A ‘RUFFFF!’ Guide to Awesome Sleep in Pups and Their People! with Dr. Robert Falconer-Taylor

Companion dogs and their humans are intimately linked through the delicate synchronization their internal biological rhythms. These internal rhythms are further synchronized by the daily external circadian cycle created as our planet Earth rotates around the sun. Therefore, it makes no sense at all to think about sleep hygiene in our dogs in isolation to that of their people.

Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb revolutionized how we divided our time into work, rest and play, by providing illumination at any time of day. Today, most of us rarely achieve that magic ‘eight hours’ we’re all supposed sleep each day. Then some of us perhaps try and catch up those ‘lost hours’ at the weekends. Edison slept for about three to four hours a night, describing sleep as “a criminal waste of time and a heritage from our cave days”.

Alongside the industrial revolution, Edison’s brilliant marketing of his lightbulb led to a culture of reduced sleep and increased productivity. Over the decades, 24-7 neon- lit cities, the world-wide web, and social media, squeezed more and more sleep time out of our lives, and now here we are!

But around 250 years ago, our ancestors routinely enjoyed two sleeps a day. In fact, there are hundreds of isolated tribes, unaffected by ‘modern’ lifestyles, who wouldn’t dream of just one sleep; many have lots of sleeps! In contrast, the way we sleep now is incredibly unnatural and unhealthy, forcing us to work against the Earth’s circadian cycles our body’s evolved to synchronize with millions of years ago. It’s time we took stock and re-evaluated our sleep hygiene habits, not just for ourselves, but for our dogs too.

Much of what you read on the internet about dogs’ needs for sleep is based on the same flawed advice from the human lay literature. The prevailing message is that dogs’ daily sleep needs are somehow special. You’ll read about their ‘crepuscular nature’ and their ‘polyphasic needs’. This implies some kind of species-specific inflexibility that responsible pet guardians must somehow incorporate into their busy and chaotic households. Here, I challenge this dogma with my simple ‘RUFFFF!’ Guide to Awesome Sleep in Pups and their People.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand why sleep evolved very early in the evolution of animals.
2. Understand the important differences between circadian cycles and sleep cycles in both dogs and their humans.
3. Understand the special function of sleep in the developing brain and mind.
4. Understand how to nurture healthy sleep habits to build resilience to the ups and downs of life for the whole family.

Your Presenters- Dr. Robert Falconer-Taylor, BVetMed, DipCABT, MRCVS

Dr Robert Falconer-Taylor BVetMed, DipCABT, MRCVS
Robert has worked in the veterinary profession for nearly 30 years, as a partner in an innovative small animal hospital group and as a locum. Alongside his role in day-to-day clinical medicine, Robert has also been very much involved in the management, communication, and education side of veterinary practice. During this time, he was directly involved in the conception and implementation of computerisation into the profession. This included a cross-fertilisation with the human healthcare system in the UK and the development of cross-platform coding and classification systems for disease identification, tracking and surveillance. This is now an integral part of the World Health Organisation’s One Health initiative.

CURRENT ROLES
Academic Advisor for the Association of INTODogs community.
Scientific Advisor and Educator for the Pet Remedy Company (companion animal behaviour & welfare).
Trustee and veterinary advisor for Springer Rescue for Scotland Charity.
International consultant to the pet industry (development and risk assessment of pet ‘toys’ targeted & promoting the welfare of pets and their relationships with their guardians. Development of practical and easy-to-use Mood State Assessment tools for dogs, cats and horses.
Active participating member of the social media-led ‘global companion animal community’
His current primary academic interests include companion animal cognitive science and emotionality, nutrition and its effects on behaviour, and applied neurophysiology, pharmacology, and therapeutics in companion animal behaviour therapy.

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