What do you do with your doodle?

[Jenny and Cooper]

Hi everyone,

I find myself always tending to my puppy the last four weeks.  What I mean is I have no down time other than when he takes his nap.  When he is awake, I am watching him or playing with him.  He doesn't like to be locked up in the playpen when he is awake.  So I would either take him outside (on a long line/leash) or he is on a long leash inside our family room.  Still, I am constantly watching over him.  Am I setting him up to always having to do something?  Will there be a time where he can just "chill"?  It would be nice if he would just lay down and play with his toys.  He doesn't last too long with his toys and will start to wander off.  I guess my family room isn't fully puppy proof so I still need to follow him around a bit. 

Any suggestions on what to do with your doodle when he is awake?  And also at what age will he just "chill" with me? :)

Jenny

12 week Cooper

[Jenny and Cooper]

Thanks!  I like the "on your side" command :)  I'm going to try that tonight! 

[SoSa]

Ace is 16 weeks and he is now beginning to occupy himself a bit. I work from home from 9:20am - 12:20 am and now he just goes to his favorite spot and sleeps, pretty much for the entire time. After 3:00, when the kids come home from school, that's when he requires a lot of attention until bed time ( we shut things down at 8pm). Sometimes, I just need to get things done like cook, so he'll either go on a tether or in his crate.

I know how you feel though. While it's a bit easier with Ace at 4 months, remember feeling overwhelmed with tending to him. Sometimes, I'll just put him in his crate and leave the house for a couple of hours because I need a break.

[Jenny and Cooper]

Thanks Sosa!  I look forward to Cooper sleeping at 8 p.m!  Right now he goes from 9:30 to about 5 to 5:30 a.m.  He takes 5 naps a day and sadly I do look forward to each of his nap so I can get things done!  So do they start napping less and sleeping earlier in the night???  I would trade for that, sleeping early and cutting off naps.  lol.  Did your nap a lot and when did Ace started napping less?

[SoSa]

Ace still naps a lot. He is sleeping pretty much from 8am - 12-12:30pm. Sometimes he'll got potty at about 9:30am. He'll usually have lunch at 12-12:30 (whenever he wakes up) and then I'll have to crate him at about 12:50 so that I can go to physical therapy and get the kids from school. He sleeps while he's crated. When we get home at 3pm, he's pretty much up from that time until 8pm. He'll sometimes take a nap or two between 3 & 8pm, but it's during this time frame that he is really active. He gets super crazy usually between 5-6pm (zoomies). But I've found that taking him on a short walk will totally tire him out and the zoomies are not so crazy. Ace will wake up when we wake up. I leave hone for work at 4:20am and he's still asleep. My family gets up at 6:15am, but Ace will chill in his crate until about 6:45-7am. On the weekends, Ace will sleep as late as 8am. That's because that's the latest we'll sleep. He's always down for the night at 8pm. He'll wake up at about 9:30-10pm, because that's when my husband gets home from work. He'll hear the garage open, stand up and wait for my husband to come in. My husband will love on him, take him out to potty and crate him. We'll usually only crate him when we leave the house and after my husband gets home from work. When he naps or sleeps during the day and from 8-9:30pm, he has a favorite spot , on the hardwood floor, near the door.

[Jenny and Cooper]

Wow, I guess it's true when people say your dog will adjust to your family's schedule.  Ace has quite an interesting nap schedule.  He does it in a long interval while mine are shorter.  I don't think I can keep my sanity if Cooper is awake from 3 pm to 8 p.m.  LOL.  After an hour and a half with him, I am ready to put him down for a nap. 

I wish Cooper would just "chill" in his crate until we get up.  Unfortunately, he hears every creaks on the floor if anyone gets up to use the bathroom.  I even told my son not to flush the toilet but he can still tell!!!  lol

Cooper hasn't gotten his fourth shot yet, but I do take him for a 15-20 minute walk just a few houses around my neighborhood.  Yes, it helps and gets him tired out!

[SoSa]

LOL!!! I know what you mean about trying not to make noise. I still tip toe when he's asleep, but I'm finding that while a noise will make him open his eyes or lift his head, he'll usually go right back to sleep.

Yes, that 3p-8p time frame drives us batty. Especially my daughters because when they are home from school, I tell them that I am off of dog duty. The problem is, when they have a lot of homework, I need to step in to help them out. The other day I thought, I'll take him for a short walk. When we got home, he was pooped and slept. So that is something I'll do more often. Only problem with that is we are in the Seattle area and the weather here is not always cooperative. If he is just too much in the afternoon, we will crate him and after about 15 minutes, he'll come our calmer.

I've uploaded a pic of Ace napping now in his fave spot by the door. He's also right by the bathroom and laundry room. He sleeps through the toilet flushing and while laundry is going. :-)

[Jenny and Cooper]

Aaaaaww he's such a sweetie pie!

OMG, that totally looks like my little hallway.  Does that door lead to the garage?  Ours would be that door leading to the garage, to the right of it is the laundry room and to the left is the bathroom.  lol.  Cooper doesn't nap there though. He'd be in our way too much getting in and out.  LOL.

He'll only notice the toilet flushing at night because it's super quiet.  BTW, boys pee standing up so that makes a lot of water noise already even without the flushing! LOL  My son woke up at 5:20 to go to the bathroom and sure enough it woke Cooper up!  I was hoping he would sleep til 6 am!  Bummer!

That's wonderful your daughters help out.  I know what you mean about homework. It's almost everyday they have homework though, so I end up doing everything.