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Hi all, my partner and I recently adopted a puppy a few days ago and now we’re trying to figure out a proper schedule for him. This is what I have tentatively planned, but any and all advice/constructive criticism is appreciated! He’s 3-5 months old (surrender papers and adoption papers are listing different birthdays: his surrender papers have him at 5 months and his adoption papers from the shelter we got him at has him at 3 months) and we think he’s some sort of terrier mixed with chihuahua. Of course this isn’t something set in stone, and variations are going to happen but in general, we’d like to keep it around similar guidelines.

-7:15/7:30am – wake up, bathroom walk only

-8:00am – breakfast, play (tug of war, fetch to spend energy)

-9:00am-10:00 – longer walk (bathroom, explore/get used to city sights, sounds and smells) or if weather is bad, just enough time to relieve himself and then play indoors*

-10:00am-12:00 – naptime/quiet time in crate

-12:00pm – bathroom walk after waking up, lunch (frozen kong with a kibble-wet food-water mixture if he’s able to engage with it?), play

-1:30pm-2:30 – longer walk (or bathroom walk/indoor play if weather is bad*)

-2:30pm-4:30 – naptime/quiet time in crate

-4:30 – bathroom walk, play (training session?)

-6:00pm – dinner and then hang out in crate with maybe a treat while we get dinner/eat

-7:00pm – out of crate and playtime

-7:45/8:00pm – last walk of the night (put away living room floor bed+blanket/most toys before leaving so he’s encouraged to seek warmth and coziness in his crate and not in the living room)

-8:30pm/9:00 – wind down and bedtime (no engagement except for pets and redirecting to a chewing toy if teething is especially bothersome)

*check on him around 10/11 and see if he’s up (bathroom walk if so but if laying down/lazy, let sleep through the night)

He usually knows to go into his crate after a walk although I’m not sure if he’s fully napping in there or not. We cover the sides of the crate with a blanket since we do that before bedtime as well to hopefully associate the blanket covering as time to sleep. He’s certainly curling up and laying down so he seems to be relaxing in there at the very least, but will react at times to noises/will track us when we walk around, and sometimes will be sitting up in front of the crate door just an hour later. I’m concerned that he’s not getting as much total sleep as a growing puppy should.

Thank you all for your help!

Does anyone have tips for introducing their nervous puppy to camping? I have a 13 week old australian shepherd who barks at new objects in the house, and is overall scared of everything (except dogs). I've been working on his confidence every day – taking him to home depot, he gets short walks around the apartment complex where he sees people and dogs, goes in the car everyday, goes through the drive thru, and goes to a puppy class twice a week. Obviously, he is not fully vaccinated and not going to the woods to camp. I just want to introduce him to "camping" in the house. I used to have a rescue dog who was terrified of camping gear to the point of attacking it out of fear, and I don't want that to happen to my puppy too.

Currently, I have sleeping bags, inflatable sleeping pads, and a tent in the living room that I kind of shuffle around, open/close during the day while he's in his pen. Currently, he is barking bloody murder at the inflatable sleeping pad because it inflates, which is understandably scary to a new puppy. I haven't even started constructing the tent because I know he will be terrified of it.

How did you adjust your nervous puppy to camping gear? I want him to be able to camp with me when he grows up and not be terrified of all the gear like my last dog was.

Thanks!

So my 4 month old puppy has been doing well with potty training and pen training until recently. I work 12 hour shifts 4 days a week and am paying my best friend to come take him out to go outside at minimum 2 times a day. So he goes out at 5am(quick pee) 6:40-7:10am (long walk/ sniff time), around noon (walk/play), between 4-5pm (walk and play), 8:30pm(quick pee before dinner), around 9pm (semi long walk/sniff time). He normally only pees on the pee pads in his pen once throughout the day and normally leaves them alone. Today when I was looking at the camera to check on him I saw him dragging the pads around his pen area and it looked like from my angle that he was chewing on the corners. My friend will be there in a few minutes and has been instructed to just remove them and not put new ones down for now. I guess my questions after this long winded explanation is: Can I spray bitter spray on the puppy pads or would that deter him from using it if he needs to? His pen is on vinyl flooring so its not that big of a deal if I need to just stop using them because I mop his pen area every night with enzyme stuff anyways. Also I would like to add that he does have a plethera of toys available to him in his pen (I did take out the teething keys he had because he chewed off a piece and choked when I was home but he does have kongs that get filled and freezed so he has one everyday)

Hi, 16 week old puppy is almost potty trained(have’t had accidents in last 3 weeks) but there is one exception- there are two carpets in my house, whenever he goes there he pees even if he just took break. I blocked the access to the area to give him more time for training but no luck.. the moment he gets access he does the same. I have cleaned the carpet throughly(with enzyme cleaner). He has access to other carpets in the house and he doesn’t repeat this on those carpet.

I just discovered my girl does. Calmed her down and put her right to sleep. So cute.🥰🥰

Hello. I will most likely adopt a doberman and I want to know how to prepare/train them. Our house has two floors and has a big balcony but I will also be taking him out for walks/runs like everyday. We do have a cat but he's rarely home. One of my worries is that I'm mostly at school most of the day (from about 6:40 to 16:30) and I want to bond with them. Is it possible? Should I look for another breed? I really want a doberman.

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.

Hi everyone! Does anyone else feel like all they are doing is running around say no all the time to the puppy to make sure they are safe and keep their noses out of anything that can harm them? Also the constantly running after them making sure they aren’t peeing where they aren’t supposed to? It’s tiring 🤦‍♂️🤣🤷‍♂️

We got a a lab/blue heeler mix puppy when he was 8 weeks old. He had a great temperament, letting kids pet and play with him, letting us all pick him up, etc. Ever since getting him though, he resource guards really badly. He has snapped at my kids twice now when he thought they were taking something from him but they were just going to pet his back. This is normal behavior I know but not acceptable. He has not broken skin with a bite but has aggressively "warning" snapped at them, scratching their skin. He doesnt do it to my husband or i but does it to our kids and our older dog. Please help. We love him but we cannot have this behavior like this. The kids didnt even try to take away what he had, he just thought they would. I am about to sign him up for puppy training classes but what do I do in the meantime at home?