Dog Daily Routine

[LaFlottes]

Hello and sorry if this is a silly question!

We have had our adopted dog for a year now. She came to us with no real routine, was over weight, not walked much.

From the point we got her, we fell into a routine of a 15 min walk first thing to stretch her legs and go to the toilet, 45 mins - 1 hour sometime between 12 and 2 and then another 20 mins at about 7.30pm. Access to garden whenever she wants.

I work from home so she mostly has company and she mostly sleeps or cuddles up when she's at home. Or lies in the garden in summer.

Would it be bad to change the routine? Sometimes it would be really useful for me to walk her for an hour first thing, then a shorter lunch time walk, but can you do that? Mix it up? Or is it a bad idea?

Thanks!

[Floralnomad]

The only routine about my dogs day is the timing of his meals between 8-9 and 4.30-5.30 , all walks etc which usually add up to 1.5 hrs a day are when I get to them . We’ve had him since he was 15/16 weeks and he is now 7 , I used to have more routine but I found that he then expects to do things at certain times and starts pestering me if it doesn’t occur . This way suits us much better .

[Elphame]

Yes mix it up! Mine has no two days the same at the moment.

[Adarajames]

Dinner around 1730 other than that, anything goes! Includes breakfast snack at some point and supper before bed, but times vary widely as does walk times, but she's a very chilled (these days anyway!) and obliging girl so will go with whatever's happening with whoever is doing it she's pretty fab all round really

[LaFlottes]

Brilliant thank you! I will start to mix it up, which sounds like it might be helpful for us both!

So I'll stick to the same kind of duration but won't stress about when the walks take place.

Thank you! She's our first dog so I wasn't sure!

[SparklingRaspberry]

Some dogs need routine.

My partners dog is not a great dog to be around when he's out of routine.

Perhaps add a bit more play into his days but I don't see why you should change how things already are?

[LaFlottes]

Thanks Sparkling - I will see how she goes. I was also thinking of getting some puzzles for her for during the day, but to be honest she never seems bored as long as she can sit with me while I'm working!

I don't necessarily have to change the routine, it's just that my husband's job is changing meaning that I'll be doing the first two walks, and sometimes when work is really busy, it would be easier to have done the longer one before the working day starts!