Do your dogs have a bedtime routine?

[Bennett]

Tonight when I told my daughter, "Time to get ready for bed," Hildie got right up and headed up the steps before my daughter. She hopped up onto the daybed in my daughter's room and waited through bathtime. When we came in, she was half-dozing. She woke up when my husband came in to say his goodnights, then laid there with chin on paw and watched me during prayers. Finally, it was time for the lullaby (yes, Brahms). As soon as I started to sing, Hildie said "Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr," and flopped sideways and settled down for a long snooze. Tonight was no different from every other night. That's her bedtime routine.

What is your dog's/dogs' bedtime routine?

[Steffanie]

My dogs know my routine and respond to each little thing - They make me feel kind of boring because even the slightest cues make them know what's next and bed time is no exception.

I think the bedtime signal to my pups is locking the downstairs door - it's sliding glass so it has both a lock on the handle and a bar I kick into place on the track after the last let-out of the night. After that they follow me upstairs and settle in to their sleep spots, usually Cheyenne on the bed and Sir by the door, though sometimes they both hop up. After that they're both gone, fall asleep quick and wake up in the morning.

I think after this point is the only time they don't watch and follow every move I make, they know I'm not goin' anywhere!

[doggonefool]

I lock the doggie door and they all get up from their respective positions and come to the door. I tell them to go out and pee, River will try to fake me out because it's muddy out there and Princesses don't walk in mud

Ranger will wait until everyone else pees so he can go pee on top. Jukka and Loki will check for any lingering roof rats, then race down the hall to their crates. They will each circle at least 5 times in their crates before they find the right spot and lay down.

River doesn't like to sleep in the bedroom, she likes to be alone in the family room crate. Lights out and nighty nite!

[Debbieg]

I let Benny out to pee one last time then he follows me to the bedroom and hops on the bed. DH usually comes in a bit later ( when he wakes up from snoozin in hs chair). When Benny hears him coming he lets out a sleepy sigh, quicky gets off the bed and settles next to me in his bed on the floor before DH gets in the room.

[KittyKat]

I give Yrie a little drink, let him out to pee. We watch tv for maybe 10 minutes then, I do the bathroom stuff for people then I say its bed time! He walks ahead of me and gets in bed and sucks on his blankie. (shhhh yes he has a blankie that he sucks on, strange if you ask me) And some days he wakes up early, my dad will let him out to use the washroom, then he will tell him to go back to bed and right back in he will come and get back on the bed and go back to sleep.

[Karin]

I take Heidi outside one last time to pee--on leash so she doesn't wake up the neighborhood by running out towards the back of the yard, barking her fool head off (she gets very excited when going outside at night for some reason!)

Then I say, "Let's go to bed," upon which she goes into her crate (which is in our bedroom) or lays down on the floor, I pet her on her head, say goodnight and we all go to bed.

The funny thing is that if I go to bed first, she'll follow me to the bedroom and hit the sack, whereas if I stay up watching TV, she'll stay with me. Same in the morning, she waits until I get up before she'll get up. Talk about a velcro dog!

[chachi]

Blitz goes upstairs to bed around 8 and only comes down when he thinks he's missing something. The other 2 wait until you turn the TV off then they know it is time for bed and up the stairs they go.

[Jason L]

I take everyone out to pee one last time @ 9:30. On leash since I don't have a yard. The order is always the same: Dottie, Obie, Ike. Because I have to do this one dog at a time, the whole operation takes about 20-30 minutes since I usually go around the block once with each dog in case they need to go #1 and #2. So sometimes I would bump into people walking their dogs 3 times with 3 different dogs and that usually gets a weird look from them.

Afterwards we go up to the kitchen and I take out about 15 pieces of treats and they all sit in front of me and we play a couple of rounds of "catch the treat" where I toss the treat for one dog at a time and he/she tries to catch it in the air. If the dog misses, then the treat is fair game for everyone. Because of the added pressure, all the dogs take this game very seriously LOL.

After that, Obie and Dottie just know to go back upstair to the bedroom and get on the bed. Sometimes they are ready to go to sleep. Other than they would get on and wrestle and goof around for another 20-30 minutes.

I then take Ike to his room and tuck him in and read for him a little from the rulebook of United Schutzhund Association, kiss him goodnight, and then turn the lights off for him.

Okay, the last part I made up ...

[MayzieGSD]

Mayzie has her final potty, then she comes and jumps up on our bed (if we don't get there first, she'll take one of our spots, curling up on the pillows - if she does that we say 'look out' and she gets up and moves to her spot, which is in the middle of the bed leaning against one of us with her head resting on our stomachs). She'll stay up for cuddle time for about 10 minutes and then she hops down and goes to sleep on the living room couch

[Zisso]

My two get some cuddle time on the couch in the evening while I watch TV; I scratch their tummies and swoon over them, but that is never enough for Nadi. They go out for one more potty trip after that, lights are turned off, I get comfy and she invites herself up on the bed, followed by Z. They get more snuggles there-10 minutes maybe, then I shooo them off to 'bed' and watch tv for a bit.