A ‘suggested’ Puppy routine…… 💁🏻♀️
The first, and most important point, to highlight to ALL new owners, is that, in a litter, pups pretty much only get up and are brought out at mealtimes. And I mean that virtually up to the day you collect. So if they are fed 4 times a day, they will be up for maybe an hour and a half, start to finish each time.
So that’s around 6 hours, max, a day. Nighttime, last feed? They are rarely awake for more than 45 minutes. They are ready for bed pretty quick!
My kennel dogs? From 12 weeks to upgrading to living in the house, when they hit ‘double figures’….. They are out 4 times a day for around 30/45 minutes a time. They are in, quiet, settled, content…. and mostly asleep for the other 20/22 hours in a day.
My point being? If your dog is working on almost any other routine, it is generally overstimulated and operating on overtired.
Now obviously adult dogs, can adjust to less sleep, than *that* perfectly fine. But I can assure you puppies don’t.
So, remember, like with ANY young mammal, an overtired puppy ESPECIALLY one just out of the litter between 8 and 12 weeks or so will respond extremely badly, to being overstimulated and not given ‘bed boundaries’.
And besides? Why on EARTH would you keep a pup on the go? Put it in its crate. Of course it will yowl and moan, they do in the litter! but no one took any notice of them squalling and complaining *then*, so don’t start doing so now! They soon fall off to sleep! Just turn the radio up and shut the door.
Or better still go out! You don’t hear the whinging and shrieking from Tescos, trust me!! 🤣
Suggested ROUGH 8 week – 12 ish weeks. From then they should be so settled being put away you can freestyle it…. but I bet you keep the same!
* 7.30 up, wee, poo, clean crate if like most they’ve dumped overnight in it……. breakfast.
* Wander about for 1/2 – 3/4 hour after breakfast. Bit of play. Let it do it’s own thing following you about etc.
* 9am Crate till 12.30 or 1pm. (Yes it will yell. If you ignore it or go out it’ll soon stop!)
* 12.30/1 wee, poo, clean crate, ….. lunch.
* 1/2-3/4 hour play, bit of early sit and stay training. Cuddles and love time.
* 2pm back in crate till 5pm.
* 5/5.30/6pm Up, wee, poo, maybe take for a 10-25 min walk outside the house, drive somewhere give it a ten minute scamper. Home. Dinner. Give it ten mins after dinner quietly wandering about, and back in for couple hours.
* 9pm up, out, maybe 4th meal (but I don’t, I only feed 3 at any age)…. up, and time being stimulated calmly for an hour or so, maybe bit of privileges time… sofa time, lounge cuddles etc. make that special time.
IMPORTANT: Don’t make lounges ‘a right all day’. Use babygates and confine to kitchen, or one across the lounge and keep pup out lounge but can follow you everywhere else.
* 10.30 bed. Till 7.00 ish….. Get up at 3am if you REALLY want to, but make sure you set your alarm and go down when pup is silent……. DONT go down cos it started yelling for you. That’s a hiding to a broken nights sleep for a loooooong time.
BUT SHE IS CRYING BECAUSE SHE WANTS THE TOILET!
No…. Trust me, IF you take them out at 3am and they wee. Course they do. It’s the movement that stimulates the wee. They wouldn’t if needed it IF you hadn’t taken them out, they’d just have done it on their bed, if desperate, and, let’s face it, ten minutes chucking the vet bed in the washing machine next morning, is FAR better than a demanding yelling pup at 3.30am, and a lost hour/hour half sleep for you for days, possibly weeks, to come!!
RANDOM OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS….. * No real need for walks at this age. You can, but to be honest walks tend to only teach them, to drag you about, on the lead, at this age. It’s nothing to do with vaccinations etc, by all means DRIVE them places to get out and have a scamper, but lead walking as a tot, is a hiding to nothing.
* Absolutely no school runs or such hidious bad, and oversocial behaviour, inducing horrors. Unless you have the pup in the car and you drive to school and back, leaving it in it, when you drop your child off, and give it a ‘stay in the car‘ life lesson.
SO!! My point is, even this is MORE than they need, or ideally get….. I’ll wager most are reading, thinking ‘Christ! that’s not much!’
But I’m telling you…. you *might* be giving more…. but your pup will not thank you for it.
You can always ‘let the reins out’…. but if you set a high freedom and overstimulation bar from the start?….. you can never pull them back in again, easily.
Start small and BUILD up.
🐾🐾🐶🐶