As I write this, the clock just struck 8 am.
Newt and Cooper are curled up together in my bed.
Emmett is asleep in his new bed.
And Lucas is asleep in the dog chair across from my desk.
This is what mornings are like around here.
Well, sometimes they’re like this:
Our mornings are very quiet.
I’ve written before about the importance of routine, and our morning routine is the same every day: up, out, eat, Newt’s box. Then we start our day, make breakfast, exercise, John makes his lunch, then he leaves for the lab. I putter around the house until I sit down to work around 8. Emmett hangs out with us, going from room to room, until John leaves and I settle in. Then he curls up in the bed next to my desk. Lucas stretches out on the couch to gaze out the window until he drifts back off to sleep.
Cooper, though? You don’t see his mug until noon every day. Even on weekends. The boy is not a morning dog. He finishes breakfast, then he and Newt retire to my bed, curl up, and doze until it’s time to go outside and play at lunchtime.
What are mornings like for your pups? Are they morning dogs or do they prefer to sleep late? Do you have a typical morning routine?
Rebekah says
02•25•14 at 9:37 amWe definitely have a routine, but not a strict schedule. The timing changes a bit, depending on the day. If I am up early, and my crew is fed breakfast before 0700, they are like Cooper and go back to bed. On the weekends, they are sometimes not fed until 0930 or so, so they then are rip roaring ready to go, ready to start their day. Some mornings, if it is very early, I have to encourage them all to get up and get moving, to go outside to potty. Singing to them usually works, as they try to get away from my dreadful singing voice.
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:26 amThat’s so funny! If we didn’t feed them util 9:30, Emmett and Newt would both be convinced that they were dying of starvation! 🙂 I sing to my herd all the time, too…
Lara Elizabeth says
02•25•14 at 9:51 amRuby gets up between 6 and 6:30 for a potty break. She will go back to bed until 8 at the absolute latest on weekends (weekdays we stay up at 6:30). I am not a morning person at all and used to sleep late every weekend…no more! Ruby is very reliable alarm clock with no snooze button.
She is busy, busy, busy for the whole day when I’m home. She might take an hour nap in the afternoon.
Some days I miss my old, lazy girls!
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:27 amI am SO not a morning person either!! My preference would be to curl up with Cooper, that’s for sure. (Actually, on weekends that’s what I usually do.) How nice to have Ruby to rely on for a morning wake-up, though. That has to be a bit more pleasant than an alarm clock!
Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes says
02•25•14 at 10:53 amHoney has a much stricter routine than the humans. Unfortunately, it includes barking for her breakfast at 6:15 a.m. despite getting fed every day at 7 a.m.
Luckily for me, I’m an early riser and have already been up for an hour or more. My husband, though hasn’t learned. He still tries to sleep until 7.
BTW, love seeing Newt sleeping with the pups. Does Lucas still need some supervision? Or are all limits off?
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:31 amHah! Around here, Newt’s the loudest “barker” when it comes to breakfast! That is nice that you’re a morning person… I’ve been trying to shift my schedule that way, but it’s not my natural rhythm, so it’s been difficult!
We’re very close to having all limits off. For a long while, we separated Newt when we weren’t there to directly supervise because there were still tense moments (Newt SMACKS the dogs when they get too rough, which I think is fair, but Lucas didn’t walk away like the other two did…). We’ve loosened up on that a bit, leaving them together for short durations with no problems. Now we just need to elongate those periods. I think I’m going to have Newt wear her collar cam for the first long period and see what really goes on! 🙂
Phyllis says
02•25•14 at 11:29 amLoved this post. Looks just like my house !! Routines are a must for us.
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:34 amYES! It’s amazing how much better behaved they are with a routine!
jan says
02•25•14 at 12:09 pmThe picture of dogs snoozing on the bed is a familiar one around here, but I like to think that they are all on guard duty. A good watchdog never sleeps. At least that is what they tell me.
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:34 amHA!! I think Cooper thinks he doesn’t come “on duty” until noon. 🙂
Married with Dawgs says
02•25•14 at 5:46 pmI wish I had dogs who weren’t morning dogs but I have dogs that are mama’s boys & girls. The Hubster gets up, they don’t stir, he gets ready, they’re still dead asleep, he leaves, they immediately come wake me up once they hear his Jeep start up. It doesn’t matter what time it is; morning starts when Dad leaves and they have Mom to themselves.
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:35 amOh, interesting! So they get you up when you’re home alone? That’s so funny!
Erik N. says
02•25•14 at 9:41 pmGraham stays under the covers after I get up while Hershey stays on the couch. The excitement starts when the Mighty Bell goes off and it’s time for breakfast outside. After that they come back in while I get ready and when I leave they’re in the back until I get home. Even on weekends they’ll spend a fair amount of time in the back yard; and on three day weekends seem a little perplexed as to why I’m still at home!
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:36 amYour bell idea is genius. These guys definitely equate John waking up with eating, so whatever time he gets up (sometimes as early as 4… ugh), they want to eat. My consolation is that, on those early mornings, pretty much everyone goes back to sleep if I didn’t get up!
Kathy says
02•26•14 at 9:54 amLooks like our house!! 🙂
Maggie says
02•26•14 at 10:36 amAwww! Don’t you just love the coziness?? 🙂
Jessica says
02•27•14 at 11:35 amSilas is a bad influence. I go through periods where I have a lot of insomnia, so I don’t get up with my husband at 6. (I always wanted the “can’t sleep after 5am” insomnia, because I actually like being up early. Instead I have the “still awake at 2:30” kind.) I’ve had to stop relying on Silas to wake me up, because, as I learned last time I was sick, he will quite happily let me sleep until noon. Right now it’s 11:30. He came downstairs about an hour ago and went out to potty, then went right back to bed. He doesn’t even eat.