It’s no secret that dogs love routine and thrive when it is set and remains just about the same every day. I have a specific routine that the girls and I do every day and I don’t think about it much because it has now become ingrained into MY schedule as well.
I was having a conversation about this with a coworker the other day whose parents had gone on vacation and left very specific instructions for their three dogs. I thought to myself that I didn’t have such a crazy schedule, but now that we are planning on leaving town for a few days and having the dogs stay with family, I realize that maybe my routine is a little crazy as well.
Our schedule is as follows:
WEEKDAYS (MON-FRI)
- 5:00 am – Paddington wakes me up and we get up and let the dogs out to pee (we will continue to do this very early until Corduroy is fully housetrained). Once they are done peeing they come back in, get a small treat and we go back to bed. They are very good about going back to bed.
- 7:00 am – Get up. I get ready and then let the dogs out again. Then they come back in and have half a spoonful of plain yogurt mixed with half a spoonful of 2% cottage cheese mixed together. Paddington gets a bit of liquid glocosamine mixed into hers. They have to be done on separate plates and the dogs have to sit before they are allowed to eat. After they are done, they both get one baby carrot. Corduroy takes extra long to eat hers so Paddington comes back and I give her another one.
- 7:40 am – I give them each a treat and I leave for work.
- 12:30 pm – Thomas takes Corduroy out for a mid-day pee. Paddington usually chooses not to come out as she doesn’t need to go yet.
- 4:30 pm – I get home from work and let the dogs out. They come back in and get a spoonful each of Tripett. Corduroy gets some of her eye stain remover stuff mixed in. This is their favourite time of day as they LOVE Tripett.
- 10:00 pm – We let them out to go pee before bed. Usually if we don’t go to bed right away we will let them out again, but 10pm has become the set time.
WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS
Same basic schedule as the weekday one, except the second step doesn’t happen until later as we like to sleep in a bit.
Every time they do their business outside, they come in, sit and get a treat. If I am cooking in the kitchen with cheese, I usually give them a little bit.
The dogs usually remind me if I have missed something in the schedule.
Do you have a daily routine that you follow for you and your pooch? Leave your answers in the comments below.
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Liz Bradley is a dog lover who lives in Ottawa, Ontario with her husband,
3 Users Responded in " Do you have a routine for your dog? "
Our schedule looks similar. We go for a walk around 10pm and, before we go, I normally am on the computer. Well, she knows that when she hears the laptop close (it makes a ‘click-click’ sound), it’s time to go. She could be dead asleep but when she hears ‘click-click’ she pops up and heads for the door…cutest thing.
Our dogs have a pretty good schedule, and Zoey (our golden who graced this blog not too long ago) knows exactly when dinner time is and waits in front of the food door…just to make sure we don’t forget! haha If it’s within 10-15 minutes of the 12 hours we feed her (twice and day morning and night) she knows it’s time for the next meal.
But there’s no exact time we feed them everyday. Sometimes our morning walks are longer so it’s a bit later (or earlier) We try to keep a somewhat regular schedule but every day is different. But Zoey definately knows whether it’s been 12 hours regardless, food is the most important part of the day for her
Love the photo of your pooches Liz, cute! If that was my dogs, Mittan would have full access to the plate while poor Zoey is forced to watch (drooling)
Our schedule is fairly standard for weekdays, weekends may very a little, but not much.
Somehow Samuel knows when it’s a weekend and wakes us up early. I think it’s revenge for the 5 weekdays we woke him up…
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