For those who work full time..

What is your daily routine with you and your dogs?

Still not an issue for me just yet as I still live at home, but something I will have to think about when I move out!!

It varies depending on where OH and me are working.

Some days they get out for an hour in morning then left behind all day. Some days they come with me and get out at lunchtime. Their fav days are with OH in which case they are out all day having fun

I live where I work and I also have access to staff kennels so I can be a bit flexible but given that Malcolm doesn't cope being in the staff kennels he and Bandit generally get left together during the day.

My routine goes something like this:
6am - 7am Get up let dogs out in the garden go get washed and dressed. Feed dogs and have my own breakfast.
7am - 7.45am Walk dogs in the fields at work, the whole walk is off lead so we play lots of fetch to burn the energy off for the day.
7.45am Head back to house crate Malcolm and give him his hoof treat, leave Bandit loose in living room (hoping to get Malcolm to this stage soon) again give him his hoof treat. Collect Scooby from the porch and take him down to the staff kennels. Scooby goes to work with me because he suffers from SA.
I can pop back at 9am to let the boys out but unless I know I'm going to be out at lunch I choose not to disturb them.
12.30 is lunchtime. I have an hour with them. The pups generally take advantage of this hour by racing around the garden and weather permitting we do some agility in the side garden.
1:30 back in crates/living room or possibly down to the staff kennels for the afternoon.
I finish work at 5pm. If I still have work to do I go up to the house and bring them back down to the office. If not 5 o'clock is walk time. It's very handy having the fields at work to walk in as I can do lots of offlead running walks with my boys. Especially while Malcolm still settles in.
After their walk I bring them back to the house and let them out in the big side garden to play some more (what can I say they are still pups really). They generally get fed about 7:30 - 8 depending on when they stop playing.
Somewhere around 10ish I fall asleep on the sofa and we're then ready to start another day!

My OH only works half days, which makes life easier, but he's not comfortable walking them both together and only walks Moss alone if I'm really not going to be able to, or if he's winding Emmie up at home. He's not brilliantly confident with dogs so I do most of the training.

So I get up early and let them out, fill some kongs and pop them in the fridge. He gets up later and plays with Moss for a bit before he goes in his crate with his breakfast and OH goes to work. Emmie goes back to bed and at some point toddles down for some kibble before OH gets back.

The afternoon is playtime. If Moss is getting silly then he goes out for a walk without Em and if he's sleepy then Em goes out for a quiet walk. When I get back from work at 5:30ish we all go straight out together for an hour or two - not walking the entire time, there's a lot of lazing around on the riverbank at the moment! We live in a shared house so this is when we have our family time and talk about boring work things. I do training with Moss on our walk and/or while tea's cooking.

If OH needs to be out in the afternoon or has friends round or whatever then I take Moss to work with me but that doesn't happen often!

We're lucky at the moment that we can afford for OH to work part time (though we both work for charities so we often work longer than contracted!), and that our two are pretty easy going. We wouldn't have been able to take on a puppy otherwise.

I start work at 6.15am so Bailiie stays sleeping in her bed, OH in his too until they get up in between 6.15am & 6.30am (I think!).
Bailiie has free run of the garden until OH goes to work - he starts at 8.30am. He's home for lunch around 1pm, for half an hour when Bailiie goes outside again.
She is left with a stuffed kong in the morning and has a biscuit in the afternoon or vice versa!
I get home around 4.15pm - 4.30pm (if I've had to nip to a shop) and we have a big hello then go outside before we head off for a walk. We tend to walk in between 1-3miles. Sometimes Bailiie just wants to get back home and not bother going so far. On these days we do a bit of training in the garden.
We have been going to doggy school two nights a week too but we are starting a new school next week so for now it will just be 1 night training.
In October, OH starts a different job and it'll mean Bailiie being home alone all day. This is part of the reason for the new school - I'll be able to take her on longer walks and we are going to be learning clicker training too, so we can do some of that too which will keep her brain active
We are also going to be doing these alternately I hope - agility (she loves it), treiball, barrel racing and rally. We've had a go at rally but not the other two. I want something fun too so hence why these, all at our new school...

As of next week, I'll be out of the house from 8:30AM - 5PM, 5 days a week and my OH is out of the house 9:30AM - 6:45PM, 4 days a week.

Our plans for routine are as follows:
I get up at 7AM & walk Molly, then she goes back to bed until about 9AM when Josh gets up, feeds her, lets her out in the garden. Then Josh leaves at about 9:30, giving Molly run of the house. I get home at about 5PM & let Molly out for a toilet break, give her lots of fuss & play. Then Josh gets home at 6:45 & takes Molly out for a jog. Then she gets home, we cook tea, give Molly her tea & fuss her all evening.

I'm not sure as of yet whether Molly will need Josh to come in during the day to let her out, we're going to decide that after next week


When I was living on my own & working full time my routine was as follows:

Get up at 7:30am, take Molly out for a morning wee/walk & feed her. I'd leave at 9AM, leaving Molly on her own until about 1:30PM when I'd come home & take her out again. Then I'd head back out, leaving Molly on her own. I'd get home at about 4:30PM, when I'd take her out for a walk. I'd feed her at about 6PM & then we'd chill out together all evening.

It's a tricky situation living on your own, working full time & having a dog but it is possible

I do not really have one, it depends on where I am, what time of year it is etc as I am on the road most of the time.

When I worked 9 - 5 full time the dogs went out at 5 am for at least an hour minimum and then in the evening for at least an hour minimum; rain or shine, light or dark.

4.50am Alarm

5am Get ready, up and out with dogs, normally an hour, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on my work commitments for the day. The morning walk tends to be just exercise, with the odd training here and there

7am - latest time the dogs are normally home and resting at which time I have breakfast and open up the work laptop and start my working day

5pm to 7pm get back in from work. Dinner then off out with the dogs for about an hour again. Sometimes I can get in later so the dog time is cut short on those occasions. The evening session with the dogs is normally more about training than walking \ exercise. However, if it's been a tough day at work then I don't train (Never train your dog in a bd mood)

Days off are different. Normally start slowly (7 to 8am is a good lie in for me) then it's a play it by ear, but I normally get my best training sessions and walks in at the weekend.

7am - Walk Kestral for half an hour
7.30 - back home and showered, feed Kestral, leave at 8
5.30 Arrive back home take Kestral for a walk for 45 min to 1 hour
7.30 ish - feed dinner
Play/Train for 10-30mins later in the evening
If she still has too much energy sometimes we pop out for a walk round the block as there's no traffic!

All her meals are fed in toys to keep her a bit more busy - usually Kong, Kong wobbler or food ball, or raw.

I wish I could pop in half way though the day but it's not really do-able. I am considering paying someone in the future but it's time consuming finding and introducing her to someone until she would allow them to walk in to the house.
There's also the option to take her to work which I tried once and it went well - I just need to be a bit more brave!

I have a camera to watch her and she just sleeps all day

I have a dog walker who comes in at lunchtime to let my two out or my wife is at home as she works part time (ish)

Interesting with the camera and I've often thought about doing that myself - what's your setup for that one?