What does your dog do all day?

[Chipshopflipshop]

We have a 20month old old cockapoo, we rescued her as a puppy so she's been with us since she was 3 months.
She's always been full on as cockapoos tend to be, needy, hard to tire, and basically just the third child in our house. We got her after all the lockdowns but I was still WFH everyday so spent a lot of time with her, although as time went by I went to the office more so she's used to being alone.
Now I'm working in the office and home 50/50, the days I'm at home she is a torture. She never likes down and sleeps, always hoking about, pawing at me, staring at me, it's driving me nuts!! She gets an hour off lead walk in the morning and again when I finish for the day at 4pm plus a bit of training with the ball, but I honestly believe she thinks that my only purpose in life should be to walk her. She has loads of enrichment toys, snuffle mat, puzzles, chews etc but she just walks around aimlessly like a caged animal, she doesn't want to go outside either.

So tell me, what does your dog do while your WFH? What am I doing wrong??

She's the best dog in other ways, so friendly and well trained, great recall etc

Greyhound. He sleeps.

A friend was once getting a spaniel cross puppy and asked if I'd be interested in one of the others in the litter. She seemed taken aback at how loudly I laughed!

Similar here, 18 month old springer and we used to try to do too much in the morning and during the day to tire her out until we realised we were overstimulating her.
She would get zoomies and we thought it was because she had energy to burn but she was actually overtired.

She now gets brought out in the morning and then she's on the other side of glass doors while I work so she can see me but isn't right beside me. She chills and sleeps until she gets a quick off lead run and some cuddles at lunchtime, then she does the same all afternoon. Potters around a bit if she gets bored but she's so much more settled.

I should add, my two have the odd manic 10 minute play. Then sleep again.

Our 5-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi hangs out with DH most of the time. He's retired so he is home quite a bit. He takes her for a long walk every day, takes her to the park, etc. I work from home most days, so sometimes we go out to lunch at a dog-friendly restaurant, and she goes with us. When DH goes out without her, she sits near my desk or naps on a sofa in my home office.

@Mumsafan sounds like a dream! Mine is similar but also barks at the foxes which taunt her in the evenings!

My spaniel is just over a year. So still mental as spaniels are. Depends on the day but for the most part he will play with me when I get up. A but if tug of war. Then he’ll go for a wander round the house. Maybe nap in the lounge or under my desk. He’s quite predictable so at 11am we are like oh puppy nap time. Then he’ll have a walk and a play at lunch and then after work. In the evening we do a bit of training and then he just snoozes or just follows us about to see what we’re doing.

He can have some needy days when he just sits at our desks and cries but we just give him a lick mat or just ignore him so as not to reinforce it.

Sleeps but he's 11 now, but even when he was young and we were in the office ft he slept, dog walker the middle of the day, more sleep.

Mine sleep a lot. It is fortuitous that I happen to adore a large breed that is very lazy, lol. They play for a bit, go out for walks, get cuddles, etc but basically snooze for large chunks of the day.

Up, breakfast, morning ablutions in the garden. Takes refuge on the sofa to avoid the school run madness. Our for his morning walk across the fields with DH while I do the school run. Back in, onto the sofa, snoozes most of the morning until his lunchtime walk. Then it’s back to the sofa, until it starts to get dark at this time of year when he has dinner and then generally moves over to the fireplace and gives the log basket meaningful looks until we light it for him. He then circulates the room, staying by the fire until he melts then moving away to cool off, repeat until bed. He obviously is let into the garden as often as required and gets plenty of snuggles as and when. Barks at people coming up the driveway then brings them his best toy when you actually open the door. That sort of thing. Some mornings he’ll come for a run with me in lieu of one of his walks.

20-ish month working lab. He has a pretty good life.

We have a rescue that is 18 months old. We got her when she was 8 months. She’s a Staffie x Border Collie and is a super chilled dog. She gets a 45 minute walk in the morning on lead. The afternoon we take her to the river for 1.5 - 2 hours. Between that she sits/sleeps near whoever is around or just chills by herself, sometimes with Dog Music on YT.

Ours is a small Jack Russell I involve her in everything she has a space on my desk in our office and sleeps there while I'm working. She helps empty washer and the dryer. She has lots of little jobs she loves doing things like collecting the post and will also fetch my slippers and various other items. Every day at 3pm we play for an hour in the garden She's very content and relaxed . I find having a good routine helps .

9 months old poodle/lab/golden retriever mix.

He's only ever known me wfh.

He's given the run of the house, but chooses to sleep either in the dining room or bottom of stairs whilst I work.

Will sometimes come up to see what I'm up to.

We go out for a walk at lunch time, and then he'll sleep again until i finish.

I assume he's asleep, he might just be chilling out. He's very good at trotting off to choose a toy and entertaining himself.

I have a Patterdale border cross. She walks when out but then sleeps.

I have a 2 year old working cocker.

He comes out for a run with me in the morning (off lead for him so he does his own thing, sniffing etc). Has Breakfast, goes to sleeps for the rest of the morning. If DH is home is WFH he gets a little lunchtime walk, if not he stays asleep. Sleeps the afternoon away in a sunny spot by the patio doors. He gets another walk in the afternoon, usually with the ball launcher which he loves. In the evenings he mooches around the kitchen hoping for dinner droppings, licking the dishes before they go in the dishwasher, just doing whatever we are doing really. Sleeps on the sofa while I give DD a bath, then comes up and sleeps on the bed while I read to her, then he gets sent downstairs when I put her to bed and just curls back up on the sofa and that’s it until bedtime.

