, or a quiet corner with a chew, away from the main action of the house. Puppies often can’t settle in the middle of the lounge room because there’s too much happening to watch.
Practise calm on purpose. Sit near your puppy while they chew or rest and don’t ask anything of them. No cues, no play, no fuss. This teaches them that being near you doesn’t always mean something exciting is about to happen.
Watch for the early tired signs. Softer play, slower zoomies, more mouthing than usual. These often show up before the meltdown stage, and catching them early makes it much easier to guide your puppy into a nap before things spiral. You’ll soon notice your puppy has a bit of a time schedule too. After 2 hours of morning play and exploring the yard, they will often be ready for a nap. And the same again in the afternoon after some lunchtime fun.
Keep evenings predictable. Even a short wind down routine gives your puppy something to expect instead of something to react to.
It gets easier
Most owners find the constant hum of energy eases as the nervous system matures, often somewhere around the time the worst of the biting and teething settles too. Exhausting your puppy into stillness was never really the aim. Showing them what settling actually feels like, often enough that it becomes familiar, is what gets you there.
If you’d like some structure around this, our Puppy Training program includes a full learning theme built specifically around teaching dogs to relax and switch off, alongside the rest of the early life skills that make the puppy months easier for both of you.
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If you’re also curious what else you can do to tire out your puppy’s body and mind, our free 10 Day Dog’s Perspective Agility Challenge is a fun way to start exploring agility together at home, no equipment needed and puppies can join in at any age!
Join the free challenge: Start the Dog’s Perspective Agility Challenge
