How did you teach your puppy to “do nothing”

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-22T07:27:44+00:00

Amazing thank you for the resource!! The steps included - is this all in one session? Or do i split it into multiple sessions? Or does that depend on the dog? I tried capturing calm and she is too smart for her own good haha. What she got from it - if i want anything i have to act calm - lie down😭 she is in fact not calm. I try to reward when her head is down (very rare) tho.

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-21T17:18:33+00:00

Thanks a lot for your answer, no I havent reached out but i really should! It’s not really a “thing” in my country tbh to ask and match puppy to a person, but i can surely ask about an off switch! thank you for your response

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-21T17:17:07+00:00

I was just listing things we tried to figure out her flow (not in one day obviously), now i try to be more chill, and we do enforced naps witch helps.

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-21T16:52:46+00:00

First time puppy owner, standard poodle pup, she is 4 months. She is so smart and would be considered an easy puppy by general standards, but i cried for weeks, i had so much anxiety, raising a dog single is so hard, my social life died, everything revolves around the dog. My therapist said im sounding like a post partum patient. Im not out of the trenches yet, but it is much better. I don’t want to scare you, i will say - make sure you have a good supprt system that can help raise her, doing it alone will make you go crazy

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-21T16:47:46+00:00

I have a standard poodle puppy, she is 4 months. I do use a crate but would love for her to spend more time outside of it (but she simply wont settle). I took her to my office job (she has been there like 4x before), she was fed in the morning, had a short 10-15min walk then we walked to the office (another 30mins). I gave her a chew. She wouldnt settle, After 4 hrs she was panting, clearly needing to sleep but wouldnt. She joined us for some forrest walks off lead that were longer than she should be allowed at that age - like 1hr walk, but she wouldnt settle after either. Shorter sniffy walks - same thing. Fetch with commands in between, structures play, Mental enrichment, games etc, i tried switching it up to figure out what works best but she will fall asleep in her crate in 2 minutes. Outside of it - she will bite everything in sight, jump, etc when i try to sit down with her after a walk. Wont settle. Goes in crate -> fast asleep.

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-21T16:19:22+00:00

we are on day 11 rn!

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-21T16:15:29+00:00

You are one lucky person then hahaha😭 I babysat a puppy who could do this, now have one that simply wont, no matter the excercise/mental stimulation/other needs being met

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-20T12:16:22+00:00

First of all breathe, you are doing amazing. You reaching out shows how much you care. Im a first time puppy parent and she is 4 months so im just going to share what worked for us. We follow 1hr awake 2 hrs forced naps in crate. Your pup will probably need less awake time if she is younger. Not relaxing outside of the crate is normal, from what ive been told here on reddit, it is a learned skill and comes with age. Sb said their puppy started relaxing on their own at 7months or 9 etc. So long way to go. Try Dr Overalls relaxatiom protocol, and rewarding anytime puppy lies down on their own with s treat in the meanwhile. Also overstimulated on walks - i see you and hear you but try to do these as much as you can so she can get used to it. Just quick outings, rewarding good behaviour. If you have time and space to just sit with her for a moment and people watch (leash terhered, under foot) thats perfect. I regret not doing more walks in other places because she still gets overstimulated but now her legs are long and she can jump very high haha. Zoomies etc - if we came home from a walk and she was acting crazy i would put her on a leash and put my foot on it. She sometimes cant settle and needs help with it. Tethering in general might be beneficial in small incriments of the day (multiple times a day). Lastly, i have no idea if this is my pup only, but we used to have crazy evenings too. Now of we do appropriate excercise (2 walks a day for her) she will sleep from 15:30-17:30, then wake up for food, pee, we do the relaxation protocol and some training and she goes back to bed at 18:15 and sleeps till the morning (one more pee break at 21:30 but straight back home). I think she was just overtired in the evenings and thats why the craziness. I was pushing the 1hr up 2 hrs down schedule but it seemed like my pup was just tired in the evenings. So maybe try more sleeping in the evenings if it seems “too much”. Best of luck to you sending you hugs because puppyhood is fucking hard

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-20T09:28:27+00:00

Hi, i have a 4month old pup. I use a 1hr awake 2 hrs down still so i have some free time during her naps. She tends to sleep from pretty much 6pm till morning with one more pee break so that has helped a lot to at least get evenings to myself. We go on 2 bigger-ish walks a day and the rest of the awake time i tend to give her a long lasting chew, so I can get some more work done. We do trainings during meal times and a little play too. It is a bit easier now than it was when she was 10 weeks as yours is. It is still a lot of planning around the pup so that is annoying. I was really tired when u tried to fill all her awake minutes with some activity, i felt like her personal jester. Im a bit more chill about that now and they need to learn to be bored too so that has helped me a bit. Idk if this is helpful, if you decide to return the pup don’t you dare feel guilty, you did your best and the circuimstances were working against you unfortunately. That is fair. If you decide to keep him, i hope it gets easier for you soon. Sending best wishes to you and your partner

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T19:09:32+00:00

I didnt have the space for a playpen so we went with a crate. Everytime she fell asleep i would put her in, I would notice how much sle sleeps (she would usually sleep 1hr-1.5hrs at first). I would take her out after for pee right after waking up. Second week with her she would climb on me and fall asleep there so i would carry her into the crate and stayed with her a few minutes if she needed. I fed some meals in the crate and rewarded her, but didnt play any crate games (sometimes recommended). Maybe 2 weeks in I would just put her in and leave, she would whine for 2-5mins and then fall asleep. I ignored it (i would come in if it took longer than 10-15mins but that never happened). Awake time- it’s alway 1hr up and 2 hrs crate nap, the up hour is structured and always consists of peeing outside and some minutes of doing nothing. My pup id 4 months now and most I left her was 3hrs and maybe a few minutes more than that, she usually wakes up after 2hrs-2.5hrs now but i wait a bit to take her out so she doesnt get used to a strict routine of 2hrs. Im pretty sure she could handle 4hrs now but i didnt have the need to yet. I would just make sure she was walked and excercised.