Oh and mine likes to go to bed at 9pm on the dot too. She goes and get her ‘pilly’ which means she’s ready for sleep. She sucks it like a dummy until she asleep.
Today was a really busy day for her. Out to breakfast with us, then the morning at the beach, two car trips in the afternoon, so she was ready for bed at 8pm.

She sleeps in her basket next to my desk. Interspersed with mooning around after the cats (who do NOT want to be her friend), and the odd burst of energy playing with her toys. But mostly she sleeps. And after work, she decamps to the sofa, where she...sleeps!

She's a 2 year old Jack Chi, gets an hour long walk daily, plus another short one in the evening if the weather meets with her approval. She runs about like a loony with other dogs on her longer walk, and has bursts of manic playtime with her toys, but sleeping is definitely her favourite hobby.

Mine is five now.

He'll sleep until we get up - some days that's 6am other days it's 10am - he doesn't care either way!

Then it's breakfast and back on the sofa for a nap 🙄 before he gets a walk at some point - that could be anytime between 7am and midday, though normally it's around 9-10ish.

Back home and he has a chew and another nap until lunch, then he normally explored the garden for a bit and then sleeps the day away! Sometimes he gets a second walk around 6ish but generally not and he's not fussed either way.

I'd say you need to teach your dog to settle and how to switch off - it's a vital skill and comes in useful in lots of different scenarios and situations.

Yes, some of her behaviour will be because she's young but dogs don't automatically know to be quiet and sleep - you need to teach them.

Thanks everyone, sone really helpful points about overstimulation, maybe I need to just lick her in the kitchen again with a few toys, I just feel bad for her too as she loves being with me so much.

Some of you are very lucky, I did hope by this age she'd be a bit more snoozy in the daytime, we wanted a lazy sighthound but I am allergic to dogs so a cockapoo seemed to be a good option (and she doesn't annoy my allergies at all lol).

I have a Sprocker.
He was exactly the same OP until he turned about two and then he finally 'got it.'
We also really tried to work on consequences. Not punishment at all but always good behaviour = good things.
So for example I'd wait for him to lay down in a sulk before I got up to go for a walk. So just a teeny glimmer of 'good' before doing the fun things. And that helped with making sure he offered good behaviours.

But.. when he is awake he expects to be entertained. He's always ready to be entertained and I don't think he'll ever go off and play by himself. The difference is now he'll chill a bit more.

I think it's just the personality. The plus side of this behaviour he is the most fun dog I've ever had. Such a warm and loving personality. Everyone loves him.

Walk in the morning and then sleep almost of the day. In and out of the garden and mooches about a bit.

Mine is 9 months old and a toy breed. Being a companion breed he always wants to be with me, but will settle and sleep when I need him to.

I taught him to ‘settle’ from the off and he knows when I give him the cue he’s not going to get any attention, so will snuggle down and sleep. If I move he’s up and off again, but happy to settle in between.

Once you have started teaching the settle, you could try ‘hatting’ which is essentially teaching a visual cue (such as wearing a specific hat, hence the name) that means whenever it’s in sight your dog won’t get any attention so may as well settle down. There’s good advice on how to do it in the Dog Training Advice and Support Facebook Group. You need to join and read through the compulsory guides before you can post and ask the admins for support, but they are usually spot on with their advice and guidance. The Hatting game is in Guide 9.

My dog is the same age as yours @Chipshopflipshop He's an Australian Shepherd. DH and I both work full time but we are fortunate to work from home much of the time. One of us takes the dog for a walk in the morning, depending on the day it can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Then he chills out, sleeping, playing a bit, looking out the window at the birds. In the late afternoon the dog gets some sort of active exercise/play for 40 minutes to an hour. That might be romping about in the fields. Weather permitting, he loves to swim. Or we might arrange for him to play with some dog friends. Then he is quite content to relax for the rest of the day/evening. He wants to be close to us but he doesn't demand attention. DH always takes him for a short quiet walk before bed.

I think it's definitely worthwhile training dogs to settle. For a dog like mine, it would be impossible to tire him out either physically or mentally. But we can say, "Place" and he will go to his bed. A lot of people on MN love the Facebook group Dog Training Advice and Support. I'm not a fan of everything they say, but they have some good material called something like "The lounge is for lounging."

Barks. At me, at DH, at the DC, at the cat, at birds in the garden, at birds not in the garden, at the sky, at other dogs he can hear, at his own reflection...

He gets plenty of exercise, attention and stimulation. He just really likes to bark!

At this time of year my 18 month collie has an hour of ball chasing, then naps on the rug by my desk, unless someone walks past the house in which case she barks furiously then comes over for a quick hug.

In the summer the back door is open, so we have less barking and more snoozing on the grass. If I get up she escorts me to the kitchen, but otherwise she just chills until it's time for the school run.

That's the reason why I did my research and chose a sighthound as she sleeps the majority of the day l😃 😀