Hi everyone. We have had our 8 week old black lab puppy (Charlie) for 3 days and he is doing very well! We have a 12 year old black lab (Ben) who is being very tolerant but we are just looking for some advice about morning routines - if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated! Both dogs sleep in our conservatory; Ben in his basket, Charlie in his crate. Ben is used to getting up whenever the rest of the house is ready - about 7-9am - and expects to be fed breakfast as soon as someone is awake at that time! However, Charlie's little bladder means that he is whining for the toilet anywhere from 4-5.30am. We fully understand that puppies mean early mornings! But when we go down to let Charlie out to pee, Ben expects to be fed, and Charlie wants to start the day! We are trying to keep Charlie awake at night as long as possible but he is usually asleep at 10pm and can't be convinced to go pee any time after that. So far we have been waiting until Charlie is awake an hour before he is fed (about 5/6am), but this obviously means his daily routine starts early so ends early (with dinner at 7pm). We would like to introduce a routine of feeding both dogs at 7am and just wanted to know if this would be possible? Is there any way we can get Charlie to stay up later (up to midnight) so he wakes up later? Can we push back his meals a bit each day so he is up later and later in the evening? Should we just be getting up to let him pee in the early morning, and then crating him until breakfast for both dogs at 7? (Bit worried Ben will think we are favouring the puppy if he doesn't get fed when we are in to let Charlie out in the morning!) Hope this makes sense amidst all the questions! Any help would be really kind.
Welcome to the forum and congrats on your beautiful new pup I'd just take Charlie out to wee at 5am then crate him again. He might need another trip out at 6 if he stays awake, but see how he goes. If he does he can go back in the crate again after. Serve breakfast to both dogs at 7am, on your schedule. You can gradually make these morning wee trips later as Charlie's bladder can handle it (he already doing amazingly well for his age). Ben won't feel jealous or ignored if you get up to take Charlie out to wee. Make the whole thing very low fuss and low key. Both dogs will get used to the new routine if you make it consistent.
Yes, when I get a new pup I feed both dogs at 7:30am from day 1. That way, the pup learns that 'up for a wee' doesn't mean 'up for a feed'. The older dog learns that nothing interesting happens at puppy-pee times ...
My feeding routine is - 7:30am 11:30am 3:30pm 7:30pm for the pup. Tatze gets fed at 7:30am and 7:30pm and gets a Kong when the pup is fed at the other times. I don't vary these times, if I am out with the pup I take their meal with me. ...
You will find that the pup will begin to sleep later and later. When my pup woke that early, I took him out in the garden for a time and left the two adults in the house, put pup back in to sleep and fed them all at about 8.30am when the adults were normally fed.
Wow thank you everyone for the responses! Really helpful. We will start tomorrow morning with implementing this routine so fingers crossed it goes well!! Preparing ourselves for a bit of a sulky older dog until he learns that 5am is not breakfast time!
