[davish]

I have a six year old husky/pitt mix dog (age is relative and breed is a best guess). He doesn't sleep very much and I am worried that it might be contributing to his "neurotic" personality. He is a VERY healthy dog, despite one medical allergy to steroids. He does sleep at night, but he is the last one to settle down and the first one to get up. I would say he gets about five hours a night. He is crated during the day for about 5 hours and he might be sleeping then. However, when I am home with him during the day he walks around with me, or sits by me, but he doesn't nap. (I have two other large dogs and they sleep all the time).
Then there is the problem of him being a little neurotic anyway. I have always described him as having ADHD. He will sit like a sphynx for twenty minutes and then out of nowhere suddenly run around like his rear is on fire. He follows us around the house (not in a lean on you needy kind of way, he just roams around or lays down in whatever room we are in.) He is horrible to walk on a leash. He pulls and pulls. Now he is fine if someone can RUN with him or if he goes with on a bike ride; but he can't WALK.
I just realized the other day how little I ever see him sleep. So it isn't as if this is something new or something that has prevented his overall health over the years. I was just sitting around wondering what is the makes him go from still to frantic when I started to think about how little he sleeps - do you think there might be a connection?

[twinkiedooter]

You dog sleeps enough. It's because you are not there 24/7 to monitor when he does sleep that you seem concerned that he is not getting enough. Not to worry. I am positive he sleeps when you are not home. I have yet to see a dog who deprives themselves of sleep.

He could possibly be neurotic or hyper due to the other dogs in the household. Do you crate everyone else as well as this dog when you are not home? Do you give him enough attention to him? Have you spent some time training him to walk on a leash? Not all dogs come ready trained to know how to walk on a leash. Mine still does whatever she pleases on a leash - like try to chase cars - no matter what I've tried to do she still chases them (or tries to anyway as she is never out without a leash on her).

[Lucky098]

Have you ever considered that your dog may have anxiety? Anxious dogs seem nervous and never really rest. If he does have husky mixed in him, the wanting to run all the time comes from that side of the cross. Huskies are built to go, and most will drive their owners crazy if they don't understand the breed. You may want to talk to your vet and see what they have to say about seeing if your dog has Anxiety... From what you wrote, that's what it sounds like... A very mild case that is.