Top 5 Activities to establish a daily routine – A day in the life of your pet

Top 5 Activities to establish a daily routine – A day in the life of your pet

Hello, Guardians

We will talk about getting your dog into a daily routine. We will talk about how to establish a daily routine with your new dog. As I said before a healthy dog is a happy dog and in this post, I will explore how we can make this possible for your new dog and puppy.
 
I will look at why it is important to establish a daily routine; how to establish a daily routine; what a daily routine looks like. But first a story on what my daily routine looks like.

Story: A day in the life of Puccini

This is may first post. I want to tell all guardians that it’s going to take some patience and sacrifice to have a new dog. To teach him the way of how your world works.
 
I learned from an early age when it was time: plingpling time, eating time, playtime and my favorite sleep time. Tania got up many nights in the winter to take me out so that I could have plingpling time. I learned that when I shake my ears in the middle of the night she wakes up and knows that its time to go out. Even when it was raining or on a cold winters night.
 
My day begins with coffee in bed, kidding. I wake up when there is a noise first from Tania’s side and then a bit after from Gianni’s side, and they leave me on my own in the room. Then I get taken out for a long relaxing plingpling, and we all have breakfast. We then get into the car, and we travel for a while until I have my daily stroll at a beautiful lake, where I socialize and have fun with my dog friends.
 
After my fun at the lake, we get into the car and Tania leaves me with Gianni. We then go home and I sleep for most of the day unless Gianni goes out.
 
Then I wait and wait….. As the sun sets my self-confidence improves as I know that Tania will be home soon.
 
My Guardians know that they must stick to my schedule. That way, secure that the love of my life will return to me soon, and we can go for walks and I can play outside and listen to her talk.

Why establish a routine

Dogs feel secure when they know what to expect next. Like you need to know what your day consists of, dogs also want to know what time you will be taking them outside. That is to plingpling, what time they will get food or treats, what time playtime is and most , what time you will be home because they hate being on their own. When I talk about the time I don’t mean a certain hour of the day.

Side Note: A dog's sense of time

A Sense of time is more the memory of an action that happened in the past. It’s like eating at in the morning and in the evening, or when you take out the container to prepare his supper. Dogs do not understand the clock or the calendar but more the perception of the passing of time. They know when it’s time to plingpling, play, eat or to sleep for that matter.

How to establish a routine

Once you have established yourself as the “Alpha” of the pack, your dog will follow your lead. When it comes to following commands, such as setting times for getting up and going plingpling first thing in the morning, eating after everyone has finished eating, walking at specified times of the day, sleeping when the lights are out.
 
Your dog needs to know some simple commands in order for him to listen to you when you want him to stick to a daily routine:
 
“Plingpling!”, “Walkies!”, “Let’s play!”, “Eat!” and “Sleep!” are simple commands your dog can learn if you give him a chance. Stick to a timetable and use the same commands .

Top 5 Activities to establish a daily routine - A day in the life of your pet

  • 1) "Plingling" time
  • 2) Mealtime
  • 3) Playtime
  • 4) Walk time
  • 5) Sleep time

Plingpling time

The routine for plingpling time needs to be as follows: As soon as the dog wakes up, very soon after meals, after training or playtimes and before sleeping. A dog can hold the need to plingpling for one hour, for every month of life, so if your dog is 6 months old, he can hold for 6 hours. Man’s best friend does not want to be naughty and have accidents in the house, so please help your dog to plingpling at regular intervals. Puppies need to plingpling every 2 hours and during- and after play.

  • Remember to reward your dog for relieving himself in the correct spot.
  • If your dog has an accident, don’t punish him – he will only learn to fear you
  • Pick-up the water bowl 2½ hours before sleep time in order to avoid the need for the dog to plingpling at night.
  • If the dog does wake you up at night, do not fuss or shout.
  • Just take him to the plingpling spot and praise him for doing his business in the correct spot.
  • Follow plingpling time with something fun or a treat, like playtime or a small treat and remember the praise word, such as “good boy!”.
  • This last one is only applicable during the day and not at night when it is sleep time.

