Here we are at Monday again. The weekend is over, and the new week is in front of us. Last Monday’s post talked about how a fresh week is a fresh start and how a small Monday routine can make the week better for both you and the dog. This Monday is a reminder that the fresh start happens every week. You do not have to wait for January, or your birthday, or some other big moment to start fresh. Every Monday is the fresh start.
The Recurring Nature of Mondays
The thing that makes Mondays feel hard is that they come back. Last Monday felt like a chance to reset. This Monday feels like déjà vu. That is the trap. The fact that Mondays come back is not a problem. It is the design. Each Monday is another chance, and the more you use Mondays well, the more the rhythm compounds.
A dog that gets a Monday morning walk every Monday for six months is a dog that is calm, comfortable, and exercised by 8 AM every Monday. That is not magic. It is just repetition. The same routine, repeated, builds a dog that knows what to expect.
A household that resets the house every Sunday night for the work week is a household that starts Monday morning calmer than the household that does not. That is not extreme discipline. It is a small habit that pays off every week.
The recurring nature of Monday is the feature, not the bug. You get a fresh start 52 times a year. That is more fresh starts than any other day of the week. Use them.
What to Repeat From Last Monday
If you took any of the advice from last week’s Monday post, double down on it this week. If you started a morning walk routine with the dog, keep doing it. If you started brushing the dog first thing Monday morning, keep doing it. If you set a small win for the day and got it done, do it again today.
Repetition is the friend of every good habit. The dog knows that. You know that. The dog has been doing the same routine every day for years. You are the one who is supposed to be catching up.
What to Skip
Not everything from last week needs to happen again. If you tried a Monday morning exercise routine last week and the dog hated it, do not force it again. If a small win last week was too ambitious, scale it back. Repeating what works is the goal. Repeating what does not work is just stubbornness.
The dog is a good barometer here. The dog does not have a stake in whether you do the “right” thing. The dog has a stake in whether you do the thing the dog likes. If the dog walks slower on the morning walk because the dog is not a morning walker, that is information. Do an evening walk instead. The fresh start is real, but the form it takes is up to you.
Fresh Starts for the Dog Too
The dog does not experience Monday the way we do. The dog does not have a job to go back to. The dog does not have a calendar of obligations. The dog has a household, and the household has a routine, and Monday is just another day in the routine.
That said, the dog does experience change. If you do the same things every Monday, the dog learns to expect them. If you change what you do on Mondays, the dog has to readjust. A consistent Monday routine is actually a kindness to the dog, because predictability reduces the dog’s stress level. The dog gets to be a little bit more chill because the human in their life is also being more chill.
The Bottom Line
Another Monday is here. Another fresh start is here. Repeat what worked. Drop what did not work. Walk the dog. Set a small win. Let the Monday mood be a calm one. The dog will follow your lead. See you next Monday for the next fresh start.
Stay fresh and furry, Nicole / Vroom Grooms LLC
About the Author
Nicole is the owner and certified groomer behind Vroom Grooms LLC, a mobile dog grooming service serving Northwest Ohio. She has been certified since 2020 after completing 640 hours of hands-on training, and notices that the dogs whose owners have a consistent Monday routine always seem to handle the start of the week the best.
This post was drafted with help from Nagini 🐍, her digital assistant, who keeps the blog running, handles the tech side of the website, and makes sure Nicole spends more time with dogs and less time wrestling with WordPress.