Pepe the Poodle is enthusiastically up for anything - usual routine or something different, he embraces it all. Chico the Chihuahua though doesn't like change. He seems to thrive on routine, and doesn't like it if the furniture is rearranged for example.
Sort of - Tik seems to know times for her morning 10am brekkie and evening 8pm dindins. Well, that is what she tells me and mostly those are the times I feed her. Whether she knows or wants to keep those times as a routine I really do not know. I only know when ReminderFox pops up on my computer to tell me, just as it did for Pereg's meds. It has now gone 8pm and I have everything out for Tikva's evening meal but she is zonking on the couch so I will wait until she asks! The reason I try to stick to routines, specific hours, was originally for Pereg. But it also helps me.
I’m not sure that they do benefit, the only reason i do things mostly the same on an average day, is because it suits me more than the dog. Heiko doesn’t bother me if I go over walk/feed times which are sometimes unavoidable.
We do have a routine, in that things happen in the same order each day - days out excepted. We don't keep dead to the minute though, there is usually around half an hour of flexibility. A routine can have advantages, like being able to predict who you are likely to meet on your walks.
Just thinking about it, the routine is probably more for me than Tikva although it was definitely necessary for Pereg's medication and I did have alarm clocks set for that as well as ReminderFox on my computer. I have times set both on RF and the reminder thing on Windows 10 for things that I need to know, old age being a booger. Not now for Pereg's medication but I do have Tikva's 10am and 8pm registered. And at noon a reminder pops up to make sure I have taken her evening meat and veggies out to defrost. Also the times for Shabbat as I get an email from Chabad telling me Shabbat [or Chagim] times. And today being Saturday RF has popped up twice - one for rubbish out, which is standard for a Saturday as the binmen will be here at the crack of dawn, as they are every Wednesday and Sunday, and one which says Bottles. Because tomorrow will be the four-weekly delivery day for my mineral water so I get the empty containers out ready. Tikva definitely knows when it is time for her breakfast or evening meal, but she does sometimes try to con me when it is definitely not time!
Mr Bronson seems used to a certain amount of routine. His feeds are still at 3 day at the moment, but he doesnt come looking at the time they are if I'm late for some reason (everyday life sometimes gets in the way as we all know!) He does know though when I've finished my food that it's time to sit by the kitchen door and wait to go into the living room. So in my opinion, dogs do learn and understand routine.
And if I may also expand on my previous comment, he now knows that when it's wet and he comes in he has to wipe his feet!
