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The doghouse

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Original poster

New puppy daytime schedule

126 replies

firsttimewoofy · 28/02/2021 21:16

Hello - first time dog owner and I I’m a new pup on Friday!

Ive read they needs lots if sleep, stimulation etc. So I’ve put this schedule together. Would you tell me what you think or if I’m being too optimistic? I plan on taking him out every hour for toilet breaks as well as the ones scheduled in.

8am - take pup out to potty

8:15 - pop in crate with some toys

8:45 - training session with food

9:15 - toilet break

9:30 - put in crate for nap

11 - play time in pen

12 - training session with food

2 - pop in crate for nap

3 - play time

5 - take out and about for socialisation

8 - meal

10 - crate for bed

OP posts:
Original poster
firsttimewoofy · 01/03/2021 14:22

Im obviously not going to hand feed a dog for the rest of its life.

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 01/03/2021 14:30

Totally agree with not hand feeding all the time , when we got our puppy from Battersea he was quite unwell with kennel cough and we had a lot of trouble getting him to eat anything. We resorted to feeding him wet food off a fork or spoon and it then took ages to get him back to eating from a dish , the plus side being he has amazing table manners and can eat beautifully from a fork so is ok if he goes to a restaurant for dinner .

SpreadHummusNotHate · 01/03/2021 14:36

Hand-feeding is good, it builds up the bond between you and your puppy. We have “ditched the bowl” rather than hand-feeding every morsel. Generally dogs enjoy working for their food too. We fed from a bowl for the first few days but then switched to snuffle mats + treat balls (with kibble), now we pretty much feed all her food through training and scentwork type games. Once our pup is a bit older and settled down we will start using bowls now and then but will probably continue with puzzle toys and snuffle mats etc because she loves it.

Also if mealtimes take longer than the 5 seconds to inhale food from a bowl, that’s less time available for puppy to be biting/chewing/getting into trouble.

PollyRoulson · 01/03/2021 14:37

Ignore the bollocks being spouted about handfeeding!

Hand feeding and ditching the bowl is the one best things you can do to increase you bond with your dog and spice up their life.

Dogs love to work or scavange for their food - let them.

Eating from a dish is so 1980's Smile

Original poster
firsttimewoofy · 01/03/2021 14:38

Yes that’s what I’ve read too about building up the bond, teaching bite inhibition. I think I will hand feed mainly and use bowl when it’s inconvenient. Will also get some toys/puzzler that feed too.

OP posts:
sunflowersandbuttercups · 01/03/2021 14:45

@firsttimewoofy

Im obviously not going to hand feed a dog for the rest of its life.
I think the point people are trying to make, is that if the only thing you do is feed the dog directly from your hand, you may set yourself up for some problems in the future.

Absolutely feed your dog via kongs, puzzle feeders, slow feeders and scatter feeding, but not directly from your hand every single time.

They do need to get used to bowls as well, though.

PollyRoulson · 01/03/2021 14:47

Why do dogs need to get used to bowls to eat? I guess they will drink from bowls so will all be used to using them.

Op it sounds fab what you are doing and it sounds like you have done loads of research Smile

Nogardenersworld · 01/03/2021 14:48

Fed my dog all meals in a fun way at first - through training or out the kong, or snuffle mat etc
They were very bright little things and needed to be kept occupied, but then they didn’t know how to eat out of the bowl, expected it all to be fun and games and interactive. It was only the first few weeks, whilst we were doing crate training and house training and it was all a bit intense, but it took me weeks to get them happy eating out the bowl after that
I’d make sure you do even a small amount of the daily allowance as a regular meal.

Also I’m not sure if that’s your day 1 schedule but you’ll need to build up to that, my dog hated the crate and we had to build up in increments of about 30 seconds. Yours may be fine, but just expect the worst!
And in crate playing with toys - again mine needed to be taught to play with toys. They would bite things for max one min then they were bored and wanted me to play too, so that had to be taught as well - don’t just assume you can pop them and toys in a Crate and it’ll be fine

5-8 they’re going to be extra bitey, and tired, and then quite over stimulated by socialisation, I’d suggest moving that to earlier in the day if you can.

