Dogs do not like being woken up. If you think they do, you are sorely mistaken – even for a treat, they’d much rather sleep right through it. When you wake up a dog, you’re bound to get the stink eye.
Sometimes, though, it’s completely out of your control. Life happens around you and does not stop just because your grumpy pup is sleeping! Unfortunately for one dog mom, Wednesday, May 22nd was the day they learned that lesson the hard way:
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Cocoa and Ollie may not enjoy being woken up, but if there’s one thing they’ll do every time, it’s wake up. Nothing gets past these beautiful guard dogs!
Related: Newfoundland Dog Hailed a Hero for Rescuing a Drowning Golden Retriever
Cocoa and Ollie and a sibling pair, though the one in this video is Cocoa. You can very easily tell these two apart with one simple fact: Cocoa loves to sleep on the countertops. Ollie is not built that way.
What ended up waking her up was a siren from a firetruck passing by, and you can hear her singing along. Wherever Ollie is, he’s probably doing the same exact thing! Most dogs (even if they’re not big howlers) will howl along with a loud enough noise; it must scratch an itch in their brains or something, because the frequency will always set them off. It also works with alarm systems. Even if they were asleep, Cocoa and Ollie would never miss the opportunity to show off their lungs of steel!
Why you shouldn’t wake a sleeping dog
Obviously, Cocoa’s mom isn’t the one who woke her up, and it’s not completely unavoidable. However, whenever it is possible, you should try your best to let them wake naturally.
Just like humans, dogs have sleep cycles to complete, and there are more steps to a dog’s sleep cycle than a human’s. One thing that remains the same are the basic states: during some parts of the cycle, the dog is dead asleep, while other parts are lighter and it would be easier to wake them. Deeper portions of the cycle are when dreams occur!
If you wake a dog before or during a REM cycle, they’ll be groggy and might even become a bit aggressive. While one time won’t do any longterm damage, continual disturbance of a dog’s REM cycle could result in sleep debt, just like with humans. The dog may become stressed, irritable, or lethargic if their sleep cycle isn’t corrected!
Instead of waking a dog, wait until they’re awake and then do whatever is is you need to do. For example, taking them on a walk after they’ve just woken up naturally will be much more enjoyable, and more productive at that – a well-rested dog will definitely need to go potty! Luckily for Cocoa, the siren eventually went away, and it was back to countertop snoozing immediately after!
