Routine: How to Rock Your Pup's World

[JMFS]

I was up late last night working on our Cloud and admin rights and whatnot and of Course I came across a bump in the road so at 3:35 this morning I called it quits.  Did the dogs care?  Nope!  They were kind enough to allow me 5½ hours of sleep, but I was suddenly awoken by that rhythmic sound of a dog getting ready to vomit.  Boy, that'll wake you up Fast!  Apparently Esther's tummy has an alarm on it and that alarm got angry.  I was able to move her to the LVP flooring for easy clean up so at least I'm not doing laundry as well today.

To further complicate matters I fed the cat while the dogs were out pottying / playing.  Normally Monks gets fed last so I can give him pets while the pups are whacking their Kongs around their kennels.  Esther has a thing about doors getting shut on her.  If she's being stubborn about staying outside I simply step inside, say, "bye," audibly shut the door, and wait.  Same with the bedroom.  It takes between 1 and 90 seconds before she realizes I'm serious, makes her way to the door, and starts sniffing around.  Well, I feed Monkey, shut the door so the dogs don't come Flying in and bust their rumps on the slick tile.  That was enough for Esther to attempt to do exactly that, but instead she got a door closed in her face.  We're off to a Great start, lol.

So I get Monkey's water, let the dogs in and Esther goes rushing up the stairs only to find her enemy - the door - closed.  Back down the stairs she comes.  I start moving towards the kitchen, Uuuuup the stairs she goes, but oh no, I head to the bathroom to get calamine lotion (some rude skeeter bit my ring finger and I'm trying to get the swelling down so I can put my ring back on).  She comes Running into the (tiled) bathroom, steps onto the mat and Sliiiiides into the bathtub, flips herself around, play bows, is told no, flattens on the ground and growls, is told no, hops from side-to-side and growls, is told no, whines, no, wiggles, no, play bows, no, sends the mats flying in a flurry of zoomies, a sigh, a no and I've finally got my finger taken care of so out of the bathroom I go. 

Uuuup the stairs she goes.  I open the coffee maker, down she comes (I normally make my coffee after I feed Monks), circles the island a couple thousand times, nose sniffing the air.  I make my coffee and uuup the stairs she goes.  I wish I could bottle and sell this energy, fyi.  Finally I fill their cups with their food and head upstairs to find two pups staring down at me, ears perked, tails wagging, and bodies tensed.  I'm really not sure where Gertie was this entire time . . ..  I have them wait, this takes several repeats for Esther and she knocks poor Gerts out of the way each time as she attempts to position herself for the ultimate entry stance.  Gertie is her stoic self, with a bit of eye rolling added.  I open the door but lo and behold Esther's kennel is latched shut (because dogs don't steal, but Gertie sure will take Esther's unfinished treat toys and knows how to open the gate).  I've Completely upset the balance of this puppy's day at this point, lol.  Gertie opens her door and hops in so Esther follows.  Now Gertie is Really rolling her eyes.  I set my coffee down - this adds further confusion but I can't juggle the coffee And the filling of the Wobblers.  At long last I walk to Esther's crate, get a nice wait out of her (she's about tuckered out at this point), open the door, in she goes, Wobbler gets filled and all is right in her life again.

So, for anyone who is unsure whether a routine will help your pup, I submit the above.  When I follow our routine I get lovely waits and follows.  When I break the routine it's utter chaos.  Routine works.  😆

[FrederykBlot]

I can vouch to that

 

First big hard time I had with Loki was his inability to settle on his own

By creating a schedule of awaken session being like "physical, mental, chew, walk, nap in crate" he went from "I'm soooo desperate, I don't know what to do... shoud I play ? should I chew ? let's bite my owner to see what he has to say" to him going into his crate after the walk with just us having to say "good nap Loki"

 

As you say also, a disturbance in the schedule can create disturbance in the behavior

Nowadays, the heat increase in our region... we can't do walks during the day, it very difficult for him given his big fur. We still doing physical / mental  / chew at home or in the yard, but with the broken schedule, everything is a bit more difficult. He would wander around in the house without knowing what to do et the end of the session, and without settling on his own again... So we force the nap, and even if he usually settles quite easily because he's exhausted, he still whines a little (FOMO I guess ?) while in the "walks are followed by the nap" mode, there is definitely no whining

 

Having a schedule was life saving at the time, and now, even if I am more confident and less anxious, having and following a schedule really helps because it structures things for both me and him.