I’d recently seen a blog post with a “Day in the life with a new baby,” and that made me think about a day in the life with a new puppy! It is quite a change. Right now my puppy is 19 weeks old. Here is a typical day:
5:15 am: Hear puppy stirring. A few soft whines. I shuffle out of bed. Greet a kitty in the hallway, and then I let the puppy out of her crate. We get some nice soft licks, some squirming, and then it is straight outside for potty time! Poop & pee like clockwork. Somewhere in here, I need to spend some time petting our kitten, who insists on a full body rub and quality head scratches!
Then we do some light playing, scratching, petting until she starts getting a little wound up, and I ask her if she’s hungry? This gets an immediate response! So it is off to the kitchen for food. Sometimes I put her food in a Kong so it takes a little longer to eat; other times it just goes in a bowl.
After she’s done eating she might get a little sip of water, and we usually go outside again to see if she needs to potty some more. Then we are back inside, and I try to coax her to settle down with a chewy so that I can make my breakfast. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I also have to stay on my toes to make sure the puppy doesn’t start chasing the kitten, or pounce on the kitten and start nibbling.
Then I get lunch ready, continuing to try to entertain puppy and keep her busy, as well as away from the cats (we have four).
6:30am: Puppy goes in her crate while I get ready for work. She always gets a meaty or chewy type treat when she goes in, and it is very comical to see her run in as fast as possible! She chews away happily and then takes a light nap. I cannot keep an eye on her during this time, and she cannot be trusted on her own.
We also have the cats to think of. This is the time of day they usually meander out of the bedroom, so they get some “safe” time.
7:00am: Puppy starts to get restless, and I hurry up. Time to get out of her crate. She always, always, without fail, makes a beeline to the water bowl and “tanks up.” Every day. Then it is outside for a potty break.
Back inside for some PLAY TIME! Sometimes we go downstairs so we can do some more rambunctious play and fetch. This can be problematic though because the kitten likes to come downstairs also and chasing ensues. I think the kitten likes it, but we don’t want to encourage it. When the weather is nice enough, we go outside for a quick walk.
7:30am: Time to wind down puppy. Never an easy task! Off she goes into her crate, and I head to work.
Noon-1: I come home from work and let her out of the crate, and outside to potty and play. Sometimes we do a little training with food at this time as well. If it is super nice out, we will take a short walk. Other times, we do some fetching to run off some energy. Eventually puppy goes back into her crate for afternoon nap, and I head back to work.
5:15pm: HOME! Puppy goes outside to potty, and then we get ready to go for a good LONG WALK. This is a great energy burn for her! We come back and do some fetching as well, and then big time playing inside. Finally it is time for DINNER. For her dinner, I usually put it in this treat toy – it entertains her for quite a spell!
Sometime after this, I make dinner while trying to entertain puppy, and keep her away from the cats. It is always exhausting, so the more I can tire her out the better! We do training in the evening as well – this mental activity tires her out, too.
There are many, many outside potty breaks. We try to get her to chew on something while we eat dinner. I usually pick up her water at 8 pm. There is a lot of playing going on for the rest of the evening.
9:30 pm: Typically she has started to wind down. I usually ask her if she needs to go outside one more time before bed… so out one last time, and then she RACES into her crate for bedtime. At bedtime, she gets a nubby-nylon with a little bit of easy cheese on it. Lots of licking ensues and all is quiet… until we start all over tomorrow!