How much time should I be spending with my 6 month old pup?

[erikor]

I am curious to get some perspective on what we are doing with our 6 month old BC, Darcy (as in Mr. Darcy). We got him when he was 7 weeks old and now he is 6 months old. We live on 3/4 of an acre in a development (with an underground fence). I live with my wife and 4 homeschooled girls. However, the homeschool day is busy so the girls do not have a lot of free time to spend with Darcy during the day. So, here is a typical day at this point:

8AM: I get him up, spend an hour with him as he eats his breakfast and we do some training and either go for a walk or play some frisbee or such.

9-Noon: I am working from home, so he and I hang out in the basement where he wanders around and cat naps. Today he was getting into too much mischief so I put him in his crate (still in the same room as me) for an hour during which he mostly napped.

Noon-1: Lunch, run around in the yard with or without humans. Some of this time he will be outside by himself.

1-3: Naptime in crate

3-5: Some training, some hanging out with humans who are preparing dinner, etc., and/or running around the yard (usually a combination of purposefully interacting with us or just roaming around looking for a stick he has never seen before.) Some of this time he will be outside by himself.

5-6: He has his dinner and we have ours. For the most part he hangs out around us at the dinner table, mostly by me because he knows I will randomly sneak him bits of food  

6-7: Some training, some roaming around inside the house.

7PM: Bed time in the crate. (Although we are pushing this later if he can stay out of trouble while we are doing what we need to do in the evening. For example, tonight he fell asleep by the dinner table where my wife and daughter were working on homework, at 8PM). 

We had a brief period where he was occasionally resource guarding, growling, and teeth bearing and bit a couple of the kiddos. At that point we started doing a lot of practice on "drop it and leave it whether you want to or not" and teaching the children to be more assertive with Darcy. I also started spending more time with him because we did not feel safe letting the children take care of him alone at that point. The above schedule is the result of these changes. Since then, the problem has disappeared and Darcy is now 75% sweet, 25% mischievous, and 0% aggressive. Although sometimes he seems a little bored.

So, finally, my questions:

1. Does that schedule seem typical/acceptable/sufficient/good? Or not?

2. Do you think he can spend more time by himself? In particular, I find it a little distracting when I am trying to get work done with him in the room and wonder if it would be appropriate to leave him alone either in the (finished) basement (either in his crate or out) and/or outside for a chunk of the morning? Or is that just asking for trouble? (As my dad used to say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

Thank you! Sorry for the lengthy post!

 

[Rigby]

I say keep doing what you're doing. That schedule sounds great. You're at a difficult time but things will start getting easier soon. 

I think it's fine to give him more yard time as long as this is safe and he'll not get into trouble, or move his crate to somewhere he'll be less of a distraction. Keep practicing him settling near you as you work though, he'll figure it out, and having my dog walk into the room and relax at my feet as soon as I sit at my desk warms my heart. It took time but she figured it out.

Also see if you can't find a pattern to his naughty days. Is he better in the morning if you exercise him without playing fetch for example? This is true of my dog. She'll sleep a few hours immediately after a walk but takes about an hour to settle if she plays fetch in that hour she just paces around, bring us toys, harasses the cats etc. I'm not saying that's the case for your dog, but, it's worth paying attention to. 

You can also look into things like food dispensing toys and puzzles you could set up for him in his crate. I think he'll be fine without them, but, it's easier for me to crate my dog for a while, just for my own sanity if I can give her a frozen kong or something and she's excited to go in because she wants one of her crate only treats. 

[Flora & Molly]

It sounds like you are doing a great job  

I’m not a fan of leaving dogs out alone in the yard, just because they can get themselves in all kinds of trouble and mischief and learn some stuff you might not want. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, it’s just something to be aware of (and I know lots of people do it).

It’s a good thing to start training the dog to be left alone by itself inside. It’s an important skill to have even if you are home most of the time. You never know when that might change. Slowly build the time up though for the best succcess!

[erikor]

Thank you for the feedback and advice! I had really not given any thought to training settle...we will definitely work on that! Do you train lie down and settle as different commands, or should I just pick one?

