10-week Finnish Lapphund puppy, help with settling/naps without crating!
Hi everyone! I've had my 10-week-old Finnish Lapphund boy for just under 2 weeks and he's absolutely wonderful. We're working on basic obedience and house training, and things are going mostly well, but I've hit a snag.
I recently learned that overnight crating or daytime crating for non-medical/transport reasons is actually illegal in Finland, so that's off the table. He's been sleeping well at night in a covered crate up to now, and I had been trying enforced daytime naps in it too (with mixed results) — but going forward I need alternatives.
My main challenge is getting him to settle and sleep when he's overtired.
We already use a good variety of enrichment such as lick mats, frozen Kongs, chewing time, play, and mental stimulation (spread out over different awake periods, not all at once). The problem is transitioning him to actually sleep. Today for example he was awake from 7:30am and didn't settle until nearly 11:30am. I know that's way too long, but nothing I tried worked. I had him in a pen, tried leaving him alone, tried staying in the room, no luck.
A few added complications:
I'm currently on leave but returning to fully remote work next week, then half-days in the office a couple of weeks after that. My work is very flexible but he will need to learn to have a safe space to rest. The bedroom is the most realistic place, we just got a puppy gate and if the electronics are removed it is puppy proof but I'm worried about his house training regressing. He already sleeps through the night in the crate with no accidents, I doubt that status the same with much more space.
We have two cats who roam freely at night and tend to sniff around his pen. He always wants to play with them, even though they just investigate and leave, I am working on rewarding calm behaviour with the cats (and in general).
Any advice on helping a young pup wind down and actually sleep without the crate as a tool? Really appreciate any experience people can share!