Day in a life of your dog?

[CityDweller]

Can you experienced dog owners give me a sense of a regular day-in-a-life of your dog (grown dog, not puppy)? DH is suddenly getting cold feet about our plans to get a dog and I think having an idea of a grown dog's daily routine would help put his mind at rest that we won't have to be entertaining/ walking a dog from 7am to 7pm the way we do the DC

So, what does your dog do all day?!

10 year old whippet.

He gets up when we get up about 5am.

His first job is to clean the cat's bowl. Then he has a cuddle & a chat while we drink our coffee.

Breakfast & time
Nap
Play
Comes to sit & chat to me in the office.
Today he went out with us on some errands in the car.

Lunchtime treat
Nap
Play a bit

Early evening walk.
Play a bit more
Dinner time

Nap
Chat & cuddles

Bedtime

6 year old dachshund

Sleeps until walk at 9.... 30-40 mins local park

Sleeps or dozes on sofa or bed or bag til breakfast

11.00 breakfast

sleeps dozes on sofa....etc ... Repeat ad nauseam

If people moving around tends to follow us, otherwise just dozes while we work..

A couple of games or training sessions during the day - about 5-10 mins each

Pootles round garden - chases birds and invisible cat... three times in day... just lets self back in when finished

Sometimes a second walk - erratic - anytime

6.30 supper

Lazes on sofa etc etc etc while we watch TV, cook or whatever

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore I have an 18 week old springer/cocker cross whose sole purpose seems to be to to fight naps and bite us, bite our stuff, jump up at the table/worktop to she what she can bite. Does she want to bite any of the many many toys she has...of course not

Some of these schedules though are giving this very tired puppy owner some hope for the future, though her quietly sitting under my desk snoozing away seems like a distant dream at the moment

3 lurchers 6-13yo
7am singing to be let out for a pee
7.10am back to sleep on the sofas
7.45am in to the car to go to work
8.30am greet everyone in work
9am into work beds for high intensity sleeping
10.30am out for a pee, treats on re entry, back to bed for more sleeping
1pm out for a pee and trot about the yard, treats on re entry, bitey face game, stealing people's lunches, general begging
2pm real concentrated effort sleeping with eyes squeezed shut and fairly good imitation of being dead
4.30pm half hearted trot around yard, pretend pee, treats because of pretend pee
4.40pm light sleeping, looking like may not be dead
6.50pm bounce about wanting to go home
7pm into car and home
7.30pm dinner
7.45pm bitey face
8pm run around the garden like eejits
8.30pm moderate sleeping, definitely not awake but small chest movements indicative of life
10.30pm mad hoolie around the garden, many, many barks at imaginary burglars, foxes, dangerous shadows
11pm feign death sleeping
At weekends and non working days there is more sleeping and more barking at the Amazon delivery man. They aren't one bit bothered about walks and if it's raining will not go outside at all.

18 month old male Miniature Dachshund

7:15am- prised out from under the duvet
7:30am- out for 45min morning walk, wee and poo...and roll in the mud
8:15am- breakfast
8:16am- goes back to bed
9am- potters, chews his toys, plays with cats, demands cuddles, dozes, barks at postman/delivery people
1pm- goes out for a wee, then has a big sleep
3:30pm- at least an hour on the field running, sniffing, playing with dog friends
4:30pm Sleep
6pm- playtime with us
7pm- dinner
Potters until 8:30pm then curls up on lap
10pm- garden wee and poo
10:15pm zonked out in our bed.

14 month old medium bit of everything scruffpot.

Bounds out of bed as soon as he hears us stir.
Whines until we (DP) gets out of bed.
40-60 minute walk with DP.
Breakfast for him while we shower. He usually lays at the bottom of the stairs or stares at the world out the living room window.
Drools over us eating breakfast. We’re both furloughed / out of work so we’re out of routine but he will snooze for a couple hours. Then wake up, lots of noisy willy cleaning , chewing antlers or playing by himself with his squeaky toy until midday.
Another 40ish minute walk.
Drools over us eating lunch.
Mooches around for a bit. We do some separation anxiety training. Or general training, he was a bit traumatised when he come to us so we’ve taken it slow with his training. He’ll then sleep from 3-6.
Another 40-60 minute walk. Then he gets fed.
More drooling over our tea then he has a snooze for a few hours.
Gets full of beans about 9pm so he gets a beef skin / yak cheese chew or a mind game like a snuffle mat, puzzle toy etc.
Out for evening wees in the garden then we all go bed.

