What is the puppy’s daily routine?
Puppy Daily Routine
This routine reflects my personal daily schedule, your puppy can get used to a new schedule if you are more of a “night owl” than a morning person!
5-6am- Wake Up! Go straight outside for potty and playtime. I usually stay outside with them for a while to make sure they pee and poop before they come back in house.
8am- Nap Time! The pups can usually stay awake for 1-2 hours before it becomes obvious they are tired! At this point you can either crate your puppy for 1-2 hours of naptime, or you can let them sleep in the same room you are in as long as you are supervising them. When they wake up, they should go straight back outside for potty break again!!
10am- Potty/Playtime! When they are inside the house playing, I let them back outside every 15-20 minutes for a potty break. They are not “telling” me they need to go potty yet, I do not usually expect that at this age. If you see your puppy start walking around sniffing, they might need to go!!
If you catch your puppy going potty in the house, I usually just run up to them, pick them up and taken them straight outside. I do not punish them, they are just babies, I just make a mental note of the time between potty breaks and adjust accordingly.
As puppy gets older, they get better control so you can start pushing time between potty breaks.
12pm- Naptime again! Puppies need naptime, so don’t worry about crating them. They need the rest otherwise they can seem like a cranky toddler who hasn’t had a nap!
2pm- Potty/Playtime!
4pm- Naptime!
6pm- Potty/Playtime! I try and keep them up at this point until bedtime to help them sleep through the night. I usually pull water access around 7pm to help prevent drinking too much and needing to pee in the night.
10-11pm- Bedtime! Usually 10-11pm is “last call” at my place. Your puppies should be sleeping in their crates at night by now. Right now they are sleeping through the night!! Don’t be surprised if your puppy wakes you up the first few nights, it is a new place, new people etc so they may be a little stressed. Take them out to potty if they cry in the night, and put them straight back. No playtime in the middle of the night unless you want to create that habit!
Crate training is done early to ensure the puppies can “hold it” as well as get used to being alone sometimes. A crate comes in handy for all sorts of reasons, but should NOT be somewhere your puppy is left 8-10 hours a day in a row. The crate can be useful after surgery, when guests come over, when traveling in hotels, etc so even if you don’t want your pup in a crate most of the time, maintaining some crate training may help in the long run.
This is YOUR puppy… if you want your puppy to sleep with you in bed… go ahead! If you want your puppy to sleep in your daughter’s room… go ahead!! Just remember new changes may be unsettling, so be prepared for puppy to wake you up, move around, etc. so if you are a deep sleeper, you may want to keep puppy confined so they cannot walk away and have an accident or chew anything.