What are your rituals?

[MissyGallant]

Tabitha's post on her nightly ritual made me smile. And wonder what habits do you and your shelties observe every day? What events are necessary for your days to be complete?

Every night, we play slap paw with Clara. We slap the bed and she pounces on our hands until we have done a good enough job that she rolls over for belly rubs.

Tara needs a good night kiss.

Casey must have belly rubs.

Annabelle needs a hug.

Bonnie needs to be put on the bed and fussed over.

And, of course, they all need a cookie after their last out of the night.

 

[Jess041]

Our morning and evening routines are pretty nailed down.

Missy sleeps in my bedroom with the door shut, but her kennel is open so she has the freedom to choose where she wants to sleep, but if she keeps waking me up (I'm a very light sleeper), I'll send her to her crate and lock it. I am very fatigued in the mornings and have a hard time getting up, so I use 2 alarm clocks. One digital alarm clock, and then an alarm on my phone. When the first alarm goes off, Missy gets in my bed and waits for me to get up. Sometimes she gets too excited and will crawl up and get in my face before I'm actually ready. Then we go on a walk around the building so she can potty. Then we come inside and I feed her. I wait until she's done eating, then I take a shower. While I'm getting ready for work, she will either go bother the cat, or she'll come lay on my bed giving me those "please don't leave me" eyes. I take her on a quick potty break before I leave and her cue to get in her crate is me getting the box of dog cookies. I give her exactly 2 cookies every morning. She pretty much flies into her crate.

Our bedtime routine consists of me taking her out for a final potty, then I wash my face and get ready for bed. She usually follows me around. Then I'll go grab a rawhide for her and tell her to "get in bed" and she goes and lays at the end of my bed and chews on her rawhide while I usually fiddle around on my phone (checking the Sheltie Forums, of course). Sometimes she'll finish her rawhide in one night, sometimes it takes her a couple. It's funny because if I forget to go get her a rawhide, she usually has one hidden somewhere and she'll grab it and lay on the end of my bed and chew it. When she's done with her rawhide she'll lay on the floor parallel to my bed in front of the box fan I have blowing (white noise). She likes to have the fan blowing on her belly.

It's funny how she seems to know the difference from weekdays when I go to work, and weekends when I sleep in a little. I really threw her off this past weekend because we had to leave the house by 6:30am to get to a flyball tournament both Saturday and Sunday, so I was up an hour earlier. She did not budge when my alarm went off.. it was too early even for her. Then after Saturday, we didn't get home until about 8 and I fed her, took some naproxen and melatonin and went straight to bed. She slept the whole way home in the car and it was still light outside so she very hesitantly chewed on her rawhide, like she knew it was also too early for bedtime.

 

[melbell]

my nightly routine is last potties then we put the little one in his BIG crate covered with a sheet and Honey jumps on the bed, takes up my fiance's side until he rolls her over in between us. She will then take one of our pillows and split it with us (of course, she gets more of the pillow...) and will lay directly where my oscillating fan hits the most as she gets hot at night. During the night all is well and she'll kick us both about 3-4 times a night. About 4:30am she will start crying, which fiance and I both can sleep through... then she goes to the pup's crate and cries at him waking him up and he starts barking. Fiance then gets out of bed at 4:45 and let's out Ruutu then comes back and pry's Honey off of the bed to go potty (yes.. that's right.. she cuddles BACK in bed after waking up Ruutu) then after everything is done, back to bed we go. Starting at 5:30 am Ruutu will complain again and we let him out of his crate and he insists that he jumps on the bed and gives us puppy kisses, bites and leaps. Everything then is fine and dandy til about 5:37.. then we hear them crying at the door that holds their dog food my dogs are high maintenance. Honey has taught Ruutu well. Ruutu must also have the radio on and be told "good bye" before we leave to work or he'll fuss the whole time.

 

[DieDany]

Perry must have his belly rubs in the morning as dad leaves for work and belly rubs and kisses at night when we are about to sleep

When I drink my coffee Perry jumps on the couch, puts his head on a pillow and gives me a very sofisticated look just like he would love to discuss the ancient philosophy

 

[BarbV]

Between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. each morning, the boys decide to nudge me into awake mode by asking to go outside.

We go back inside with a firm...."Its NOT time for breakfast".

At exactly 6:02 a.m. the dogs start to yip and howl. Now its breakfast time. Every morning, like clockwork.

 

[JacqueZ]

After our evening playtime Honey has to run and get her rawhides and lay by me for a good chew while I pet her. Its the only daytime cuddles I get unless there's food in my hands! I love it!

 

[BigE]

Fifi is a rescue dog and despite 1.5 years staying with me, he has still not 100% relaxed at all times. I do envy everyone here who is able to do belly rubs and bedtime cuddling. He is a sweet and well behaved boy though, and I love him tremendously.

Having said that, there is indeed a daily ritual. Because I am like those worried moms who make sure their babies are free of dirt and dust. Every morning after our walk, I make him lay down on the couch belly up, so I can check if his fur has picked up any loose debris from the grass. But on some days I know he wouldn't when we were only walking on concrete. Then he would stick to the couch and look at me and the couch back and forth several times. If I still pretend not doing anything, he stares at me as if saying "mom, hold me up there, you forgot or just being lazy? ". I hope this is the start of him feeling a bit of pleasure being belly rubbed, and we could do more on him later.

 

[Lightplum]

Every night we last out the dogs at 10pm, bring them back in, the older dogs get their crushed ice in their bowl the younger ones fresh water they check out each others crates hop into theirs for their cookie, Meanwhile Mia is is sitting on the couch in the dog room watching me to make sure I do each step correctly...once they last crate is locked she'll go walk by each one to make sure they are all tucked in and she'll follow me back up stairs and than beeline for my room to head into her crate for her 5 pieces of dry cat food If you get waylaid doing something else before you crate and treat her she'll come back out to let you know

 

[Mya'smom]

Between 10-11 pm, Mya goes out for her last pee of the day. Right after that she heads for my bedroom and wants a lift on my bed and I know darn well she wants me in it as well. THere are times that I don't go to bed right away and she will stand in the hallway and whine and whine until I give in. Apparently, I give in right away...otherwise she'll wake up the girls with all her whining.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

awww, love the stories
I hate routine, so we don't have any, really lol Glad Shelties are so good at adapting to their guardian!
Sometimes Leo has the bed with me alone and stretches out for cuddles and then lays by my feet, other times he has to sleep in crate, because he's so bossy guarding the bed away from the cats and Toffee.
On other nights Toffee lays on my other pillow and we spoon and cuddle and schizo kitty is on the other side. If Leo behaves and doesn't try to herd cats and Toffee away he gets to lay with us and the bed gets awfully crowded, lol, especially if Big Whiskey makes a guest appearance, too!