What is your dogs daily routine?

[MissMarplesParcel]

Hi all, 3 and 1/2 month old puppy here and wondering if we’re doing it right!!

Puppy goes to bed @11pm, tends to sleep (with 1-2 toilet breaks during the night) until 5am ish at which point we let him on our bed where he sleeps until 8. Then toilet, breakfast, playing with him outside using flirt pole/fetch/tug. We start work @9. He usually sleeps or potters around the garden/kitchen - lots of toys everywhere. At lunch then we feed him again and few cuddles, bit of touch training/sit training. Back to work @2 and he sleeps/potters again until we finish work @5.30. Usually give him a snuffle mat/game that he needs to work to get some treats out of in the afternoon. We feed him his dinner then usually take him for a walk for 30mins @6. He tends to go wild when we get home so he zooms around the garden and we play with the flirt pole. Then he tends to settle down for the eve until bed.

Is this enough stimulation for him? He doesn’t want to walk in the morning or afternoon - lies down and won’t move but he likes his evening walk.

I know we Need to do more training to work on recall/stay/leave it. But how much? 5 mins a day- 5 mins x3 times a day?? And should each session be on the same training or a different thing each time?

What do your dogs days look like?

[MissMarplesParcel]

Bump

[Iw24wImI]

Do you use a crate? It might help to pop him in a crate overnight and for part of the day.

Sounds like some good stimulation though.

[PrayingandHoping]

Breakfast 7am, dinner at 4pm. Toilet before breakfast and before bed and then whenever in between

Walk whenever during the day when it's the right moment. Cuddles on sofa when I am chilling out. Play whenever is a good moment and we usually go training a few times a week....

My dogs are adults now. Puppies do take more supervision. My advise is don't give a very strict routine as sometimes life takes over and you won't be able to stick to it and then you will have v upset dog. My baby was in hospital for 10 days last year so it all went very wrong. My husband stayed in the house at night and friends came in and out all day long. I felt so bad for them but it was a genuine emergency and they coped totally amazingly! We have a camera in their room so they were always checked on and when they had no company (which was far far less than I'd ever want for them) they just chilled and slept.

My boys roam round the house finding the best place to sleep! They have toys they can play with when they want. I have pointers so not a breed regarded for laziness! They are content and chilled dogs as they haven't been brought up to be demanding (and when they try to be it is not rewarded).

[Onthetrain75]

Buy the perfect puppy by Gwen Bailey. It’s the holy grail of puppyhood books!

[rottiemum88]

5:30am - DH takes both dogs out for morning walk

7:00am: breakfast followed by a few hours of pottering/snoozing, with access to the garden throughout

11:30am: lunch followed by more snoozing/pottering

4:30pm: dinner followed by some playtime (scent games, fetch, catch, clicker training)

9pm: evening walk followed by supper

10-10:30pm: bedtime. Both dogs sleep downstairs on the sofas. They used to be crate trained as puppies and need a toilet trip in the night but not for years now

*the 4 meals a day isn't typical, but done on the advice of our vet due to digestive issues with one of our dogs

[vanillandhoney]

When mine was that age, his routine looked a bit like this:

6am - up, toilet and back to sleep.
7.30am - toilet, breakfast, toilet again.
8am - walk (20 mins or less).
8.30am - toilet, sleep.
12pm - toilet, lunch.

Then after lunch we'd do a mixture of play and training. He'd go out to the toilet every 45 minutes or so while he was awake. He'd have 2-3 hours of nap time throughout the afternoon too.

5pm - dinner time, toilet break - this was normally followed by the dreaded evening zoomies! He'd sometimes have another walk at 7pm or so - again only 20 minutes.

He normally crashed out about 8-9pm, then we'd take him out to toilet before bed at about 10.30pm or so. He often needed to go out once or twice a night too.

[Michelleoftheresistance]

Erm.. get up, go nuts, charge round garden like maniac, eat breakfast in between galloping. This bit lasts a while.

Walk.

Crash out on sofa.

Potter in garden.

Cuddles on sofa, annoy cats, play and supper.

Bed.

He's settled down enormously, as a puppy he was like the Duracell bunny. What I've found with all my puppies is that I always fall into the trap of not giving them enough nap/down time and they end up overtired. Often when I thought they needed more exercise or play they actually needed to sleep. I had a strong routine of eat, play, crate for nap that we went back to a few times in the first year, especially during growth spurts.