I have a springer who is nearly 2

6am - jumps on my face to wake me up, go downstairs, goes out in the garden for a wee and a poo, she has her breakfast while I’m feeding the cat/making tea.

6:45 - we leave home to go to our yard to sort our horses out. She comes in to the horses field for a run around (and another poo) while I poo pick. Once horses are out, she “helps” muck out

9-5:30pm - at work with DH. Usually sleeps on his office chair, plays, mooches around a bit, empties the bin, greets customers, rips up some paper. DH takes her for a Big Walk around lunch time. The afternoon is spent repeating the mornings activities.

6pm - home - has her tea, tries to convince us to give her some of our dinner, plays, chases the cat, goes out in the garden for a wee and to bark at neighbour’s cat, comes in and chases our cat again, stands guard on the landing for a while in the hope that one of our DDs leaves their bedroom door open and she can go in and pilfer biscuits, chases the cat, sleeps on the sofa for a bit, chases the cat, empties the living room bin, rips up some more paper, chases the cat again.

9:30pm - zoomies! Without fail, every night

10pm - goes for a walk round the block

10:30pm - bed

Springer spaniel show line 12 Boxer 11

6am cry at living room door reminding occupants that they are starved and unloved and have not had the choice of large leather sofa, or enormous basket with feather queen duvet with duvet cover to snooze on.
Homemade breakfast chicken breast and free range eggs
6:30am longish beach walk 90 mins but now getting a bit shorter due to Spaniel being a bit elderly
Morning spent snoozing, following humans around, sitting on DH having head patted, following sun around the house, sitting in front of fire ( if temperature dips below 19 degrees c).... any and all opportunities to remind humans/ visitors or DH carers they have not been fed/ have had no attention since 2012 are seized upon, sitting on top of each other, Chew ( ridiculously large and heavy) spaniel’s ears if he has something Boxer deigns should be hers.
Lunchtime dog walker arrives and does active play, and a 20 min walk.
Afternoon spent as per morning ( see if any fruit or veg has fallen from trees or the raised vegetable beds, snaffle the choicest bits that humans were planning to cut or pick for their own evening meal)
6pm evening meal beef/ goat / steamed garden veg
6:15-7:00 walk along stream, evening swim
Dry off, snooze on sofa having heads scratched/ cuddle, pretend they have not been fed when I cook dinner
10:00 let out into garden for last wee, snuffle round the perimeter looking for hedgehogs to sniff and run away from ( Boxer associates hedgehogs with large helpings of pain )
Bedtime

Whole house revolves around them, I just pay the mortgage and bills, even dh carers are employed primarily on the basis of ‘ are they going to get on with the dogs?’

Wake up with us. Pee and run around the garden. If I am working in the front room he will then snooze on the sofa. If I am working in my study upstairs, he will snooze at my feet. If I am else where in the house he will follow me around and snooze there. Basically snoozing is a big part of his day. He then goes for a walk - sniffing is a big part of this activity (he's a sighthound). Then more snoozing. Another run around the garden, maybe a couple depending on the time of day/evening. Dinner. More snoozing. Lots of sofa cuddling. I think he has a pretty great life (and as a rescue stray with a rotten start in life, he deserves to).

We have two lurchers who are 6 and 8.
Get up, 7am
Bimble round the garden sniffing, wee/poo
Breakfast, 8am
Wander round the house gently till lunchtime, ddog1 snoring in Ds's bed, ddog2 generally sleeping by me while I work, may go out for a wee
Lunchtime, power walk or run with me
Snore again, may go out in the garden for a wee
Run on the field off lead, 4pm with ds
Snore
Dinner 7pm
Ddog1 goes to ds's bed to wait for him

OTOH, a neighbours dog will only toilet on a walk, and so they have to go out a squillion times a day come rain or shine, and anothers is very needy and always wanting interaction in the house, to be played with and needs three long walks a day

@LorelaiVictoriaGilmore

I remember Googling

Will my Springer puppy ever stop biting?

They do

The going out into the garden for a pee/potter/sniff thing first thing (and at other times). Do you let your dogs out on their own in the garden or do you go out with them?

I go out with mine, he's never unsupervised outside.
My garden is secure with a locked gate. I've done my very best to escape proof it, but it's not Fort knox and my boy is dog aggressive so it's not worth the risk.
Also I think it's good to be out there, just in case they need you. My neighbours also kept ferrets outside which increased the rats in the area. He managed to bop one at the bottom of the garden, but not before it bit his leg. £90 vet bill and unbearable whining for days over the vet cone of shame. Its good I was there, just a shame I'm not The Flash

My dogs don't need me outside - our garden is very secure and not so big you can't see them. When we have foster puppies, eyes are on them every second outside and someone ready to leap into action to stop them from finding new ways to harm themselves or our stuff

On their own. Have to go and poo collect later though.