It is quite a bit of time in a crate, also I do think 10-8 is a bit hopeful for sleep at first, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to hold their bladder that long in the early stages.

I’m assuming this is all a wish list and a guide that’s flexible, it’s nice to have a plan anyway

Vetyveriohohoh · 01/03/2021 14:51

3 meals a day and toilet breaks every 30 minutes when awake, every time pup wakes up and after every play session. I’d be surprised if pup sleeps till 8, at almost 6mo ours still needs out at 7am and you missed toilet breaks at 1am and 4am 😋

sunflowersandbuttercups · 01/03/2021 14:52

@PollyRoulson

Why do dogs need to get used to bowls to eat? I guess they will drink from bowls so will all be used to using them.

Op it sounds fab what you are doing and it sounds like you have done loads of research Smile

I guess my argument is that vets, daycares, kennels etc. often feed out of bowls and won't necessarily have the time or resources to feed via enrichment games every single time - especially when they're on a schedule and have numerous different dogs to feed in a limited time period.

You're right that dogs drink out of bowls and should be used to them in that respect, though.

WaltzingBetty · 01/03/2021 14:55

@PollyRoulson

Ignore the bollocks being spouted about handfeeding!

Hand feeding and ditching the bowl is the one best things you can do to increase you bond with your dog and spice up their life.

Dogs love to work or scavange for their food - let them.

Eating from a dish is so 1980's Smile

Where has anyone 'spouted bollocks'? Lovely approach to discussion by the wayConfused

No one has said not to hand feed. It's inevitable with training sessions etc anyway. What has been said is to ensure the pup is comfortable with a range of feeding styles including bowls and puzzle feeders.

If you think that is bollocks you've clearly never had dogs that have never learned to eat from bowls - it's an important part of habituation particularly metal bowls which are common in vet and boarding kennels for infection control and which can be rattley, noisy and very off-putting for dogs that are unused to eating from bowls.

WaltzingBetty · 01/03/2021 14:57

@PollyRoulson

Why do dogs need to get used to bowls to eat? I guess they will drink from bowls so will all be used to using them.

Op it sounds fab what you are doing and it sounds like you have done loads of research Smile

It sounds like you're pretty inexperienced with dealing with the practicalities of dogs if you cannot comprehend a situation where bowls might be required. You also don't actually seem to have read the posts that you're so keen to criticise, as I answered this question in my earlier post.
WaltzingBetty · 01/03/2021 14:59

@firsttimewoofy

Im obviously not going to hand feed a dog for the rest of its life.
Then you aren't hand feeding for enrichment. If it's to build the bond - that will happen naturally over time and tactile/visual contact and play is much more important for this than your dog always looking to you for food.
InTheNightWeWillWish · 01/03/2021 15:16

Your routine depends a lot on your pup and their personality.

Our first pup, she would have zoomies and then just crash. Literally wherever she was. Just stop and lie down to sleep. She was fine about getting enough sleep and had no trouble falling asleep if other stuff was going on. She’s quite happily fall asleep on us. Pup number 2, he’s not as good at napping. We need to put him in his crate to make him sleep, otherwise he’ll just keep going and going. We did the seeing if he’d nap on us when he was small enough to do so and he wriggled and would get bitey as he got overtired.

We use food for training. It’s not a ludicrous suggestion and you’re right OP, it does prevent them being over fed. When they’re tiny, you’re treating them for everything. So the first few weeks you’re trying to teach them name, so rewarding every time that they respond to their name. You’re also toilet training, so you’re rewarding every time they go to the toilet in the right place. You might also try and get a few sits. It’s very repetitive at that stage and it’s easy to feed too many treats. Not only can this make them overweight but it can upset their stomachs. We tend to weigh out the meals then do some training with that. So we’ll do training at breakfast and lunch then give them the rest of their meal. Maybe throw in a nicer treat if they’re struggling to do something. My dogs also have some kibble in their treat pouches, which by MN standards makes me a terrible dog owner. They also have other wonderful treats in there too but we reward a lot and do a lot of training on walks, so it’s managing their weight. You can also use their food allowance in kongs or toys. So it’s not completely ridiculous to not feed them in a bowl for every meal. Depending on the breed, you might end up doing a mixture at each meal. Our lab is currently on 170g each meal anyway as they can have a lot of food, so often about 30g goes in a bowl, 30g goes on training or is thrown on the ground for him to sniff out and the rest goes in a bowl. As it’s 170g in tiny puppy pieces, it would take us about an hour to hand feed all of it to him through training.

