Until today.. I thought Merlin was a "high energy" dog I guess. I mean, I don't have much to compare him to but he does like to exercise and when necessary, can and WILL party/play all day..
until I met up with a friend and her aussie and she was telling me her schedule and what his energy level is like and I was like...erm... lol no. Her dog seems to NEED all this exercise and mental stimulation and Merlin just..doesn't.. and she mentioned something about me encouraging him to sleep that much killing his drive and messing with his brain! He doesn't really like exercise by itself so I never thought I was forcing him to sleep but when I'm busy he naturally just naps or finds something quiet to do.. usually chews on a bully.
he seems to like to nap/sleep in, A LOT.
Here is his usual schedule on days where I don't work, on days I work he is up/walking and playing from like 11-5
- He needs to pee earlyish like 9-10 AM or so
- He likes to eat his breakfast after his morning pee, but then take a LONG nap after breakfast until his afternoon walk/trip to the park for fetch and training and playing with other dogs around 2ish
- Then he takes his afternoon nap from like 3-5
- Then dinner at 5:30
- Then we go for a long late afternoon walk from like 6ish, we usually do some training after as well for about 45 minutes
- and then he basically lounges around and naps AGAIN until like 8
- He gets his "last call to pee" at 9, comes home and chews on something or naps while I study
- Then he sleeps til like 10.
I mean, anytime I am not interacting with him he seems to just..sleep.
is this normal? am I wasting away his brain? Should I encourage him to stay awake more?
He is 7 months old.
Does your dog nap this much?
until I met up with a friend and her aussie and she was telling me her schedule and what his energy level is like and I was like...erm... lol no. Her dog seems to NEED all this exercise and mental stimulation and Merlin just..doesn't.. and she mentioned something about me encouraging him to sleep that much killing his drive and messing with his brain! He doesn't really like exercise by itself so I never thought I was forcing him to sleep but when I'm busy he naturally just naps or finds something quiet to do.. usually chews on a bully.
he seems to like to nap/sleep in, A LOT.
Here is his usual schedule on days where I don't work, on days I work he is up/walking and playing from like 11-5
- He needs to pee earlyish like 9-10 AM or so
- He likes to eat his breakfast after his morning pee, but then take a LONG nap after breakfast until his afternoon walk/trip to the park for fetch and training and playing with other dogs around 2ish
- Then he takes his afternoon nap from like 3-5
- Then dinner at 5:30
- Then we go for a long late afternoon walk from like 6ish, we usually do some training after as well for about 45 minutes
- and then he basically lounges around and naps AGAIN until like 8
- He gets his "last call to pee" at 9, comes home and chews on something or naps while I study
- Then he sleeps til like 10.
I mean, anytime I am not interacting with him he seems to just..sleep.
is this normal? am I wasting away his brain? Should I encourage him to stay awake more?
He is 7 months old.
Does your dog nap this much?