I will be getting my black and tan Shiba from on May 22nd and couldn't be more excited!
I have taken the entire first week off to get him comfortable and acclimated to his new home. With that said, I don't want him to get used to being uncrated but I feel as though a few days would be necessary to create a bond, allow him to explore his new surroundings, and...lets face it...to have fun with my newly adopted love!
I was thinking (keep in mind I have no prior experience with a puppy) that the initial first 2 or 3 days we will sort of have a loose schedule, get potty training down, feeding, playing, etc. After the initial familiarization period, I intend to start migrating him to his crate in a similar fashion to that of what will come the following work week. Starting slow, maybe crating him for 2 hours in the morning, take him out to play and what not, then return him to his crate. I will gradually increase the time spent in the crate until he is (hopefully) staying crated for 3-4 hours.
My work week schedule intends to be:
6am (or whenever he wakes up) - Potty, short walk (20-30 minutes), food, play time in his pen, then back to the crate.
12:00pm - Return for a potty break, short walk, and food. Then back in the crate again.
5pm - Get home, lounge/play for 30 minutes or so, potty, etc. then go for a 30-60 minute walk followed by food and play/training..
11pm - Bedtime
I think this schedule can work just fine but please let me know otherwise. His average alone time is 4ish hours. Any tips on slowly transitioning him to this routine within a weeks time? I think a dramatic shift in routine will end in the little guy being distressed.
First post btw...hope I did it okay, thanks!
[mod edit: changed category and closed thread due to duplicate topic - OP, please post an introduction in a new thread]
I have taken the entire first week off to get him comfortable and acclimated to his new home. With that said, I don't want him to get used to being uncrated but I feel as though a few days would be necessary to create a bond, allow him to explore his new surroundings, and...lets face it...to have fun with my newly adopted love!
I was thinking (keep in mind I have no prior experience with a puppy) that the initial first 2 or 3 days we will sort of have a loose schedule, get potty training down, feeding, playing, etc. After the initial familiarization period, I intend to start migrating him to his crate in a similar fashion to that of what will come the following work week. Starting slow, maybe crating him for 2 hours in the morning, take him out to play and what not, then return him to his crate. I will gradually increase the time spent in the crate until he is (hopefully) staying crated for 3-4 hours.
My work week schedule intends to be:
6am (or whenever he wakes up) - Potty, short walk (20-30 minutes), food, play time in his pen, then back to the crate.
12:00pm - Return for a potty break, short walk, and food. Then back in the crate again.
5pm - Get home, lounge/play for 30 minutes or so, potty, etc. then go for a 30-60 minute walk followed by food and play/training..
11pm - Bedtime
I think this schedule can work just fine but please let me know otherwise. His average alone time is 4ish hours. Any tips on slowly transitioning him to this routine within a weeks time? I think a dramatic shift in routine will end in the little guy being distressed.
First post btw...hope I did it okay, thanks!
[mod edit: changed category and closed thread due to duplicate topic - OP, please post an introduction in a new thread]