Day to day life with a dog

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Hi, we are researching getting a (rescue) dog. Neither DH nor I have ever owned a dog before. I was wondering what the dog does on a day to day basis?

Eg today, DD and DS are at home, doing homework, on playstation, just lounging about, I popped out to the shops for about 2 hours, DH is at home but in his office in the loft.

What does the dog do while all the above is happening assuming it's been taken out for a walk in the morning?

This evening we'll have dinner at around 6.30, then watch a bit of TV, then I go up and read in bed at about 9pm, DH usually stays up until 12/1am watching TV downstairs. DCs go to bed around 9.30pm

When would the dog go to bed? How many hours sleep do they need?

Tomorrow I'll be up at 6am, have breakfast, drop DS to bus stop at 7.30, then go to work at 9am, back at 11.30am. DH will be working from home. DCs home from school around 5pm. What time does the dog get up?

What does the dog do while I'm at work and DH works in his office in the loft?

Sorry to ask such basic questions but I have been wondering about this for a while.

Oh yes the cooking, we have fed him whilst standing at the kitchen island and have dropped things so he tends to stand about waiting . However, we have never fed him from the kitchen table so when we sit down to eat he asks to go out into the garden as it's boring time so he goes off to find something more interesting.

OK I get the 'nagging' now, makes sense. Would be good if the dog makes the DCs go to bed earlier.

We have quite a few different parks where we live so it would be quite easy to vary the walks. Plus I have lots of friends and neighbours with dogs so hopefully the dogs will get on and become friends too.

What about dog sitting before you get a dog? Of course all dogs are different but it gives you an idea.
If you don’t know anyone then there isa website that you can register on and babysit dogs.

Eric doesn't bother in the kitchen when I'm cooking tbh. But when he hears me carving meat or dishing up he comes in and sits down putting on his best "I'm a good boy" pose because he knows he's in for some scraps then.
Eric sleeps either on the sofa or in his basket so doesn't nag for bed as such but he does stare intently once it gets to half ten to prompt us to do the last trip round the block before biscuit and bed.

It massively depends on the breed you get, and that's what you need to do the most research on. I've got a cocker spaniel who's dreadfully intense and hates being left. We get up at 6.30am for a wee, then walk around 9am for about 90 minutes. Then bath/towelling depending on mud he's found, feed him and he's happy pottering around with me until about 3pm when he goes out for a wee, half hour walk around 4.30pm, then drying etc and tea around 6pm. He then has another short walk around 9pm, or potter in the garden and a last wee before bedtime.

We had a labrador before - she liked one walk a day, slept around 23.5 hours and only woke up for food. Never went on a lead, just loved being led by the back door in the sun. Totally chilled and could be left for hours without any fuss.
I'd consider a rescue dog that's a bit older if you want to avoid the intense puppy phase, that's tantamount to having a newborn in the house again. And you may find they fit into your routine a bit better. I'm a slave to mine but I love every second of it. He's my best friend.

Yes we were initially thinking of a puppy but I think now we will go for a slightly older dog. Am not planning on actually getting the dog until December when DCs are on Christmas hols (1 month) so they can help with settling in etc.

Our neighbour has a labrador and he hardly seems to get taken for walks, just let out into the garden a couple of times. I think we would prefer a slightly more active dog but not too active!

I wouldn't get a puppy with children, puppies are really hard work and an older dog has a proven personality so you know what you are getting.
Do you have a local rescue centre you could visit and have a chat to the staff and meet some of the dogs?

A lot of dogs are happy with 1-2 walks but can take more if you do more. For example I have a cocker and he is happy with 1 off lead ball play a day and some mental stimulation in the afternoon. If I decided I wanted to do 2 x 3 hour walks a day he would still do it as they just get 'fitter' iykwim.

Ours is walked 2/3 times a day. The rest of the time he's either snoozing, wandering about the house or in the garden.

I have a Shih Tzu who is generally less active than most dogs however she still needs a good walk a day. She is not a morning dog and the one time I tried taking her out before 9am I had to turn around and walk home because she was having none of it.

She was ill when the snow hit so I had to avoid taking her out as much as possible. She could only go two days before she was bouncing off the walls and that was with me trying to play with her. She also much prefers a good run off lead too.

She follows me about for the most part too. She sleeps on my bed and she will get up between 7 and 9.30 but often she either goes to the toilet and goes back to sleep or just wants to sleep in a different place . She sleeps most of the day with short play sessions and food to break it up. She tends to settle down for the night between 9 and 10.30pm it depends on her day.

