Teenager Daily Routines? Will you share yours

[Looe]

Pearly very helpfully suggested sharing your routines if you feel comfortable doing so 
Our 9 month old boys routine could probably do with being more routine! For everyone's sake 
I'm curious how much crate time you give yours and do you do directly after walks/exercise or play 
and how do you entice them back in the house, we can never get Digs back in even for a favourite squeaker  Thanks

[JohnMcL]

Hi Looe,
Big thanks for posting about Digs, Pearly’s advice has helped me too and I’m subscribing to the training app she has recommended.
I work from home so fortunately am with pup 24/7. Nutty is 19 weeks. Without a rigid routine (with flexible start) I’d not cope as work is very, very busy.

8am - up and out door fast for pee walk, breakfast, 30 min activity. My own bladder control has been trained!!!
9am- Nap on floor or In crate. I’m not bothered as I need the easiest route to start work.
11:45- Walk, lunch, 30 min activity.
13:00 - Nap in crate.
16:00 - Walk, dinner, activity.
17:00 - Nap in crate.
19:30 - 23:30 - Walk,activity, supper, cuddles, TV, chill out until bed.
The above might swing up to an hour either way because I don’t set an 8am alarm. We usually wake up anytime from 7.15 to 8.30. Sometimes I have to work late nights, I try to keep Nutty up and we’ll get up later the next day.
Nutty wouldn’t take every nap if not encouraged, I’m sure about that! She would also do far more walking but I’m trying to keep to the 5mins/month advice. The crate is next to my desk so she can see/hear me. I rarely close the crate door and I try to keep the crate as exciting as possible.

I’ve got a lead which fastens around my waist, it’s for running but I use it around the house, it’s about 2.5 metres long, it keeps Nutty close. It has helped with training, I often give her something to carry whilst doing household chores like carrying dirty socks to washer etc.
I try and keep her attention and make things fun/involve her with boring daily stuff we all do but I don’t have kids to look after so prob have less to juggle than you.

I hope this helps, Digsby sounds like an intelligent and fun puppy!

John.

[Pearly]

A few observations -

1 Great routine and pretty much what we do now with ours at 2.5, 6.5, 7 and 11 years old.  We must be bonkers but the next generation is in the planning stage…. The youngest dog asks to go back to her crate at 8pm taking the 6.5 year old with her 

2 Brilliant idea regarding the long line/house lead for recall.  You (aimed at the reader not so much John) can practice recall in the house - use your dogs name and the command of choice (come, here etc) and reward when they come directly to you - and it must be immediate, encourage with the long line until they get the message, by gently reeling them in - they should be facing you, sat down, with their nose up against your thighs and physically as close as possible before rewarding.  Make sure you make that reward proportionate - from silly squeaky voices to lots of fuss, to full-on body rubs and getting down on the floor to celebrate with them!  When you don’t need to make such a big deal of getting it right, try outside.  Once the two of you have nailed recall in the house and garden, try elsewhere.  The important bit is that it needs to be a learned behaviour, not a choice thing - it’s repetitive but every minute spent on training now will pay for its self as your pup gets older.

3 Fantastic name for a cocker spaniel!

I’d be interested to learn how you get on with the online application?  I can imagine it will be very good indeed but have not subscribed and would appreciate your feedback so I can make more informed recommendations (or potentially, not) in the future.

Great job with Nutty,

Jayne