I go out with mine. I would never leave him unsupervised (dont want him eating something he shouldn’t, pooping where I don’t see it, etc). I am sure many people let their dogs out alone in their gardens - my garden is secure, I just prefer to ensure he is safe at all times

Springer

6.30am - up and pretty much straight out the door to the woods for a walk.

7.30am-8am - back home.

8.30am - I start wfh. He potters around the house seeing if anyone is doing anything interesting.

10.30am - he starts to nag me for a walk

11:30am - I give in and we go out for about an hour over the fields

12.30-1pm - we come back and he (finally) eats his breakfast

I then work some more and he typically snoozes on the sofa behind me, giving the roomba the evil eye each time it passes.

2pm - he comes up to me for some fussing which he sometimes gets and sometimes get a brush instead , then goes back to sleep

3.30pm - he starts nagging me to stop work

5-5.30pm - I stop work. Often nip him out for a quicker walk then, just near the house.

6pm - we eat dinner; he practices his Disney eyes.

6.30pm I put his dinner down. He ignores it.

7pm - we do half an hour or so of training/play time.

7.30pm - he tries to taunt me into playing for longer. I tell him I've had enough and he settles back down with a huff. Gets up at some point and goes to eat his dinner. Often brings me his antler to try and con me into holding it while he chews it worringly close to my fingers.

9pm - he starts nagging for bedtime. I take little persuasion, let him out for a last wee and off we go.

He sleeps in the bedroom, like a log. Often gently snoring away.

We get up and do it all again the next day.

He's not really a pottering round the garden kind of dog - I think the garden bores him.

@CityDweller

The going out into the garden for a pee/potter/sniff thing first thing (and at other times). Do you let your dogs out on their own in the garden or do you go out with them?

On his own (it took a few months/year to get to that stage because he'd chew and dig all the wrong things) but always with someone keeping an eye out from the kitchen. Mainly because of the worry of theft.

Dogs go in main garden on their own as well fenced. They have free access throughout the day. When training I would always accompany to train toileting on command and the designated area. Due to walk schedule they rarely poo in the garden.

Two mini labradoodles, 9 and 11. Our lockdown routine:
Lie on mums bed, checking out whether she is awake, make annoying licking sounds until she gets up. Out to the garden while mum feeds the rabbits. Find a place to do my thing, make sure my paws get nice and muddy, come back in and stare hard at mum eating breakfast.
My brother gets up and gives us tummy rubs. He like to take us to the park. We wait and doze a bit until brother or mum takes us out. My sister comes out of her room to say hi and get a snack - sometimes she gives us one too! She sits at her desk all day now looking at people and writing. She doesn't like us in her room as she has the door shut and we want to be out when we are in and in when we are out. Plus I sleep on her clean clothes. Mum does some strange jumping around and then lies on the floor and lifts these heavy things. I try and join in but she gets annoyed so we get a chewy - result!
Later we get to go out again, if lucky we may go to the beach! Back home I make sure I roll around all the beds to get the sand out of my fur. Then dinner yum nom nom nom.
Mum starts getting busy in the kitchen, my brother starts getting in her way, my sister comes down and they sit watching this colourful box, eating and talking. If an animal appears on it i get very excited and bark. We cuddle with my sister. Sometimes we get a bite of her food too. Then later out back for business then mum says time to go to bed and we snuggle up.

We've an old Beagle, 11
Every morning I take him out for a wee when I get up then he comes in and takes his favourite toy upstairs and Wales everyone up
3 days a week DH takes him for a 40 min early walk before work
He gets a feed when I'm out of the shower or after I've had breakfast, depends how long since he's had his walk
Spends the morning sleeping anywhere in the house occasionally opening his eyes to see if we're still around
Same 3 days he gets an afternoon walk for about 30 mins to walk and train, he doesn't ever bark at all, but he fidgets endlessly until we take him out.
Back home for a sleep
Late afternoon he plays with the children and they train him
Sits as close as allowed to me in the kitchen while I cook until I remember to get a DC to feed him and take him out to poop
Watches us eat
Sleeps until 9.30 when we take him out to wee
Snuggles on sofa with us
Dental stick and treat bribe to get him into bed around 10.30
4 days a week he has one long lazy walk to meet other dogs rather than 2 mid length walks.