Even within breeds tbere are massive differences.
With my two labradors I would be lynched if they did not get their walks ( and at roughly the same time every day).
We walk for a minimum of 75minutes first thing in the morning, off lead.
Lunchtime we do between 30 and 45 minutes, half on, half off lead. Must admit it has been closer to 30 minutes during the cold snap!
Teatime we have a 20 minute stroll, on lead.
I would say that hand on heart, my two are walked for 2 hours every day, come rain, snow and blizzards. So PLEASE do not think that some breeds are lazy, some breeds are energetic - the breed is an excellent guide, but that is all.
I do have to say though, they are 'easy 'dogs, as long as you can put up with all the wet dog, muddy dog, water loving little buggers they can be, they are quite happy to be benignly neglected outside of feeding and walking!

Even within breeds tbere are massive differences totally agree with this, dogs are as individual as people.

Two dogs here. One would happily sleep and snore all day but is awake instantly at any hint of food and certainly tells me when its time for his meals. The other one lives for walks and his ball. Anytime I head out the back door I need to throw a ball, even if I'm just putting rubbish in the bin! They are nice company. Like children really - drive you mad but adorable and you couldn't be without them. Puppies are like young children and need lots of help and guidance. Older dogs are like older kids - still need caring for but are a bit more independent.
When you do get a dog, decide on your house rules and stick to them. Eg if you dont want them to beg, dont feed them at the table . If you dont want them on the sofa, enforce this from day 1 (speaking from bitter experience - we are far too soft on our 4 legged babies!)

Totally agree with everything said & if u get a rescue dog rescue centre can give advice on exercise requirements. I have a 4 yr old cockapoo & 6.5 month old pointer, both could walk for miles if I let them, both off lead dogs but pointer can’t as a puppy & it’s pointless taking cockapoo for more than 90 mins (unless we are doing like a 7 mike walk before pup was around) as if he doesn’t get 2 walks in a day he will climb on my knee & paw me & then go to the door & look pitiful.

Pointer also knows the routine which I drilled in as soon as she was House trained:

• DH gets up, outside for toilet, fed, DH does bit of “sit, stay & retrieve training for 10 mins with pup”
• DH brings me coffee in bed (he’s trained too!), dogs left in secure hallway to snooze for another hour til I come downstairs
• mad hour while pup & older play
• snooze for an hour /1.5 hour (dogs not me!)
• walk 1, off lead, clean them up (takes a while, cockapoo is a squeegee!)
• snooze
• lunch (mine eat 3 times a day)
• snooze /play
• training for them
• snooze
• walk 2 /clean
• snooze then play/ bark at next doors cat
• DH gets back & interupts us all snoozing & all hell breaks loose! No they are v excited!
• food
• mad play hour for pup
• snoooze on sofas
• wee biscuit wine (us) & bed!

In between whilst awake they do follow you in between rooms, I end up having multiple cushions but that’s dogs! Mine will not go without 2 walks, they know it goes like above!
Should be able to be in your DH’s work loft but identify if they are a barker then 😁

Enjoy!! I wouldn’t be without them! Having a baby in the summer, that will be the scary bit 😱

We have a husky, I get up about 7 and let her out straight away, she then goes and gets in my bed, I take kids to school/ some days I work till 12. Somedays she will come down and sit with me in the living room, somedays I barely see her ( she doesn't even get out of bed when I come home!!) she will find me and hang round if she wants letting out. The only time she follows us is if we go into the garden in the summer but even then will take herself back inside if she's too hot. She is walked normally in the evenings, occasionally I will take her during the day with DD, or if I'm alone we will go out for an hour or so. She then goes to bed at 9-11 whenever we go up (she sleeps downstairs) no idea how she sleeps so much tbh.

Yes, they'll usually just nap nearby!

Jack Russell Chihuahua cross breed. Our routine changes with the seasons it has to be said but at the moment
Work days:
Up 6.40 out for a wee, small handful of food
Back to bed (it's cold he's a wimp) whilst I get showered and dressed
8.05 leave the house with dog. Super exciting bus ride.
8.40 arrive at work. He has a bounce around in the yard with the owners 2 dogs. They are then let out every 2 hours for toilet/play
4.30 half an hour walk - this will become an hour as the weather lifts
6.30 I eat. 6.45-7 doggy food time
8.30-9pm last wee

Non work days
Up when he witters to get up (normally 8ish)
20-30 min walk
Then sleep in his bed/on sofa/on my bed depending where I am
3.30-4 20-30 min walk
Followed by play time with one of his noisy toys (his current favourite is a cow that moo's)
6.30-7 doggy fed
10pm last wee

Summer he will walk for as long as he can and loves going new places to explore. In the winter it's a battle of wills but I know that without even the short walks he will go stir crazy so I win that one (unless heaven forbid it's tanking down that I have no chance!)

