Do Dogs Need Routine And How Much Do Your Daily Habits Matter?

So what happens if we change things up? Do things differently, or at a different time? Are dogs happier with variety in their lives, or is routine a source of comfort to them? 

How Do We Know If Our Dog Is More Or Less Happy Than Before?

It can be hard to know how our dogs really feel when we change things up. Dogs are resilient, and it’s not always easy to know how their lifestyle is affecting them. Most Labs are pretty good-natured and will accept the choices we make on their behalf. Even if they’d rather do something else, or be somewhere else. 

But, before we can decide if something we do makes our dogs happier (or less happy) we need a way to assess or measure their happiness. 

One way to estimate whether or not a dog is happy, is to look at their behavior. Another is to look at chemicals in a dog’s body, that are released in response to stress. And recently scientists have started to investigate these changes.

Does Having A Routine Make Dogs Better Behaved?

In 2022, a scientist called Gonzalo Luna-Cortés published some research looking at the relationship between daily routines and behavior problems in pet dogs.

He carried out three studies, one with dog owners from Colombia, and the remaining two studies with dog owners in Germany. These were quite big studies involving over 580 dogs and their owners in total. And what Luna-Cortes found, was that owners whose dogs had more consistent routines in their lives, were more likely to report that their dogs were better behaved. 

And of course, while we can’t be sure that better-behaved dogs are any happier or more relaxed than badly behaved dogs, the study did also show an association routines, better behavior, and owner retention and satisfaction. In other words, the dogs with routines were less likely to be abandoned and end up at the pound. Which has to be a good thing.

So hang on, does that mean we should rush off and write out a daily schedule for our Labradors and stick to it?

Well no, it doesn’t.  Remember that just because two things occur together, it doesn’t mean one caused the other.  

So if we go back to our better behaved dogs, the ones with routines, what other explanations could there be?

Well one possibility is that people like me, who enjoy routines, are also more committed when it comes to regular dog training. You can probably think of other explanations too. But the association between routines and good behavior is still interesting enough to encourage me to dig deeper and try to find out how dogs actually feel, about change vs predictable routines! 

Can Predictability Reduce Stress In Dogs?

Does knowing what’s going to happen next actually help dogs feel more relaxed? And does taking that predictability away cause dogs stress?

One way scientists can investigate stress levels in dogs is by measuring a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is released into the bloodstream as part of the body’s response to stressful situations. It has other important jobs too, so high cortisol levels don’t necessarily mean that a dog is unhappy. But changes in cortisol can give researchers useful information about how a dog is responding to a particular experience.

Back in the 1980s, when regulations governing the treatment of animals in laboratories were less strict, researchers carried out an experiment to find out whether being able to predict or control an unpleasant experience, in this case an electric shock, made a difference to dogs’ stress levels. 

We’re interested in the predictability aspect of this research. And for this, dogs were divided into two groups. The dogs in one group received a five-second warning tone before each shock, the dogs in the other group received no warning. 

Interestingly, the warning didn’t significantly reduce the dogs’ immediate cortisol response. But dogs that had experienced shocks without warning showed a greater cortisol response when subsequently exposed to another stressful situation. 

The problem with all this of course, is that it focuses on events that are both unpredictable and unpleasant. 

What we really want to know is how predictability affects the kinds of pleasant events that our dogs experience, such as walks and mealtimes.

Does A Predictable Life Make Dogs Happier?

There’s another interesting study, this time from 2024 that looks at two groups of dogs. One was a group of dogs with behavior problems, and one was a group of dogs with no behavior problems. There were over a hundred dogs in each group.

When we say ‘behavioral problems’ these included issues such as aggression and anxiety which the researchers considered to be important indicators of poor emotional health, and not traits that we associate with a happy and contented dog.

The researchers looked at different factors associated with these two groups of dogs and found a number of significant predictors of behavioral disorders, one of which was the predictability in their lives.

They noted that “Predictable routines and outcomes create a sense of familiarity and security which can reduce negative responses to unexpected or unfamiliar stimuli.”

This is all very interesting, but again we’re back to that old problem of cause and effect. We don’t really know whether a lack of predictability contributed to the dogs’ behavior problems, or whether those problems made it more difficult for their owners to provide a predictable daily life. Or indeed whether owners with very unpredictable lives are in some way disadvantaged when it comes to dog training or management.

It’s a complex topic and difficult to unravel all the different factors that go into creating a dog’s living environment.

So where does that leave us?

Well, the evidence suggests that a predictable life might have some benefits for dogs. Benefits such as better behavior. And that’s reassuring for those of us who like our routines!  And it looks as though dogs might benefit from some warning before unpleasant events, but we have no evidence that the same might apply to the normal and enjoyable events that most dogs experience each day. 

The word ‘might’ is important. Dogs that are stressed or upset are more likely to ‘act up’, so it is likely that the well behaved dogs are more relaxed and content. But we can’t know for certain that the routines themselves were the cause of better behavior. It could be that the type of owner who likes routines is more likely to complete their dogs’ training to a higher standard. Or to behave in ways that help promote calm in their pets. Either way, at least it does appear that our routines don’t seem to be doing any harm!

On the other hand, there’s little to suggest that dogs need their meals and walks at exactly the same time every day. So if you’re not a fan of routines, there’s no evidence that your lifestyle does your dog any harm at all. 

As for creatures of habit like me, is there a risk that we make our dogs’ lives rather boring?

Maybe that’s a question for another day!

Don’t forget to let me know what you think about your dog’s daily routines in the comments below!