I put off getting a dog for years, everyone else was really keen, I haven't regretted it at all! He completes our family :)

I have a (10 week) puppy, but I'm going to post anyway in the hope that I can help you persuade DH that even puppies aren't just mental all the time! A day in the life of BaskinPup looks something like this (though it will change next week when she can go for walks).

7am - Wake up. Wake humans up with copious kisses and tail wagging (we don't crate train and she sleeps in our room).

7.15am - Out to toilet, then in for breakfast.

7.30am - become very excited every time a small human comes downstairs because I was worried they'd disappeared forever overnight. Play with them all/occasionally steal their slippers.

8.15am - ring bell to tell humans I need to go out. Do the smallest wee possible, to prove a point, then run around chasing birds for 10 minutes.

8.30am - Sleep. Being a puppy is very tiring.

11am - wake up. Out to toilet. Play with whichever small human I can persuade to pay attention to me. Sometimes have 5-10 minutes training time with Mum/Dad if they can get away from work.

12pm - lunch time! Yay! Get excited, eat virtually nothing, because I like to worry Mum and I prefer treats. Obv.

12.30pm - Sleep.

2pm - Wake up. Out to toilet. Play with humans. Do some more training. I can already do Sit, Paw and Down, so my humans are trying to teach me Stay. I don't want to.

3pm - Get very excited by smallest humans returning from school. Go out to toilet again. To chase birds

4pm - Sleep

5.30pm - Wake up, out to toilet. Have some dinner, play with humans. "Help" humans to have a quick hoover/clear up round the house. "Help" put smallest humans to bed by giving them many kisses. Out to toilet. Play some more.

7pm - Sleep until about 10pm. At 10pm I shall go to the toilet outside, check for birds, have a small supper, possibly play for a little while, then go back to sleep. 12am somebody takes me out, then I sleep all night.

It's really not that bad. But I'm aware we've had an unusually easy time with her so far! Never had a poo indoors and only 3/4 tiny wees which were our fault for not paying enough attention to her cues. Haven't had one at all for about a week - and she's still tiny!

I wake up, join him on the sofa (where he slept) until I've had my coffee (he grabs a few more zeds) and we go out when he wakes up for an hour or 2. He has his breakfast when he gets back, but won't eat it out the bowl - he grabs a mouthful of biscuits then runs into the living room and drops it on the floor to eat from there...

Then he just chills out or plays with one of the cats, who loves him, until 5-ish when we go out again for about half an hour, then his dinner. Afterwards he likes some games which involve me throwing his wubbler ball down the stairs (sometimes the cat will push the ball down the stairs for him ) or play-fighting, or just joyously writhing around on his back and grunting. I try to get a bit of training in where appropriate in the day too.

I go to bed leaving the smelly bugger on the sofa (cat wouldn't like him in the bed)

Sometimes wake Human in the night cos I need a pee, or because I am cold and want her to place my blanket over me, otherwise sleep soundly and do enjoy a lie in if Human has one. Always want a big long walk when Human does get up, including extensive ball play and off lead racing around with my local mated. A good two hours is best, otherwise I'm a yappy restless pita when we are back home. I'm very attention seeking and needy and like to know where my Human is at all times, although I am very good in the house if I am left for a couple of hours. After my walk I play 'find and kill' my toy squeaky octopus for about twenty minutes, until my Human refuses to cooperate cos she wants her porridge and coffee, so then I eat my breakfast. I have a delicate stomach and have to have home cooked meat and vegetables. I'm intolerant of chicken, don't recognise kibble as edible as well as most tinned dog foods. The tinned stuff I do like makes me ill. I didn't take to raw food either. I then have a snooze preferably in a patch of sunlight or mooch around the house following my human if she is doing anything interesting. I also bark at anything and everything real or imagined. I like to jump up and down when post comes through the door, but it'd not so much fun since my human installed a cage to catch the letters. She does usually give me the daily pizza menu to rip up.
In the afternoon we go for another short walk. Then dinner and then a chew, then sleep. And repeat. 365 days a year regardless of the weather.

Our Jack Russell sometimes goes out for a wee about 8 ish and then stays in bed under duvet until about 9ish !!I put breakfast down but she usually ignores it .
About 10 we go out for walk 30-60 mins .
Yaps at anyone walking past our house and waits in anticipation for the postman .
Attacks whatever comes in through the letterbox and then snoozes for the rest of the day.
If I am not working I take her out sometime during the afternoon.
Supper about 6 ish and then goes to bed whatever time I go .
Sleeps all night.
She is my best friend and we all love her sooo much 💕