How many TOTAL hours a day do you spend DIRECTLY interacting with your pup?

[debbiesdispensational]

A). 1-3

B). 4-6

C) 6-8

D) 8+

Edit: Direct meaning full attention, not sleeping/cuddling or when they’re just in the same room as you.

 

[pudhayavan]

@debbiesdispensational A probably

But like, we live together. She sticks her snoot in my lap for attention on the regular. I take cute snaps of her sleeping. I check out the spooky noises in the yard with her.

It's like a partner or housemate. We share our lives even when doing our own thing

 

[pitterricherd]

@pudhayavan This for me. But C for weekends. Maybe even D. Sometimes I’d just rather spend my day with the dog than deal with humans.

 

[keepupquestions]

@debbiesdispensational B on weekdays ; C on weekends cause it's more fun when mama don't have work

 

[flaunge]

@keepupquestions Same!

 

[pastornick]

@debbiesdispensational A, I have a fulltime job, I eat dinner, do stuff around the house, and like 8 hours of sleep. I dont see how it could be more without working from home or not working full time.

 

[boog]

@pastornick So this is in fact normal or common?…Just asking because I’ve been stressing out about how I’m gonna manage when I start working full time.

 

[kjsa]

@boog Honestly it varies at least for me and I’m a stay at him mom I do have a one year old and my husband works full time so some days she gets a ton of attention and spends most the day inside with us some days it’s a mix and other days she spends more time outside either way she’s a spoiled happy girl

 

[boog]

@kjsa Love that! I think I’ll be doing the same in terms of inside/outside time. Luckily I live with a lot of family so it should be fine.

 

[naomimara]

@boog Don’t over think it, your dog needs few things to be happy. Food,water,shelter,check ups and interaction. Millions of people work away from home full time and have puppies/dogs.

 

[boog]

@naomimara Thank you so much! I really needed this reminder. I guess some ppl make it seem like you’re the bad guy for having a puppy/dog and working full time especially away from home. Really appreciate it and I’ll definitely keep this in mind when I’m feeling overwhelmed. Most importantly he’s happy so that makes me happy and I know he’ll be able to adjust!

 

[juelrei]

@pastornick I work 9 hour days with a commute and I do probably close to four hours with my dog each day but I definitely don't sleep 8 hours. My husband works from home so my dog gets attention during the day but he requires a lot of exercise and I enjoy exercising with him a lot more and my husband does so our division of labor is that I do most of the exercise but he does all of the house in obedience training during the day. I wake up absurdly early and walk my dog and spend time with him in the mornings and then I spend almost all of my evening time with him in some way.

 

[boog]

@juelrei That sounds like such a great routine for everyone! Definitely giving me some hope that I’ll be able to manage!

 

[juelrei]

@boog I mean it's not all fun and games. I give up a lot of sleep in order to pull this off because I wake up at about 4 AM. The only reason I think I'm able to do this is because I've never been one of those people that needs a ton of sleep and I generally don't get more than six and a half seven hours when I don't have an alarm anyway. My husband is one of those people that needs 8 hours just to be human so he couldn't do what I do. I basically just looked at my demands and knew I could choose between time with my dog, work, or sleep and since giving up work isn't a choice I just happened to his my dog over sleep.

I'm hoping to switch to a 4-10 schedule instead of a for 9-hour day and a half day on Friday schedule so that way I can have 3 days a week of actual sleeve rather than only two. My day is so long already that adding an extra hour on to the end of it wouldn't be that big of a deal for me.

 

[boog]

@juelrei Oh wow I commend you. I enjoy my sleep too much to wake up so early. I’m more of a late owl after all. I’ve also been thinking about a 4 day 10 hour schedule. Seems kind of worth it just to get that extra day off on the weekend tbh!

 

[lovebug3]

@pastornick I WFH and even still can only do A with my mini aussie. I spend mornings with him and walk him every lunch break. I also take a break from my computer every hour or so and interact with him for 5-10 minutes. I think we have a happy balance.

If he wants attention while i work he knows to come to me and tell me with his inside voice that he wants to sit on my lap.

 

[kylo28]

@pastornick Hell, I’m WFH and I’m probably A. I mean, directly interacting is a lot more than just “outside for 20 minutes so he can run around the dog run and sniff the sniffs a few times a day”, so that doesn’t count. It’s probably closer to the 3 hour end most days, since we usually go over to my boyfriend’s and he gets a lot of attention from us there, but even still a lot of it is just “cuddling and watching TV” or “snoozing with his head in my lap while playing video games”, or 5ish minute pets and attention between meetings (or during them, shh).

More than that just feels excessive, although it was definitely more than that when he was younger (2, now). Dogs need a lot of sleep, not sure keeping him locked into “go” mode for 6+ hours on a daily basis is actually healthy, particularly for a non-working dog.

 

[slingshotandrock]

@debbiesdispensational (A) 1-3

I have a 5 mo old mini aussie and she's great about self-settling and self-entertaining. Not sure if that will vanish with adolescence but it's great right now. Our interaction is fetch, and tug of war, and I will hold a chew for her for a few minutes (she likes my involvement for some reason). And then there are walks and cuddle times and wrestle times. But it is really manageable, not dominating my entire day. She's very independent but still affectionate.

 

[annieopie]

@slingshotandrock Sometimes my Aussie literally will not chew on something unless I hold it for her lol. She’ll bring a chew to me and set it on my leg, let it drop, pick it up, set it on my leg, let it drop, until I hold it for her. She has me well trained.

 

[slingshotandrock]

@annieopie Yep! Exactly like this. It seems kind of sweet to me because she's essentially sharing her toy and what's not to love about that. It's almost impossible to not engage.