How does your dog fill it’s time?

[MissShapesMissStakes]

I’m new to dog ownership. We have a miniature poodle, 8 months old.

He’s lovely. He adores my kids and loves to play with them. Or mooch about in the garden with them.

We walk him a couple of times a day, one for at least an hour. One for half an hour to focus on walking on the lead.

Someone is pretty much always home with him. We live with my parents and I work from home and my kids don’t go to school.

But when he’s not got a playmate or isn’t on a walk. He just looks so bored! He might follow me around for a bit while I do some jobs. Or wander about constantly asking to go out/come in while I’m working on the computer in the kitchen.

He can’t be entertained all the time. Sometimes the kids want to play on their iPads, I have work to do etc. He will sleep for a bit of that. But then he just wanders around looking bored and giving me those puppy eyes to give him food or go and play with him.

What do your dogs do if you’re in but not able to entertain a four legged teenage-attidude-d dog? It’s not like he can grab a deck of cards and play solitaire!

[Springerfan]

Hi, we have this problem too! We've had our dog about 4 months so we're new to this too.
I am trying to keep a balance of attending to her and also doing my own thing so she learns to settle and entertain herself.
Otherwise i feel guilty, like i've got a houseguest - or kitchen apprentice - that i have to entertain all the time! Plus it will be harder to leave her for periods if she can't do without human company.

[Springerfan]

Should add, i make sure she has lots of toys and things to chew, and leave her to it

[MissShapesMissStakes]

Exactly as I feel and do Springer! And I def feel guilty.

He has toys out and can also open his box of toys when he wants. Although he mostly ignores them.

Occasionally he will jump around one of them in a very cute way. But then I’m suspicious that he onl does that to tempt someone in with his cuteness.

I’ve stopped giving him chews unless I’m desperate as he’s just been neutered and it slows down their metabolism and I don’t want him to get fat! They never seem to last him very long either.

[Springerfan]

Ha!
Re chews, have you tried buffalo horns or antlers? Keeps 'em amused for a while and better for them than treats.
I hear you on the looking cute thing. I have to remove myself from the room so i don't get drawn into such antics
Honestly you'd think our dog never gets walked, fed or fussed the way she carries on!

[fullofquestion]

I have a "high energy" husky... she spends all day asleep, sometimes I have to go and search for her as I haven't seen her all day! She doesn't even bother to get out of bed when I come in, only if it's someone unexpected! Once a week perhaps she will dance round my feet and then lead me to the treat cupboard but she doesn't ask everyday! She's very strange! Perhaps she's depressed?!?

[lorisparkle]

I find a frozen Kong keeps my puppy busy for ages - well long enough to do some work on my laptop without him trying to assist! I found some recipes online but mainly it involves yoghurt, banana, peanut butter and one of his chews.

[adaline]

They need chews - chewing is a calming behaviour in dogs. Just make sure they're natural ones - things like bulls pizzles, antlers, hooves, yakers, dried strips of meat and things are really good, or kongs stuffed and frozen.

[ChipButtyNotABap]

They calm down and spend most of their time asleep when older.

Mine deigned to get out of bed for the school run... and has since been laid out on the sofa 😆

Honestly, poodles do get more relaxed and will just lie at your feet for hours without moving.

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

Sleeping, farting, remembering we have cats and running to the window to watch them, chewing, sleeping, forgetting we have cats, getting hair onto every item he can, sleeping, remembering we have cats....

He's also very fond of stealing hats, gloves etc and chewing those too.

[Springerfan]

Still traumatised by 'bull's pizzle' 😮

[CMOTDibbler]

Get up in the morning, bimble round garden, snooze on sofa. Mid morning bark at the heron. Go back to sleep. Bounce around when they see my running shoes, then go for lunchtime run. Snore until ds comes home at 3.45 and get excited. Snore. Go out for a zoom. Snore. Dinner. Snore. Go to bed....
There might be the occasional bit of someone coming to the door, or something like the heron which needs a shout, but they just drift from sofa to bed and back. The joy of low intensity lurchers!

[MissShapesMissStakes]

Brilliant replies thank you!

He does have antlers. But he will only chew them if he can sit on someone’s knee to chew them.

