Is this a good routine for my new 4 month old puppy?

I’ve been reading a ton of books and posts here and feel prepared for my puppy, but now that I’m putting it into action I’m worried I’ll start bad habits. Does this sound like a good start for a 4 month old hound mix?

– 7A wake up for the day, straight outside

– Keep going from crate to outside every 20 min if she doesn’t go right away

– once she goes, inside for an hour of play (fetch, tug of war, run around like a crazy gremlin)

– 8 or 9A (depending how long potty and play took) Eat breakfast. straight outside after again

– Back in her crate for a chew and naptime

– 10/11A wake up, outside, more play inside

– 12P lunch / find it game / training

– 1P outside for potty then crate for naptime

– 2/3P wake up, outside for potty, inside for more chaotic play (fetch, tug of war, chasing toys)

– 4P crate for more napping

– 5P (or when she wakes) dinner, outside right after

– by now she’s usually pretty tired, so I’ll give her another chew in her crate if she’s not into her toys, or we’ll run around a little more

– 8P outside if she’s awake. If she’s asleep I let her sleep

– 12A potty break if she’s awake

– 4A potty break, especially if she slept through 8 and 12.

– 7A wake up for the day

I guess my main questions are is this too much time on chaotic toy playing, and too much time in her crate? She’s very good at settling herself and seems to like it in there. Am I setting myself up for complicated mornings by going right to crazy running around before breakfast? I’m also worried about running her around the house too much if she’s too young. Her puppy energy has her going non stop for about 45 minutes each time.

She hasn’t figured out how to alert me that she needs to go to the bathroom yet (we started bell training this morning, so that will take a minute), so if I think she has to go and won’t, I keep doing crate/outside till she goes. Otherwise she just stops mid play to pee/poop.

And today she’s refused to go potty at all since our 4A trip outside. Is it a huge deal if we get off schedule?

Thanks for any advice, I want to set her (and myself) up for success.

submitted by /u/AdirondackLunatic
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