[D'Elle]

You are doing fine, sounds like to me. You can cdertainly leave him alone in an area where he cannot come to harm, or in his crate. 

I always teach settle and lie down as different cues. Lie Down means lie down now, but probably you will be asked to do something else soon. Settle means lie down and plan to stay there for a while. I find it extremely useful to designate a "Place" or "mat" for this. A place or small mat or rug where the dog always needs to go when it is time to "settle". I used a mat at first at home, moving it from one room to another if needed. Later on when my dog was a mature adult, I could take him somewhere like the library and point to a piece of floor and say "Mat. Settle" and he would understand that this spot of floor is the "mat".

[erikor]

15 minutes ago, D'Elle said:

I always teach settle and lie down as different cues. Lie Down means lie down now, but probably you will be asked to do something else soon. Settle means lie down and plan to stay there for a while. I find it extremely useful to designate a "Place" or "mat" for this. A place or small mat or rug where the dog always needs to go when it is time to "settle". I used a mat at first at home, moving it from one room to another if needed. Later on when my dog was a mature adult, I could take him somewhere like the library and point to a piece of floor and say "Mat. Settle" and he would understand that this spot of floor is the "mat".

Thanks. That is informative. Also I like the idea of the mat/rug. I had started working with him on "Place", but the place is held down by all the living room furniture. I will get small piece of carpet remnant so the Place is more mobile.

[AussieBC]

Thanks for sharing @erikor.

I've a very similar schedule (although she gets up at 6:30am no matter what lol). I usually do the crate around ~8pm.

 

My question, rather than starting a new thread.

When a pup gets hyped up, wants to keep playing in the xpen or crate (she is digging or barking or licking the locks to get out) - is it best to ignore this behaviour, let her settle down naturally and stick to the routine when she is expected to sleep?

Or would it mean I'm not giving enough attention/exercise?

She's 3 months old, so as far as exercise goes, she gets 30 minutes of "free play" exercise in the morning, lunch and evening.

However, how does one know if you should be sticking to the schedule no matter what or if the dog needs more?

[erikor]

@AussieBC, the experienced experts will be here shortly with the real answer, but in the meantime I can tell you we ignored that sort of behavior and now crate time is drama free (except for a minute or two of barking if there is too much noise coming from upstairs).

In addition to the 3 x 30 minute exercise times you mention, I assume she is spending additional time outside her crate hanging out with you and/or exercising her brain in various ways?

One thing I wish I had figured out earlier is the importance of reinforcing calm behavior. We now do some work with Karen Overall's relaxation protocol before each naptime/bedtime. In addition to helping Darcy wind down, it is just a really nice interaction between human and dog that helps dissipate any frustration I might be feeling with the young pup before he goes into his crate. I think you could start working on it at 3 months if you wanted to. But if you do, just keep your expectations very low--you don't want relaxation time to turn into frustration time. The moment it stops being fun for both human and dog, do one more very easy task, reward, and be done. And while the protocol is in the form of 15 "days" of holding a sit/down under increasingly challenging circumstance, don't see it as a 2 week project. Any given "day" may take practice over several days or even weeks to master--this is especially true of very young dogs like yours and mine.

Take all of the above with a shaker full of salt. I am a complete novice and have already made plenty of mistakes.

[AussieBC]

Thanks for the advice. That was helpful as is your thread.

Ah yes, the 3x30 minutes is purely long leash bound running around/exercise/involved play. It's a lot like your own schedule where there is downtime in the playpen/house lead, training, backyard time sniffing around etc...on top of that play.

It's just they obviously they're built like athletes, these dogs seem they could do far more than that - and she seems to want to if there is no intervention in winding down without her protesting! I guess very much like a toddler not wanting to stop play though.

It's just reassuring to know others have the same sort of routine and the importance not to create needy dogs ,or dogs that require hours of entertainment and exercise, but on the other hand also providing that level of exercise and stimulation! It's a balancing act that is hard to gauge!

We've tried the mat/relaxation technique after 7pm and it's working well I must say. But they have such little attention span, I'm not expecting dog like behaviours yet!

I guess I'll stick with the routine and see if the behaviour like wanting to get out of the playpen/crate, protests etc ceases.