What do dogs do all day?
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Anonymous
| Trying to see how a dog would fit into our family (mom, dad, 2 teens). Do dogs sleep a lot? Or play by themselves? There’s an adult home everyday except Wednesday when both adults are at work so maybe we need a dog sitter for that one day. Do you take your dog when you run errands or leave them to roam around the house for a few hours? |
Anonymous
| Take dogs to run errands? Where are these dogs at, in the shopping carts?!? |
Anonymous
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Once their through the puppy phase they sleep a lot. If you don't want it home alone on Wednesdays you could look into dog daycare.
The dog we have now hates the car so he stays home when I do errands. Our previous two liked to come with me as long as the weather was suitable for them to wait in the car. Otherwise they stayed home. |
Anonymous
| Omg... "they are" not "their". Damn predictive typing. |
Anonymous
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They only lightly sleep at night because they are keeping one ear open to protect you since they notice everyone in the house is sleeping.
So during the day they do their deep sleeping. But they'll also go watch out the window, take a little stroll through the house to check things out, see if any food magically fell, check on their toys, etc. Some people only take the dog in the car when needed. I think it's good to take your dog places so they don't associate the car only with the vet. Generally you either gate off part of the house for the dog, or train them very well to behave, or crate them when leaving them home. Some dogs are fine home alone for 8 hours, some can only handle two, etc. Just like people, dogs have personalities and emotions. |
Anonymous
It’s rare that weather is suitable for dogs to be left in cars! |
Anonymous
Depends where you live. I live in Northern CA where most of the year it's fine. |
Anonymous
Haha not our dog! She sleeps zonked out on her back with legs in the air while snoring! |
Anonymous
Op here. I live in the PNW where the weather is mild. I see people leave dogs in the car while they shop. Plus my car (Tesla) has a dog mode to keep the climate controlled. |
Anonymous
| Dogs sleep a lot. They follow you around. They want you to take them outside. To explore. They want to know what you have in your mouth. |
Anonymous
| Get a low energy breed, it makes things a lot easier. |
Anonymous
| When they’re a puppy- they need a walk or potty time every few hours. A well walked dog is less rascally around the house. An ignored puppy will demand attention. My dog now 5 takes a ton of naps, watches me eat, snuggles at my feet or by me in the couch with 2 big walks and a few play times (simple as throwing a toy for them to fetch even inside). Mine does not play with a toy alone. |
Anonymous
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I never bring my 6 year old dog inside a store, even a pet store. He's dog reactive against large breeds. He gets a long walk in the morning, and shorter walks or potty breaks in the afternoon and evening.
At home, he naps a lot, but if a fly dares to come inside, he will become obsessed and try to catch it (he rarely does, only if the fly is old/exhausted). He loves being petted, so occasionally comes to ask for pets. And obviously every breakfast and dinner, he will act out his usual "I'm a starving waif and haven't been fed for daaaaayyys!". He's never barks, but when my kid plays violin, he howls beautifully, like a wolf. |
Anonymous
| Echo what everyone says - dogs sleep a lot when they are happy and relaxed. It is a balance - you want them to be socialized, especially when young, with other people and dogs, but you also don’t want them to be dependent on being with yo u(or people) 24/7. They need to be okay on their own (either crated or penned or just in the house) for a few hours to half a day; you don’t want to encourage separation anxiety. That was part of the problem for all the Covid pups. |
Anonymous
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It really depends on the dog — partially breed dependent but also personality. My brothers German shepherd is in movement almost all day. I have a neighbor whose golden retriever er spends the day trying to hold their hand or watching out the window for neighbors. Here is my golden’s typical day:
7 am walk 8-9 am, squirrel monitoring and maintenance 9-10:30 am — morning nap. 10:30-11–watch food container 11 — lunch 12 — afternoon walk 12:30-2:30 afternoon nap 2:30-3 watch food container 3 — afternoon snack 3-5–afternoon snack perhaps punctuated by squirrel maintenance or will play soccer outside if anyone will play with him 5–short walk, followed by monitoring of food container and humans preparing dinner 7 — dinner, followed by additional monitoring of human food consumption 9–short night walk, followed by 15 minutes of tug or throwing chew toy h in air and demands for butt scratches Bedtime. |