Bedtime?

At around 9:45 i take them outside for last minute toilet break and then brush them thouroughly and then put them away to bed at about 10...then from 7:30 - 8 am i get up and take them outside for a bit

I tend to wait until mine are at the sleepy-dopy-aw leave me alone I wanna sleep stage. That usually kicks in around 11. Then I tell them 'bedtime' and sneaky Amber will immediately snuggle in a tight little ball on the sofa and look up at me with goo-goo eyes as if to say "I'm sleeping, I'm sleeping...". Doesn't work, though. As soon as they're in the kitchen I let them out for final potty walk, and then tell them "Bed!" - and they usually trot right into the crate. I get the odd barking episode which I think is triggered by noises outside, but they generally settle very quickly. I do lock the crate at night because Amber is a troublemaker. It's a very large crate - it could take a German Shepherd comfortably - and I know they're safe.

its interesting to read through everyones comments to see their bedtime routines.

i know i dont have a dog, but even me and my cat have a routine. i can say nite nite time and she will go jump on the bed. i climb in bed and cuddle with her a little while and then we both go to sleep. hubby says i give her more attention than i do him lol i think he is just jealous.

Hi All,

Don’t mean to hijack the OP’s thread but I can use some help with our puppy’s sleeping issue. We have had our Cav. puppy since January 5 and he is a bundle of fun. He will be three months old tomorrow. We are crate training him. The water bowl is in his crate most of the day but is taken out around 8:30 in the evening and put back in the morning. We have had several accidents so far. We feed him twice (1/3 of a cup of kibbles each time) a day as suggested by the breeder. He gets a few treats between the meals.

Below is his daily schedule we have been trying to stick to, with some success. My wife and I are home most of the time. The puppy has been sleeping in the crate in the kitchen since we got him. The first few nights he slept pretty much from about 9:30 - 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. But the last three or four days, he went to the crate around 9:45 – 10:00 PM but woke up at around 5:00 AM. I took him out to relieve immediately. But he would not go back to the crate to sleep, he wanted to play! That kind of messed up our schedule. Is it too much to expect him to sleep from 10:00 to 6:00 at this age?

Thank you in advance for your comments/suggestions!

Morning:
6:00outside for relief
6:05 food then outside for relief
6: 20 Play inside under supervision
7:00 crate
10:00 outside for relief
10:15 play inside under supervision
11:00 crate

Afternoon

2:00 outside for relief
2:15 play inside under supervision
3:00 crate
5:30 food then outside for relief
5:45 crate

Evening

8:30 outside for relief (water bowl out of crate)
8:40 play inside under supervision
9:45 outside for relief
9:55 crate

P.S. Sometimes we take him outside for relief outside the schedule if we sense he wants to go.