Ripley's routine

His Day

We'll start with the night-time, because it will make the explanation of the morning clearer.

He sleeps on his little bed in our room. So he will want to sleep with you, wherever you are!

So, if he's with us, he will want a wee between 6am and 7am ish. If it's the 6am end, he will then let you go back to sleep, if your schedule allows that! He will get a bit boisterous at around 7am, and that means everyone has to get up and start Ripley's day....

We let him out of the back door for a poo / another wee (he will jump up at the back door whenever he wants to go out) and then start the drugs routine - see separate section.

He will then probably want to go out for another wee and hopefully a poo, if he hasn't done one already.

He will need a walk soon - this could be just a little one (to encourage a poo if he hasn't done one in the garden, and to calm him down a bit) or a longer one, if that suits you.

The rest of the morning is probably snoozing and (if this is how your timetable suits you) a longer walk.

in the afternoon, we take him out for a short walk or a long walk, depending on what you've done during the morning. He will probably do a poo on this walk. When you get back, he will have a big old snooze!

He will be quite snoozy during the evening, and watch TV with us. We then take him out for a final walk (to squeeze out a poo and a wee) at about 10.30pm and then it's Beddy Bo Bos!

Food

His food is tricky. We think it might be his drugs (he's on a LOT of beta blockers!) - his appetite is very variable. He will definitely let you know if he is hungry, just by barking a lot.

But - and we are really sorry about this - he doesn't have a regular schedule. So we try him on breakfast every day - but he doesn't always want it. He doesn't usually have lunch..... unless he suddenly gets hungry. And he will usually have dinner - but not always!!!

We've got him some new food, which he does seem to like a lot. It's a bit revolting: basically mince for dogs. It's in the fridge, and there is some in the freezer too.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason about how much he wants. So we try him on a bowlful.... and if he gobbles it all up, we try him a bit more. If he leaves some, we know he is full. Then we put it in the fridge.

I know this sounds pathetic, but we warm it up a bit in the microwave so that he can really smell it!!!

Could you give him a tin of sardines every other day? and he might eat some tuna too...

GOOD LUCK!

Training and rules

UPDATE

He is now a lot better at being off the lead - we let him off in the parks now, and by the sea - but we don't let him off on any roads.

We are very grateful to you for looking after him, so there are only two things we really care about in terms of rules -

Please reward ANY good behaviour - this can even be an absence of bad behaviour, like just lying quietly, or pottering around. We have these little shaker things with treats in - we are trying to get him to associate the noise with a reward, so that we can distract him when he's behaving badly. We're not doing very well - anything you can do would be a huge help!

Please could you not feed him from your plate at the table?

THANK YOU!!!