My old dog was the opposite and loved a good hour walk twice a day no matter what the weather. So that may be something to consider if you get a dog that really doesn't handle cold well.

Two greyhounds here and they get about 3 hours a day mostly off lead pratting about.
They’re quite young though and, on the rare days they don’t get big walks, they’re a bit bonkers but fairly happy playing with the DC in the garden.

One likes to be with the people (mainly me, she’s a little fixated and sulks when I’m at work and DH is on home duties)
The other is happiest where it’s warm and soft and occasional children might rub her belly.

At night, they get taken for a half hr lead walk then snooze on the sofa till we go up to bed.
They then follow us up and sleep in their beds in our rm till morning.

They’re very good at learning your routine and folding in to it. The best companions ever!

We have a 7mo rescue pup (think Lab/lurcher cross). He gets us up at 6am at the moment (working on that one). Has breakfast and a walk.

He follows us around the house all day and sleeps in my office (I have a mat for him there). Bombs around the garden quite a lot and plays with his chew toys. We often give him a rawhide snack to chew on during the day which entertains him for a while.

He sometimes gets another walk at lunchtime or we play fetch with him in the garden (he's not really got the hang of fetch yet). At weekends we walk him into the nearby town and he sits at our feet at the cafe.

He has dinner about 6pm and then sleeps all evening on his cushion in the living room. Short walk before bed.

This is so interesting, thank you everyone.

We do have some rescue centres near us, will definitely get in touch with them, this week hopefully. Very exciting!

All your dogs sound adorable and I love how they all have their own distinct personalities.

This is something we have wanted to do for a long time but have had so much other stuff going on there just wasn't time to really think about it and research it properly.

We haven't told the DCs yet as we will be pestered to death if we do, but they will be so so thrilled when they find out we are finally getting our own dog!

Our two get taken out at about 7 for a short walk. They then usually sleep til about 11am when if we are at work the Dog walker comes, if at home we take them out for a Long walk. They play together (read play fight actually which is quite annoying but they seem to like it) or just follow us around for the afternoon, might sleep a bit more, evening walk at about 6, taken out again at about 9 before bed. The older Dog gets lots of cuddles as he is that sort of hound. The younger Dog gets into mischief of the chewing variety if not kept an eye on because she is that sort of hound

We do four walks a day, but we live in a flat so no garden to just let him pee. 3 short ones (10 mins) and one long one (at least an hour).

We do a lot of nosework/enrichment with him.

Training three times a day like sit stay etc and fun stuff.

Lots of sofa snuggles.

You can look into agility too if you have somewhere that does it. My dog loves it! It's not just for the collie/super smart dogs, basically every breed can do it. It's a really good way to bond with them, exercise with them and make them think. It helps with other parts of training too because they feel like following commands is a fun thing to do, because it means to get to jump and run about! What I have noticed is that my dog is much more patient and less impulsive since we started. You can see his little brain working.

Good luck! Rescuing a dog is one of the most rewarding and amazing things I've done in my life.

I have a puppy - he is exhausting and he certainly does bark when I am on conference calls! However he is learning. A lot of their behaviors depend on you. Puppy doesn't nag me when I am cooking as it gets him nothing - he is happy to sit on his mat in the kitchen and watch. He also doesn't nag when we sit at the table to eat - again - he knows it gets him nowhere. The rest of the day, however, is puppy madness. Leaving him alone has taken 6 weeks of gradual build up to get to being able to leave him up to 1hr after he has been well exercised and toileted. We don't leave him often but at least we now can.
It is the housetraining that has been hardest. I work from home and when he first got here if I didn't take him in the garden every 20 mins he weed on the floor. He is now 14 weeks old and can go up to 2hrs between toilet breaks but no longer and after 1.5hrs he becomes a ticking timebomb. So if I am on the phone with work and he is asleep and he wakes up I worry until I can get off the phone and get him in the garden. He is completely accident free all weekend and any day I don't have a lot of T-cons. On days with lots of phone (meaning I can't just get up as needed and take him out) he ends up pooing on the floor somewhere. I know it is my fault not his and it is SO frustrating.