Way too much energy

Whispered

I'm feeling pretty deflated this evening. We had Harley camping this weekend and he was a complete nightmare.

He has been camping with us before and has been mainly fine, but this is the first time we went with other people. He would not walk on the lead but pulled like a bloody horse, he would squirm like a mad thing when you tried to physically get him to do something (like sit still long enough to put a lead on), he cried during the night and jumped on everyone we came across. A 20kg dog diving onto your knee is not funny. :mad:

How do you calm an overexcited dog? He gets a lot, lot, lot of exercise as well as mental stimulation (his meals come in puzzle balls and he gets bones etc to chew). He's simply too big now to be getting away with running riot. My instinct is to come down on him like a ton of bricks and accept absolutely no bad behaviour. But that is not going to calm him.

I don't want a dog who's afraid to bark or play or get excited, I just want to get him to the stage where he stops and listens to me, even when excited. Or will calmly sit by me when someone comes to greet him or pet him. He has been socialised from the time he came to us. Going everywhere with us, but still his "people excitement" is getting too much for us and the temptation is there to leave him at home, which I obviously don't want to do. It defeats the purpose of having a dog!

Training is something we're going to look at, but I'd also like to see if anybody has any tips on making him feel calmer in himself.

Even this evening, he's still up pottering around the garden, despite the two human campers feeling wrecked! He just seems to have limitless energy and excitement.

peasant

helena.ryan wrote: »

How do you calm an overexcited dog? He gets a lot, lot, lot of exercise as well as mental stimulation

This could be part of the problem. You can actually turn a dog into an adrenalin junkie by doing too much excercise and stimulation. Try to have a few calm days then and they're totally wound up.

Having said that ...ours are usually very relaxed, they lead a comparatively sheltered country life with a big a garden and few distractions. Take them away somewhere (like we did this weekend) and they also make a bit of a nuisance of themselves, wanting to meet and greet everybody or at least bark at them.

The solution probably lies somewhere in the middle....your's needs a bit of a calmer life ...ours need to get out more.:D

teckster

Somewhat controversial, but he does exactly what my dog needed - taking the excitement and tension out of a situation.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/player.html?channel=39678

spiderdog

hi, what breed is he....and what age?
also, look at what your feeding him, if its high in protien he`ll have too much ooommmph;)
feed a complete good quality dried feed of around 20% many feeds are too high in protien.
be careful which treats you give him as well as they`re often very high in protien.
if he`s young, its prob a stage as well....enjoy hehe

Whispered

peasant wrote: »

You can actually turn a dog into an adrenalin junkie by doing too much excercise and stimulation. Try to have a few calm days then and they're totally wound up.

Sounds about right, he's always on the go. Has been since a puppy. You think you're doing the right thing bringing him everywhere and introducing new situations as often as you can. The only time he will relax is when you take him from the room and he is alone. Relaxation will not happen if anybody is around.

peasant wrote: »

Having said that ...ours are usually very relaxed, they lead a comparatively sheltered country life with a big a garden and few distractions. Take them away somewhere (like we did this weekend) and they also make a bit of a nuisance of themselves, wanting to meet and greet everybody or at least bark at them.

and I bet yours are perfectly well behaved at home? When the distractions kick in is when I have problems too.

teckster wrote: »

Somewhat controversial, but he does exactly what my dog needed - taking the excitement and tension out of a situation.

Thanks, I'll take a look later.

spiderdog wrote: »

hi, what breed is he....and what age?

He's a lab/staf and he's 8 months old. He was neutered about a month ago.

spiderdog wrote: »

if he`s young, its prob a stage as well....enjoy hehe

:eek: so mean! Yes I'm hoping it's a stage, but I need to sort it just in case it continues.

In fairness, he may have been acting up as there was a stray bitch hanging around. She was amazingly calm and well mannered. The people I was with took her to try rehome (which they will have no problem doing, she really is a little gem) but I'm considering taking her myself. Should a calm, relaxed dog help calm him down?

kildara

helena.ryan wrote: »

Should a calm, relaxed dog help calm him down?

Hi Helena,
I think the influence one dog has on another dog can be massive.
Our young pup feeds so much off the older lads moods and attitude. At obedience (i use that word loosely!) class last week, she was absolutely ridiculous; barking, yapping, wouldn't sit - generally being a wee bitch (all because we mistakenly put the two of them in the same session together so we could leave early).
The trainer reckoned she was trying to protect the older lad from a GSD that was in there. The older lad takes a while to settle down, then he works relatively well. But she was a tyrant for the full hour.
Whereas the week before, in her first beginner class, we had her off lead working brilliantly; he wasn't there to influence her.

Same goes out walking. I won't walk them both together because, again, she feeds off him and has an attitude.
When I bring her on her own the difference is amazing.

helena.ryan wrote: »

He's a lab/staf and he's 8 months old. He was neutered about a month ago.