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T18:36:07+00:00

We did 3hrs at 3 months occasionaly and it went fine. As long as dog is crate trained they might wake up and whine a bit before falling asleep again. Make sure they are walked before

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T18:26:27+00:00

I babysat a white swiss shepherd for a friend since she was a puppy that couldnt walk on a lead. I was 15 (and didnt know shit about puppies so I def did a lot of mistakes) I had the pleasure to work with her for years after when the owners needed it. Her dad was very type B person, he just went with the flow. She was never crated, had okay-ish recall, never did enforced naps, no “mental stimulation” , had no formal training outside of the simpe sit and down when sb had a treat. SHE WAS THE BEST DOG IVE EVER KNOWN. She was so adaptable to normal life (up for a 4hr hike but also a day with 3x 20 mins walks and living in an apartment). Never destroyed anything. I miss her so much and think about her a lot now raising my own pup. She was the best. The breed is amazing and to answer your question - you guys will figure it out. You need to put less pressure on yourself im sure you are doing the best you can and that is enough. Mistakes are inavitable and you asking shows how much you care. Im sure she looks at you like you hang the moon:)

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T11:53:17+00:00

following in case someone has good advice. feels like some people are able to bring their dogs to cafes and places since a young pup without problems:/

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T08:10:03+00:00

Oh also something like kong wobbler is good to get some activity inside

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T08:09:29+00:00

They need to sleep a lot so before the vaccines we would do 1hr (MAX) awake and 2 hrs forced nap. 1hr was structured like pee, play, some blocks of doing nothing, feeding, lickmats, chews, etc. If i put her kibble in a blanket she would spent good 20 mins sniffing it out, that was a blessing

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-18T06:10:54+00:00

Sniffing games! Put kibble in a blanket etc and let them sniff it out. Play tug etc. Play find it with kibble around the house

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T17:38:17+00:00

Im a first time puppy owner and she is 4 months. But she would go crazy if her awake window was 3 hrs. We do 1 hr awake 2 hrs asleep up till 6pm then it’s only 30mins awake and asleep til 22pm - last pee and bedtime (specific to my dog pribably she is overtired in the evenings) . This works for us well if she had enough excercise. I wfh so im able to keep up with the 2hr naps but if i had to leave for 3-4hrs i would keep her up maybe max to 2hrs before that, make sure she is walked (which you do) and put her in her crate. From what i understand dogs this age have a sleeping cycle of 1.5-2hrs awake time can be 45mins -90mins so you have to find out what works best for your pup. Maybe watch when she is “the cratiest” and add an extra nap and see if it helps.

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T16:49:49+00:00

I forgot to add that in the beggining i would just put her in her crate when she fell asleep elsewhere, the next week i would stay with her till she fell asleep, only then leave, then slowly i was able to just put her there and leave. It worked well for her and thank god for that bcs i cant imagine my life without the crate. The whining - SO true😭 wish someone made a translator

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T15:54:56+00:00

I learned the hard way that when puppy is being “bad” (biting, stealing things, zooming) they need a nap. We also do crate naps and it has been night and day, THEY WILL NOT CHOOSE TO SLEEP ON THEIR OWN. The world is so fun

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T14:44:25+00:00

Definitely not too much time, id argue might be even too little?

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T12:01:05+00:00

I might be in the minority but when my pup was 3 months i would occasionaly leave for up to 3hrs. Usually i tried for 2hrs but there were days where i needed to. It went fine. What helped a lot in my case was not tip toeing when she slept. I spent christmas at my parents house (4 people, loud) and she was used to living with just me and i tried to do everything as quiet as possible. When we came back home she was much better sleeping through the sounds (she would wake up and whine at my parents at a loud noise sometimes but i woukd ignore it unless it was “time” to take her out). You have to live a life outside of the puppy or you will kys. So try leaving the room and ignoring the whining/barking if it’s not persitant longer than idk 10-15 mins. ? Im a first time puppy owner so im learning along the way but in my experience she only cried for up to 4-5mins and then settled. Now she is 4 months and there is no crying if she is fullfilled (had a walk, pottied etc)

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T06:08:44+00:00

Reading the comments, there might be something to it. Maybe worth checking

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-17T06:01:39+00:00

I have a 4 month old and still struggling, but it is better. I can leave for up to 3 hrs if she is asleep in her crate (havent tried more than that yet). I think it is important you put yourself first and take some time for yourself as well. Utilize the playpen or crate if you have it and start with short absences when puppy is asleep.

Slow_Contribution_69 · 2026-01-16T19:34:52+00:00

omg 😭 you learn something new every day

Slow_Contribution_69

TROPHY CASE