Sleeping too hard?

[sweet_ceana]

Little miss Sita scared the crap out of me last night.

 

She is about 16 months old now and the weather is starting to cool, so we have begun getting back into, and Sita for the first time, 9 mile hike shape. The summer weather is so hot here that there really isn't away to keep up the dogs' stamina in the warmer months. Last night was a 4 mile walk. This was the longest walk Sita has ever taken. She got tired, but my little tubby dog pushed through. Once home she and Poke and Ceana all happily crashed. When I went to wake the dogs to go to bed and said Sita's name and shook her gently and she didn't even move. I thought she was dead! DH ran over and shook her harder while stammering that she was still breathing. All of a sudden she woke up and gave us a look like we might be the rudest people on the planet, groaned and moaned (normal for her) and walked off to the bed room.

 

Is it normal to sleep this hard??? Has anyone had a dog that slept this hard? I have never had one of my dogs or even a foster sleep that hard... then again Sita is a weird little dog. She is a merle and her mom was deaf so it is possible that her hearing isn't the best, but she sure as heck ran from the bedroom to the kitchen out of a dead sleep this afternoon when my bread machine went off to say the bread was done.

[urge to herd]

Years ago, when I was a mere slip of a girl, I had a cattle dog named Tillie. We lived right on the beach, next to some sand dunes. One Saturday afternoon, some friends and I went hiking into the dunes. For every step we took, Tillie took 8 or 10. She'd run ahead, run behind, run around us. She went up and down the sides of the dunes like a crazy dog.

 

When we got home, she flopped down and slept like the dead for hours, I think we even had a barbecue that evening, with a lot of people around. About 10 pm, she woke up, went out side and peed, came in and drank about a gallon of water, then went back to sleep for another 8 hours. For the entire time she slept, I couldn't budge her. I kept checking on her, making sure she was still breathing, but she was fine. Just very tired.

 

Hopefully, it's the same for Sita.

 

Ruth

[bc4ever]

I just had the same experience with Scooter. The neighbors just got a four month old miniature poodle/bijon mix. Cute as a button, full of puppy energy. Scooter was so excited to see another dog next door (their bulldog died last summer) they ran the fence, romping around, play bowing, etc. A few hours later, Scooter was out like a light. I got up during the night to check on him, did the check the breathing thing, lifted a paw to see if he was alive. Called his name several times with no response. He finally woke up and gave me the same look--"What is wrong with you?!! I was asleep for doG's sake!" Scared the you know what out of me. The next day he was fine.

[sixx]

This happens to Seek often. She exercises all day on/off. We "park hop". Sometimes at night after a full day, I can stick my hand in her mouth and move her tongue around and she won't wake up. It's scared me plenty of times, sometimes to the panic shaking moment and she gives me that exact look "What the H*ll is wrong with you mom!!!!????"

 

She may have just been wiped is my guess.

[alligande]

I have also had this happen after a huge day of exercise, including the disgusted look when you finally wake them.

[Carson Crazies]

I find that my old dogs do this a LOT. Last weekend at a dog trial I had Ginger stuffed down under the sleeping bag, and at one point I thought I'd accidently smothered her. I couldn't feel her breathing, couldn't feel her heartbeat... nothing. I was shaking her and calling her name and she was limp as a noodle. Finally she lifted her head like, "Hunh?" and looked pretty disgusted that I was interrupting what was apparently a good sleep. It took me a few minutes to go back to sleep, but she seemed to have no problem.

[border_collie_crazy]

lol we have a greyhound at work that sleeps like that, she will be playing in the yard and after some time fall asleep, you look out the window in the office and have a heart attack because she looks for all the world like she is lying dead on the pavement, your calling her and calling her and nothing at all..then you breath a big sigh of releif when one of the big oaf dogs trips over her head, and she lifts her head up looking like "WTH??"