Puppy Pattern Days: How To Set Up A Puppy Schedule

Having a young puppy is a lot like having a toddler. They’re cute, and funny. They give great cuddles! But they’re also destructive, demanding, poor at communicating their needs, loud, always hungry, and incredibly time consuming.

Managing life with a puppy can feel very overwhelming at times. I have spent the last four years supporting puppy parents on our training courses, and more recently in our Facebook support group. And I want you to know that you are not alone if it all feels a bit much right now. Or if you are just not sure how to make a typical day ‘work’ for you and your pup.

A Question Of Time

We get asked a lot of questions that relate to the timings of a day without a puppy. What times should puppy be taken to their potty area? How long should they spend in the crate? How many minutes can they walk for? How long can we leave a puppy alone? When should they eat, drink, play. And most resoundingly, when can I STOP doing all this? When can the overwhelmed puppy parent just stop doing puppy things and do all the other tasks that usually fill their day?

When, you ask us, can I take a break? When can I do my job?!

These are all really important questions and we have articles, or training course lessons, to answer each of them individually (I’ll pop some links to them at the end of this article). But today I’d like to look at how we can put all those answers – all those needs and demands your pup has – together into a routine. A pattern that give some shape to your day, and make things a little bit less overwhelming.

A small disclaimer before we get stuck in. Every puppy is different – and there are lots of different ways to successfully take good care of a puppy. This article is intended as a set of guidelines, that you can follow if you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to structure your day. But if you’ve found a different way to meet your puppy’s needs that’s great too!

Balancing Needs

Your puppy has a number of needs. They need food, water, exercise, socialization, mental stimulation, human interaction, toilet time, and sleep. There are also some things they don’t need as urgently, but that are a good idea to build into your day if you are able. These include some time where pup is learning to be alone, and some time doing some puppy training exercises together.

Against all those requirements you will want to balance your own obligations and needs. Those might include some time away from the puppy, protected time to work, time outside your home, etc. It’s a good idea to think about what you want to prioritize over the first few weeks and months with your pup – because puppies are very time consuming!

Giving Your Day Structure

Puppies are the enemy of schedules. Especially when they are very young! If you try to run your day with a young puppy ‘by the clock’, you will most likely just cause yourself a lot of stress. But there is another way to have a predictable routine with your pup, that is more flexible.

In my family, we call this ‘a pattern day’. A pattern day is a day where you have planned a sequence of short events or activities, and simply repeat that sequence, all day, until it’s time to wind down for bed.

For example, a pattern for an 8-9 week old puppy might be:

• Potty time
• Play a game with you, or take a socialisation trip out in your arms
• Relax in a puppy-proofed room with you nearby
• Cuddles
• Potty time
• Nap

And repeat!

Adapting Your Pattern

You can build the timings of your own puppy’s needs, into a ‘pattern’ schedule like the one above. Set a timer at the end of the first potty time (ie when they pee or poop) for the next potty time. Your game duration will be limited by their age (10-15 minutes is plenty for a pup under 3 months old). Travel time will tend to make socialization trips a bit longer. And the length of time relaxing will simply be however much time is left after playing, before the next potty trip.

As the gap between potty times lengthens, you can add another stimulating activity in. And start to add some time alone.

People Like Patterns Too

Pattern days are great for human children, too! My 4 year old likes this one:

• Help Mummy clean the house
• Play a game by myself
• Play a game with Mummy
• Snack time (or meal time)
• Screen time

And repeat!

We use a timer so she can see when she will get to her favorite ‘play with Mummy’ and ‘eat food’ steps. Puppies don’t need this – but a timer can help keep you on track with potty trips, and help you remember not to spend too long on structured exercise or crate time.

As your puppy gets older, your pattern can be adapted to meet their changing needs. Most steps in the pattern will be able to get longer, and you’ll be able to build in more time for your own needs too. Let’s have a look at how that might work at different stages in your pup’s first year.