Mealtime

Dogs ideally need to eat twice per day, but it can be breed- and age-dependent. Use mealtimes productively and creatively to also incorporate some training and play, which is rewarding and builds the bond between guardian and dog. This is how to make the most of the mealtimes.

  • Instead of placing the bowl of dog food on the floor for your dog to guzzle up in 2 seconds, rather use the time to give a command, such as “Sit” and then rewarding the dog immediately with kibble from the bowl.
  • Your dog will absolutely love hearing you laugh and have some fun with him.
  • You can, therefore, make a boring meal a very entertaining adventure for yourself and your dog which both of you will look forward to twice a day.

Playtime

The quality of time spent with your dog is more important than how much time you spend with him. Use your playtime to have some fun, laugh and learn to know your dog’s personality. Each dog is unique, and he wants to be himself. Your happiness and sanity as a long-term guardian depend on whether your dog will follow commands when you give it, and play is an important component of establishing a bond and boundaries. Play at least twice a day for as long as you have the dog’s attention. More about how to play with your dog in future posts.

Walk and exercise times

Exercise and healthy eating are key for a happy, healthy dog. Walk times must be scheduled, the same as for all the other activities. Walks are an ideal opportunity to incorporate some training, such as walking on a leash next to the guardian and learning to sit, stay, lie down. Dogs can also learn how to socialise with other humans and animals in an appropriate way and how to walk without a leash. What is important is that your dog learns that walks are fun and means quality time with a friendly guardian. It also gives the dog time to explore the environment.

Sleep times

It is critical to stick to a sleep routine if you want to get a peaceful night’s sleep, so train your dog early that when the lights go out, it is sleep time. We will have a special post on sleep time in the next article.

Top 5 daily routine toolkit for Dogs

I have put together a toolkit of the top 5 routine activities being plingpling time, mealtime, playtime, walk time and sleep time. I a previous post I have also includes a toolkit that would help you with these activities so click below if you would like to know more. 

Be sure to check out the product reviews below and comparisons with other products.

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Words of Wisedom

" Wake up and smell the Routine" that is what Tania's coffee mug says. For us dogs it's the same, we need a routine that would make us wake up happy and healthy.
Puccini

Next up

In the next post, we will talk about where should your dog sleep at night.

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Michel 29 Mar 2020

    Some great tips here for getting your dog into a routine and I always thought this was only for human babies, not for dogs!

    I like your ideas on making mealtimes a time to bond with your dog by incorporating some training before offering him his food. It all adds up to the daily interaction between you and your pet.

    I would also be interested to know how to train your dog to know to go to sleep when lights go out? Our dog thinks that this is the time to run around the garden barking.

    1. Puccini Quaranta 29 Mar 2020

      Hello Michel

      Thank you for your comment, my advice is for your dog to get a lot of exercise during the day. Make his bed really comfy so that he wants to lie down. I personally love my bed, its warm, cosy and soft.  But your question has given me an idea for a post. Look out for a future post on sleeping arrangements.

      Lost of hugs

      Puccini

  2. David nelson 30 Mar 2020

    I must say I really enjoyed reading this awesome article and I know it would be of great help to the public as it has been of help to me… I totally agree with you dogs are really more secure when they have an idea of what is coming as they don’t really like to be taken unaware…thanks for sharing.

  3. Smoochi 30 Mar 2020

    The first i want to do is try to share this great article with some of my friends. The website is really nice. and i have learnt something tangible from this well detailed article on the daily routine that our pets engage. it was after reading your article that i started remembering the things that my cat do daily.

  4. Benny 30 Mar 2020

    I can tell that this is a really good one. I should first commend the input of effort in making this superb website with nice features and also writing an article on daily routine that pets engage in. there are so many things that i notice my dog do and sometimes i just sit back and watch will he performs all he can.

  5. Perryline 30 Mar 2020

    this is a great and amazing article. i sincerely appreciate your effort creating time to write on such an informative article which has taught me a lot more on A day in the life of your pet. if you own a dog it is so important to go on training before eating because feeding your pet so much makes them very lazy. and it also give you a good relationship with your pet. thanks for sharing this amazing article.

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