I will look at the recipes for yogurt/king stuff. He does have a few things that I put his kibble in and he has to fling them about or knock them to get the kibble out. But it always seems to end up in a place he can’t reach so then he has to bark to get me to come and get it 🙄

He really is a master of getting attention.

Everyone else’s dogs seem to sleep a lot more. He manages a quick nap in the morning and maybe an hour in the afternoon if he really has to. Otherwise he’s just following me looking depressed.

He is just a puppy still really I suppose.

Maybe we should get a cat to entertain him

[MissShapesMissStakes]

Just googled Bulls pizzle

[Springerfan]

I wish i'd never read that
It was just dropped into the list so casually!

[MissShapesMissStakes]

And pizzle sounds so fun!

[Singlenotsingle]

She sleeps upstairs on our bed. Sometimes she sneaks back to bed. Otherwise she jumps up and down at the gate, guarding the house against passers by, or chases the cats.
Maybe you should get another dog so yours has got someone to play with.

[adaline]

What's so weird about it? It's just a body part and it keeps mine amused for hours.

Dogs need to chew, some breeds more than others. Mine has various things - pizzles, dried neck from various animals, pigs ears, stuffed trachea - it's good for them!

[Springerfan]

I know, I'm nesh
I can just about cope with pigs ears

[Chocspreadandpb]

Same routine daily. Wakes my daughter up for school when I tell her to, straight to back door to go outside. Eats her food and back to bed until 11ish with or without me. Comes down gets in her window spot on the sofa and watches people/cars/birds. Plays with her toys or runs around the garden like lunatic if she isn't being walked on that day. Spends evening with my daughter when she returns from school. Has a mad half hour with my DH rolling around on the floor together then comes up to bed with me when I go up and sleeps by me until morning.

[Coriander71]

Otherwise i feel guilty, like i've got a houseguest - or kitchen apprentice - that i have to entertain all the time!

This is exactly how I felt at first Springerfan although mine is 1 now and I think she has been getting slightly better at entertaining herself recently. Our issue with chews is that the minute she gets one, rather than settling down to enjoy it she immediately zooms off to find a hiding place for it, hides it and then comes back wanting to be entertained again. She obviously forgets where she’s hidden them - expensive yak milk chew has been retrieved from under our pillow, behind sofa and is currently at large somewhere in the house! Any ideas why she has started doing this?

[GemmeFatale]

I was told five enriching activities a day and they have to be varied.

So usually I do a mix of walks, activities (we like agility, but scent work, flyball, puppy class, whatever you fancy), a food item (frozen stuffed long or similar), grooming session (brushing, ear clean, teeth clean, t-touch, etc), training session (or more likely three or four mini sessions, play session (or again a few mini sessions), (human focused) outing (pub/visiting friends/garden centre/etc). We’re planning a sensory garden for him to explore this year. Obviously we don’t do all of those every day but we probably cover most of them in a week.

[RandomMess]

Mine sleeps a lot!!! DH works from home and she often sleeps 8am-4pm solid

[Heyha]

I sympathise! But will settle as gets older. However just a word of warning don't let the dog train you into responding to every bark (especially with food/finding food etc) because then you'll just end up with a dog that has learned to bark when it wants something as well as when it needs something...I have a friend whose dog is lovely but barks SO much, they give her a treat to keep her quiet, she eats it, barks again, repeat a few times then they get fed up and tell her off...

[fikel]

I have a toy poodle he is 2 1/2 and has calmed down a lot. He likes to play tug of war with his foxy and raccoon lol !! They’re basically long animals. He is fussy with treats he likes ribbies. He doesn’t necessarily eat one every day but likes it if you pretend you want it and he runs away with it! A snuffle mat are good as you can bury treats. Rotate toys so he doesn’t get bored. Good run off lead every day
He does require a lot of attention and likes to be wherever we are, v loving and v intelligent

[anniehm]

Mine likes to sleep, if there was a dog Olympics he would win a gold at snoozing! He also likes to watch for foxes and snuggle up when it cold with me but mostly he pushes off to the other room to sleep! He's weird. He runs like the wind and loves really long walks (all day) but the minute you get home, he's in his smelly bed.