The First Two Weeks

Let’s be honest – there’s not a lot of ‘you time’ in that first pattern, is there. Assuming you brought your pup home at 8-10 weeks old, they really do need an adult’s attention nearly all the time they are awake, for the first 2 weeks. The good news is that puppies sleep a lot – your 8 week old puppy might sleep up to 8 hours a day. The bad news is that sleep is unpredictable in length. Naps lasting anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours are normal. So getting things done is hard to plan ahead, during this phase!

The simplest way to deal with this unpredictable need for your attention, is to completely block out those first two weeks in your diary. Or share blocking them out with other adults in your family. So that someone has ‘be the puppy’s grown up’ booked in for every daytime hour! This may mean taking two weeks off work – in fact we recommend someone does exactly that, if all the adults in your house work. Even if they work from home!

It’s okay to rope in help, too. Very few people mind being asked to pop over and cuddle a puppy for an hour, while you run an errand or just get a puppy break.

Build Up Gradually

You’ll find your pattern timings vary a lot at this age, because crate naps are determined by your pup’s age, and by the length of time between potty trips. Aim to ask your puppy to entertain themselves in your presence for just 15 minutes at first (you may need to add another game into your pattern so your potty trips don’t get too close together). Build up gradually to 30 minutes, aiming always to give them your dedicated attention before they get bored and come asking for it.

Cycle between giving your pup attention, and letting them amuse themselves, in as many short bursts as they seem to need. And then work on increasing those times!

Ten to Sixteen Week Old Routines

Once your puppy gets through those first few weeks at home, and especially once they are 3 months old, most of us expect to ‘get our life back’ to some degree. And things definitely are easier once your puppy has settled in, learned where the toilet is and, hopefully, stopped crying at night. But puppies under 4 months old still need a lot of attention.

Here’s an example ‘day with a 3 month old puppy’ pattern:

• Potty time
• Socialization trip/puppy walk/training session/games together
• Relax in the same room as you
• Puppy zone time/ Crate time
• Nap time

And repeat!

Note that things have got a bit more complicated here as you’ll take them on an outing in some ‘cycles’ and stay home for a training session or some games in other repeats of the pattern. You can write a longer plan that names the different activities if you want. But your puppy won’t mind which of those activities you do together – they’re just glad to have your undivided attention, and some mental and physical stimulation.

Timing may vary!

The whole cycle will last up to 3 hours, depending on your puppy’s age and bladder control. Timings will vary, and that’s okay! But do make sure that any awake crate time is capped at one hour per session – and at 2 hours for the whole day. So if you have a one hour session awake in the crate, and you want to use the crate twice more, you’ll need to limit the other crate sessions to 30 minutes, that day, for example.

It’s also a good idea to ‘match’ any time your pup spends ‘alone’ in their crate or puppy zone (even if that zone is a playpen they can see you from) with at least the same amount of time interacting with you in an engaged way (walks, games, training etc), and at least the same amount of time loose in a larger zone such as the kitchen, with you there with them. So their time wholly entertaining themselves is no more than one third of their wake time for the day.

As your pup gets older, some of that ‘entertaining themselves near you’ time will become ‘entertaining themselves without you’ time. And that’s when you’ll really start feeling you’re getting your time back!

Four to Six Months Old

From 4 to 6 months old your pup’s daily pattern might look very similar to the previous one, but with longer timings, and shortening naps!

For example some 6 month old pups might be happy like this:

• Potty time/time in the yard – 15 minutes
• Relax in the same room as you – 60-90 minutes
• Walk/training session/games together – 15 minutes
• Alone time/ Crate time – 30-60 minutes (no more than 2 hours total in the crate per day)
• Nap time – up to an hour

Again, you can decide your own pattern for your pup! Just make sure it meets their needs for your attention, toilet breaks, time learning to be alone, training time, crate time limits, and physical and mental stimulation.

My example pattern is for a puppy that spends between ¼ and ⅓ of its awake time alone. That’s plenty for a pup under 6 months old.

