Hi. Started to get paranoid about Amber's routine. Just about 4 months old now. We're generally up at 6.45am - toilet, breakfast and play til 8am. Then nap in crate til 10am ish, walk followed by training and play. Nap in crate while I do errands. Lunch at 1 followed by a nap (as a tiny puppy she threw up a few times from post meal crazy behaviour hence why I try to rest her after eating). We have an afternoon walk/garden play time. Tea at 7 followed by a nap and sometimes a third walk. Bed between half 10 and 11, water taken up at bedtime. I feel like she gets crated a lot but she is v rarely awake in crate. Normally will settle after 5 mins unless we're being noisy and exciting in the next room. Sometimes when she's a horrible crocodile I try to give her a short crate time out with a treat but often she falls asleep so I just leave her in. She's a happy content puppy from what I can tell. Learns well (about from re not biting us) and doesn't seem to mind us going out for 2-3 hrs (no accidents in crate and no noise when I've left something recording to check). House training wise she's great had 2 accidents in first fortnight but been perfect since even started asking to go out by sitting on doormat - even though it's hot I've made a point of closing the door so she doesn't just wander in and out. Does that all sound about right? I'd love to crate her less but she isn't good at settling in the lounge with us yet and she is happy in her crate. Exercise wise I know the concerns but the 5 minute rule is very much ignored in our house. She'd be a lunatic on that little. We don't work her hard - 2 or 3 20-40 minute walks - slow paced with some off lead/some fetch/some recalls all on flat. We avoid stairs. Is it a case of if it's not broke don't fix it? Or are there ways I can tweak her routine to improve it? I don't start my first vet job til September and when I do my rota is a three weekly rotation of a week of nights, a week off and a week of days - so between my boyfriend and I there will only be one week in 3 where she'll be left for longer periods and we have a doting puppy grandma who is happy to do some toilet breaks and playtimes .
Re: Routine - too much crate time? All sounds perfectly fine to me I don't think that is too much crate time. You have it all pretty well sorted, I would say!
Re: Routine - too much crate time? Ok. Thanks. Think it's the worries of being a first time owner. I've not seen the long term results of what I'm doing before. I guess I just need to remember some people go out to work and have a puppy whereas Amber has an almost full time mummy /human chew toy at the moment - spoilt pup ;-)
Re: Routine - too much crate time? I think your routine sounds great and you've got a happy contented puppy x
Re: Routine - too much crate time? Looks like a good routine from here too! We were very similar, and up to around 6 months, much of "downtime"was in the crate, then this gradually extended to dozing in the lounge in the evenings with us and only in the crate when we had our dinner. Now at 8 months he goes in his crate when it suits him, and at night to sleep
Re: Routine - too much crate time? Don't worry about it. We were having a tidy up and Molly's old, first size crate was on the lawn. Molly had decided to settle down in it. Doesn't really fit her anymore, more a case of wearing it than being in it☺️