As you get to know your pup, you’ll start to realise when they’re tired and overtired. There’s also a difference between 1 hour, letting them do their own thing (with supervision) vs 15 minutes of training. So they might need naps at different lengths of being out depending on what they’ve been doing and the environment.

Original poster
firsttimewoofy · 01/03/2021 15:20

No, I'm not handfeeding for enrichment....I'm not even sure what that means tbh. But I will crack on and hand feed and use a bowl too at points.

Lots of dog trainers and books now advise hand feed to build bond, help with impulse control, teach bite inhibition, and train and that mentally it's good for the dog to work for the food and they enjoy it more. I've spent the last year reading and watching videos on this. Don't mean to sound rude at all, but some of the advice here does seem to be a bit dated?

But thanks for your advice though. I do plan on doing lots of play and visual contact and cuddling. So that's great. Good to know I'm on the right track!

OP posts:
sunflowersandbuttercups · 01/03/2021 15:33

Lots of dog trainers and books now advise hand feed to build bond, help with impulse control, teach bite inhibition, and train and that mentally it's good for the dog to work for the food and they enjoy it more. I've spent the last year reading and watching videos on this. Don't mean to sound rude at all, but some of the advice here does seem to be a bit dated?

You're right about all that, and nobody has said otherwise.

But people are speaking from their own experience. Your dog may, at any point, need to spend the night in the vets or the kennels where they won't be able to accommodate lots of enrichment/hand-feeding - they'll use metal bowls because it's cheap, quick and hygienic.

Nobody is saying don't ever hand feed, but you need to get them used to all different methods of feeding - by hand, scatter feeding, lick-e mats, snuffle mats, stuffed kongs and yes, out of different kinds of bowls too.

Original poster
firsttimewoofy · 01/03/2021 15:47

Thanks, yes will do.

OP posts:
BiteyShark · 01/03/2021 16:21

I think the most important thing to remember is that you can have a plan but puppies sometimes don't read the same manual so don't be upset/stressed if you have to rip up your schedule or plan when they come.

It seems so easy on paper but when they won't 'comply' with training, or are screaming their heads off and puppies are bloody loud for such a small bundle of fluff, or hanging from the blinds with their teeth (I can still remember those days) you might look back on your schedule and wonder what possessed you to get a dog 😆

Original poster
firsttimewoofy · 01/03/2021 16:37

Hahaha yes!!! It does make me very nervous!

OP posts:
WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants · 01/03/2021 16:52

@firsttimewoofy

I'm astounded that no one has pointed out your most heinous crime yet!!!!

NO PHOTO 😵

PuppyFeet · 01/03/2021 17:03

I’ve only just introduced bowl feeding to my 7 month old puppy..he’s used to kongs, snuffle mats, scatter feeding and training meals... the bowl took zero introduction! Food was gone in an instant! 😀

SummerSazz · 01/03/2021 18:10

@sunflowersandbuttercups

Oh, and there is pretty much no way your eight week old puppy will sleep quietly in a crate from 10pm-8am. No way on earth.

Ours was up at 5-6am for a good month or two and would have needed to go out probably 2-3 times in that time period.

You're getting a puppy - not a robot. They won't instantly fall into some kind of schedule you've made for them. And please, please don't make them spend all that time alone in a crate Sad

Mine did!
XiCi · 01/03/2021 18:21

You had an 8 week old puppy that slept 10-8 in a crate without needing to toilet SummerSazz?

XiCi · 01/03/2021 18:23

Reminds me of a woman in work who thought her pup didn't need to poo in the night until she got up early one morning and caught him in the act - he'd been eating it Grin

SummerSazz · 01/03/2021 19:11

@XiCi

You had an 8 week old puppy that slept 10-8 in a crate without needing to toilet SummerSazz?
10-7 but yes.