What About Work

We often hear from people who are surprised just how hard it is to meet their puppy’s need for stimulation, while also working a full time, or even a part time, job. And it really is hard! In fact, it’s so hard that we recommend you don’t try to do it alone.

Let’s look again at human childcare. Because I think we’re all a lot more realistic about what roles we can carry out around a child, than we are about what we can do with a puppy at home!

Here’s a reminder of my 4 year old’s pattern:

• Help Mummy around the house
• Play a game by myself
• Play a game with Mummy
• Snack time (or meal time)
• Screen time

Following this pattern in 20 minute bursts (the longest my child is happy playing alone) gives me a maximum of 40 minutes of work time, for every 1 hour I spend with her.

That’s fine if my only work tasks today are to spend a total of 2 hours answering our members’ questions on social media, or other short burst tasks. And assuming my daughter doesn’t need my help or attention during her playing alone time, or her screen time.

But it’s simply not possible to do a full day’s worth of hours, or to do my 2 hours as one continuous block, or at a scheduled time without interruption, if she’s home, and I’m responsible for her. And I think that most people would agree, that wouldn’t be a realistic goal to have.

Puppies Need As Much Attention As Toddlers

The bottom line here is. If I am to do a full day of work, I need to arrange childcare. And if you want to do a full day of YOUR work, you need to arrange for someone else to care for your puppy. If this comes as a surprise or disappointment to you, you have my sympathy – you are not alone! I’m so sorry if this will be logistically tricky for you.

But we hear every week from puppy parents who have pushed too far and fast on how long they leave their pup alone for, or how much time they ask their pup to spend in their puppy zone or crate at home, and are now having real problems, that will take a lot of time to fix.

Some doggie daycare now, could save you a lot of heartache with separation anxiety, howling, or destructive behavior, later.

Seven To Twelve Months Old

These limitations aren’t forever. Pups over 6 months old can usually spend more time being independent during the day.

Where lots of us go wrong is in trying to give them that attention all at once – crammed into the beginning and end of the day – with maybe a bit at lunch time. This can lead to a lot of boredom and even separation anxiety. Instead, we recommend adding time in small increments, to the 4-6 month pattern above. Be guided by how your pup is coping, and go at their pace.

Twelve months old

A reasonable goal by 12 months old is for your pup to be happy alone for one stretch of 3 hours on a regular basis. With any other stretches alone that day kept to a maximum of 2 hours. And with a good half hour of attention and stimulation in between each alone period.

So for example in a home where everyone works and there are older children this might look like:

• 8am everyone leaves
• 11-11.30am dog walker takes pup out
• 1.30-2pm adult pops back and spends lunch break with pup
• 4pm teenagers get home from school and play with pup

Of course some dogs will be happy for longer than this. But some will need less time alone. Be guided by your dog. If you’re seeing signs of separation anxiety or stress, or your pup is very hyper and excited when you take them out for exercise, you are probably asking them to spend too long alone.

You’ve Got This

Puppies are very time consuming. They need a lot of attention and availability from you or other supporting adults, especially for the first 6 months. But the reward of a confident independent well-balanced dog for the next ten or more years is worth putting in the time they need right now.

Believe in yourself – you can do this! Juggle those schedules. Rope in help as needed. Make a good plan, that includes puppy free time for yourself. And keep edging those patterns longer as your pup becomes ready for more independence. In a year’s time this will feel very far away, and life will be very different – we promise!

Helpful Links

Sleep:
New Puppy Sleep Problems

Feeding:
Different Ways To Feed A Puppy

Potty Training:
Three Month Old Puppy Potty Training
How To Potty Train A Puppy While Working Full Time
Potty Training Success (Schedules That Work)

Time Alone:
Why Puppy Zones Matter (And How To Create Yours)
Dogs Are Not Hamsters (The Use and Misuse of Crates)
Raising A Puppy When You Work Full Time

Socialization:
Is It Safe To Take My Puppy Out Yet
Why Puppy Socialization Matters

Training:
First Steps In Dog Training