Our lad went through a terrible stage - although I think it was closer to 10 months. He just wouldnt behave. Even in situations where he had previously (and has since) been perfectly well-behaved, he was a terror.
Thankfully he got over it though!

Do you know what age the bitch is? Reason I ask is that I hope he doesn't influence her and she become boisterous... I would imagine the older she is the more likely she will have her personality set and be less likely to be influenced by the pup!

Best of luck with him /(them??!)

Whispered

We reckon the bitch is about a year. She really has a stunningly relaxed personality. But yeah, I was thinking that Harley may influence her as opposed to the other way around.

Either way, we need to work on calming him. I was thinking of grinding up a valium (thats a joke before I get into trouble!)

The people I was with over the weekend are experienced dog owners. They have a "pack" of 3 rotties (it was more at one stage) all perfectly well behaved. Any misbehaviour was dealt with quickly and without any dramatics. Even they said they would have no clue on what to do with Harley, the squirming and energy is just a bit overwhelming.

He takes nothing seriously, you cannot give out to him, he just ignores. One incident: we were sitting around outside and he was being frantic (despite the others, incl the stray lying around sunning themselves) I told him to sit, he ignored, I chucked his lead and repeated, he ignored, so I guided him into a sit, he hopped up immediately. I must have sat him 20 times before I just had to remove him from the situation. That is how my weekend went!

I suppose from re-reading that, the problem I'm having is due to lack of respect. Maybe if I tighten up rules at home, be harsher on him when he ignores me and go to obedience classes, the introduction and enforcement of boundaries might go a long way?

peasant

helena.ryan wrote: »

I suppose from re-reading that, the problem I'm having is due to lack of respect. Maybe if I tighten up rules at home, be harsher on him when he ignores me and go to obedience classes, the introduction and enforcement of boundaries might go a long way?

Well ...yes... You have to have some basic obedience/respect from your dog for it to heed your commands and there has to be a routine of that working for a while if you want to have any chance of it working in extraordinary circumstances.

Still...dogs are not robots, they will never "function" 100% reliably and some will just "fall off the cliff" completely and you have no other choice but to get them out of the situation.

Routine really is the key. The more you get your dog to heed your commands, the bigger the chance they will do so in ever more exciting conditions. To expect total compliance from an eight month old that is of a generally hyper disposition is probably a bit much.

Whispered

peasant wrote: »

To expect total compliance from an eight month old that is of a generally hyper disposition is probably a bit much.

Total compliance is not what I'm aiming for. But I know what you are saying. He's good at home, he does as he's told to an extent. Like most dogs he has his times where you have to repeat yourself but nothing major. Again any misbehaviour is due to excitement. IE chasing the cats out the back, jumping on visitors etc. I want to help calm him down. Hopefully it will come with age.

Maybe he was pushing his boundaries over the weekend with the excitement of a new place, new people, new dogs etc. But I was annoyed with my own lack of control on him. He's too big and boisterous to be out of control. Don't get me wrong, he has no badness in him, but you're not going to think that when a large dog jumps to lick your nose!

We are still mulling over the new dog idea. Not sure what to do about her.

kildara

He should calm a bit with age. Also - he was only neutered a month ago, the vet told me that his hormones can stay in his system for up to 6 months (though is usually gone by 8 weeks).
We saw a remarkable (improved) difference in our lad after we got the second one. They tire each other out during the day and so tend to be less exhuberant when we get in (after the initial excited jumping etc when we get in).
Two dogs > One dog!

With regard to your post on another thread re your dog not lifting his leg: If he wasnt doing that before he was neutered, chances are he probably wont start now. Dogs lift their legs in order to get their urine up the highest on the tree - to cover the scent of the previous dog, to make that their territory.
Its funny watching our fella widdling while squatting, dribbling it all over his front legs!

giddybootz

Hi Helena,

I honestly believe that two dogs are easier than one (most of the time :rolleyes: )

We have two...and they help eachother out. Our little one, Lola, is mad hyper and is obsessed with chasing things in the sky so we wouldn't let her off the lead as we were afraid that she would be so busy chasing birds and planes (I'm not kidding) that she would just keep going and not come back. And the thoughts of her running out onto the road is unbearable. We tried training her to come back but really was having mixed results.

Our Big fella, Lowry, is obsessed with Stickball and will always come back (mostly so we can throw his ball for him) even without stickball he will still return to us. So lately instead of Lowry just getting another shot of stickball when he returns to us he also gets a tiny morsel of food. Lola, watching him closley has now started to mimic him and I feel that she is really starting to improve.

That is just one (long-winded) example. Sure they wind eachother up sometimes but overall 2 are easier than one. My dad had a lab and a young, crazy Rottie/lab and the lab really was a great influance on the rottie/lab.

If you can afford it and have the space I would strongly recommend the 2nd dog. It also makes it more like a pack which I find improves their behaviour too!