Is this enough stimulation in a day for a GR?

[naturalremedies]

My Golden has just turned 1 year old and this is her daily routine:

7.30am - breakfast
8am - 45min walk, inc. ~15 mins off lead where she gets to play with other dogs, sniff games
9am - dentastick
10am - lickimat/Kong/brief training/sniff games
12.30pm - quick walk round streets/walk round grassy area
1pm - lunch
3pm - visit to pet shop/walk round streets/training
4pm - chew treat/puzzle game/play
6pm - dinner and wind down
8pm - sleep

The reason I'm asking is ever since her first heat (about 2 months ago) she's been barking a lot in the evening in the garden at small animal intruders. When I bring her inside she's still barking and tonight she's been barking for nearly 2 hours practically non-stop.

Is this an adolescent thing or am I not providing her enough attention? I do give her an activity/attention most times when she comes to me, but lately she's been going straight to the back door and barking at birds etc. and won't stop (even distractions only work very temporarily) until she's ready to sleep. Help!

When does she rest during the day? Sounds like she might be over-stimulated? She’s only one and needs around 14-16 hours sleep a day

Shes 'on the go' an awful lot.
For comparison weve got an 18 month old collie his day is roughly:
5am - 45 min lead walk.
6am breakfast - doesnt always eat it.
Then plays / sleeps / nibbles breakfast until 12.
12 - I have lunch so we play, cuddle!
3pm - 1hr field run.
Then we train a bit / he sleeps / chills out / plays in the garden etc
5pm - tea
Then repeat play / sleep
8pm he takes himself off to bed!
10pm last walk and wee.

Maybe try and do some settle down time?

Honestly, that's way, way too much.

She needs much more sleep and down-time during the day. I would do something like:

7.30am - breakfast.
8am - walk, including plenty of off-lead time so she can run and play.
9am - chew or kong, followed by at least two hours of sleep/rest.
12.30pm - short walk.
1pm - lunch, followed by another 3-4 hours sleep.
5pm - slow, sniffy walk at her pace, in a direction of her choosing.
6pm - dinner out of a kong/lick mat to encourage her to relax.
8pm - sleep

Puppies (and one is still a puppy) need so much more sleep than we realise.

That’s a very busy day tbh

we have a ’high every breed’
they get 45mins in the morn 20mins on lead. 20 off

2 x 10 training sessions on my break: and an occasional 20min sniffy walk in the afternoon if the morning walk was shorter.

once or twice a week they’ll get a natural type chew

that’s it, they spend the day asleep by my feet

Wow, thanks everyone, and I was worried I wasn't giving her enough to do!

She only sleeps about 1 hour in the morning and maybe an hour or two in the afternoon (but since her heat she seems to miss one or the other in favour of messing about in the garden).

She sleeps like an angel for 12 hours a night though.

I'll get working on some settling down time between walks.

You should be having a longer gap between food and exercise

My 18 month GR sleeps from 9-12:30 and then from 2:30-6:00 and then from 9pm through to 7:30 am.

Cut out the dentastix.

Use the puzzle toys for meals not as an extra.

I would drop the lunchtime walk but give a longer more off lead walk in the afternoon.

AS others have said, I think you're overdoing it a bit.

I have high-drive, high-energy gundogs and they sleep a lot in the day.
They get a 35-45 minute morning walk, followed by breakfast at about 8.30, and then snooze and potter until about 12, when they get 10-20 minutes walk. More sleeping and pottering until mid/late afternoon (depending on when it get dark) when they get either a 15-30 minute walk or (more often) 20-30 minutes individual training time (heelwork, stop whistle, retrieving, basic obedience, various games). They then come home for dinner and conk out for the evening, rousing only to investigate any cooking or eating that might be going on, check up on visitors etc.

They solicit (and often get) attention during the day, and sometimes play with each other. If they seem bored and I've got the time, we'll do some random training in the house.

Some days are a bit different, but that's the usual pattern.

But they sleep A LOT.

That day sounds exhausting and way too stimulating.

Are you retired or not working?
I don't know how you manage to focus on your dog that much.

The dog needs to be left alone and left to sleep/snooze and also so they don't freak out if you need to go out without them or your routine changes.

My dog sleeps the entire day the 2 days I work out of the home. I think it's great, she needs time to decompress from the weekend and process. It makes her a calmer happier dog and she can cope without me there, in fact on the days I'm getting ready to go for work she takes herself off to sleep in her bed before I leave