Playing with Dogs!

[lovebugs2003]

Ok, i hope this doesn't come across as a weird question, but how often during the day and night, do you play with your dogs.

I ask, because i am a new dog owner, never had a dog before, so i feel bad if i don't play with my dog every minute i am home. I feel bad if he is lying down or following me, i feel like he is bored. I don't know a normal dog behaviour.

Cooking dinner has taken longer, because i play, then cook, then play then cook.

I love playing with him, but when i have a full day at home, i dont' get anything done.

Am i just being crazy.

eta; also when we are watching TV and just want to relax, i feel like we should be playing with him.

[dpangel33]

This isn't a weird question but I think I should preface that every dog is different.

I have a small breed dog who tends to be hyper most of the time.
So I dedicate play time at about the same time every day that way he's on some what of a schedule and knows when to wind down.

Mornings aren't his stong suit as he has seperate anxiety and gets nervous when we're about to leave in the morning. But when we get home from work at about 5 we spend a couple of hours playing with him and taking him out for a walk. Then we do our dinner/tv thing and play with him again before bed to release what remaining energy he has.

He was a lot more demanding as a puppy, but he's 2 now and tends to not mind laying around if that's the case.

I also want to say dogs are kinda like kids: if you give them what they want when they want it then you are on their schedule. You are the Leader and need to set the rules and boundries so you don't get walked all over b/c bad habits are hard to change.

Good Luck!!

[j*east]

Our dog is 3 and we've had her 2 years. We're at work from about 8-4, depending on the day, so we don't play with her until evening. She gets at least 3 walks a day, usually at least one is 30+ minutes and the others are around 10-15 minutes. About 2-3 times a week we play outside with balls and mix in some training work. Almost every day she gets about 15-30 minutes of play or training time where one or both of us is focused just on her, as well as an hour class once a week. Several times each evening she'll bring a toy or ball over and we'll play a little, but not 100% focused on her--we're watching TV or reading at the same time. The rest of the time we're at home, she'll sleep or lie around, either on the floor or on the couch with us.

So...outside of walks (which I think are really important in raising a happy, healthy dog), she gets about 20-30 minutes of focused play or training time each day. She will play with her toys herself, chewing on them or throwing them around.

Think about what kind of dog you want to have. If you give him constant attention, he'll expect it. We tell our dog "Enough" or get up when we're done playing and she accepts it. It's really nice to just lie around with her too, and I think she enjoys that as well as playing.

[jajacobsen]

I ditto everything J*east said, especially about teh walks and limiting the play time to a raesonable amount. Just like a child, teh pup must learn toplay by itself some too.

[lovebugs2003]

Thanks everyone,

He is really good at playing by himself, i guess i have to let go a bit, and make it a bit more routine with his playing time.

[ejs]

When we had only one dog, we played with him quite a bit. He can be fairly mellow, though. But throughout the evening, we play a lot of fetch in the house. He brings the ball, one of us throws it. He might want to do this for 5 minutes or an hour.

A few years ago, we got a second dog. They play together a lot. They run and chase and play tug and wrestle. We still play fetch and tug with both, but they do a lot together and don't need us as much. :(

[jajacobsen]

but they do a lot together and don't need us as much. :(


As an often exhausted puppy momma (me) with two active 10 mo old weims, I find this to often be a good thing!:p

[ejs]

As an often exhausted puppy momma (me) with two active 10 mo old weims, I find this to often be a good thing!:p

I completely agree. But there are times when we try to get them to play with us and they look at us like, "Why? We have each other. Let's run!"

[Kanga]

What kind of dog do you have? That will depend a lot on how much exercise he needs.

I don't currently own a dog, but my parents have a cocker spaniel and it is the laziest thing I've ever seen (3 years old now). She'd lay around the house and sleep all day if you let her so they try to get her out for at least one 20 minute walk a day. They also have a large yard with plenty of room for her to run so if she feels the need to burn off some energy she can. They don't play with her all that much, although they do try, but you have to practically beg her to play fetch and she only returns the toy about 1/4 of the time. The other times she takes it under the bed and chews on it for awhile before settling down to take another nap. So their dog really doesn't need much play time. She's content to lay next to somebody and get petted and let outside for some fresh air and a walk every now again. Oh, I should mention my parents have a next door neighbor with a hyper active dog that comes over about 2-3 times a week to play with their dog. They don't do much training, she knows the basics of sit, stay, down, and come, and is such a stubborn dog that my parents really have no desire to teach her anything else. So this dog doesn't really need much exercise, but is perfectly content to just spend time with them, but if you have a dog that was bred to run, you'll most likely need to do a lot more for exercise.