dark evenings - bored puppy

planetX

Some ideas please - my 6 month old pup is hyperactive. When I got him in the summer we used to play in the garden for hours and then put him to bed early (phew). Now it's dark at 5 and he's bored. He's been walked plenty, but has a nap and revives. I can't walk him later as we're in the pitch dark countryside. I try to play with him before bed to get him tired, but all he wants to play is tug o'war. I don't know if it's a good idea playing that, as he's started to growl a lot. He will give a toy up for a treat, but otherwise it's tug o'war:( When he's not getting attention he gets up to mischief and steals things to chew - I just rescued my phone and the bread knife from his bed:eek:
In short - what do your dogs do in the evenings, what age did they calm down, and is tug o'war a bad idea?

Justask

Not sure if tug'o war is bad or not but my dogs love it. and have not done them any harm.

I've just ordered one of these, a friend has one an gets great fun from it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doggie-Solutoins-Bubble-Machine-Batteries/dp/B004LLKFWC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321036626&sr=8-1

And tennis balls, they ar rolled along our floors for hours.

Ever think of geting a reflective jacket for her/him and play out in the garden or park.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safety-Light-Reflective--Large-64-81cm/dp/B000OLWTBS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1321036755&sr=1-1

mymo

What age did mine calm down?
3 years and still counting....still a crazy lunatic most of the time, still snoozes and wakes full of life.
You could try some kongs, put some of his dinner into one or two kongs, freeze to make it last longer;)
Training tires them out too, try teaching some commands, also my two love playing hide and seek. My daughter makes them sit and stay in the livingroom, she half closes the door and goes to hide, then calls them and they tear off trying to find her:D
5 or 6 goes at hide and seek, bit of training and they will snooze away happily.
I walk mine twice in the evening too, but we have some street lights. Is there much traffic where you are? I have seen people walking with a hat with a light attached, may be of use for even a short walk.
Good luck, enjoy the fun.

DamagedTrax

a hard rubber bouncy ball. the ones that bounce really high. you get them in pound shops.

i give one to my girl when its pissy out and she just bounds around the house chasing it. i usually find her asleep in the bathroom or hall afterwards.

Justask

mymo wrote: »

Training tires them out too, try teaching some commands, also my two love playing hide and seek. My daughter makes them sit and stay in the livingroom, she half closes the door and goes to hide.

I do this even out in the park I hide behind trees.... yea I actually think im nuts after typing that out :eek::eek::D

username123

Tug of war is fun but if he gets territorial about his toys it can cause problems. Teach him 'Drop It', then play tug of war and get him to drop it for you.

You might also start some training in the house, something to keep his brain occupied, we had a springer pup years ago and same deal, totally hyperactive but dark evenings meant less long walks, I used to spend ages teaching him tricks - he was a smart guy, my personal favourite was 'fetch the paper', he'd fly out to the front door, grab the newspaper from the letterbox and bring it back, but usually because he was small and his mouth wasnt big enough to go right round it, he'd end up trailing the paper along with the pages falling out and arrive happily looking at you with one wet page dangling from his mouth and a trail of them behind him - its a good one for training 'drop it' as well!

What kind of a dog is your pup? If he is a breed who follows his nose (like our springer was) you can do fun games in the garden with chicken juices mixed with water in a squirty bottle, and make a trail for him to follow with a reward at the end of the trail. Or you could try hiding stuff and then giving him a smell of the hidden thing and he has to find it.

If he is more of a prey driven dog you could get a feather on a long stick to play with?

caseyann

How is your back garden,Have you got good light out there?
Try a agility course in back garden.


Great work out mind and body wise and fun for you and the family and ofc your puppy.:D

Another great thing is hide the treats around the room let the pup see them and then make him stay out of view where you put them.Then ask him to find them.

andreac

caseyann wrote: »

How is your back garden,Have you got good light out there?
Try a agility course in back garden.


Great work out mind and body wise and fun for you and the family and ofc your puppy.:D

Another great thing is hide the treats around the room let the pup see them and then make him stay out of view where you put them.Then ask him to find them.

Is this your back garden?? :eek: If so, wow, thats fantastic!!!

Sigma Force

Same prob with out dogs when it's pitch black by 6 it's a pain.
Waiting for a chance to have the grass cut one more time before winter before setting up the agility stuff again, although mine mainly use the tunnel so I'm not going to go buying the rest of the stuff, we have the jumps as well. (zooplus) they get the most fun out of the tunnel..esp. when they try to get the shrews and mice that hide under it eeek!

I use treat balls and our Papillons favourite is filling a 2 litre 7UP bottle with food, he bashes it around for ages trying to get the food out. He does love playing with his teddy too ..a bit too much lol.
Sometimes just chasing him around the house like an eejit is the only option though.

planetX

yeah I go out in the dark and throw things - when it's not raining... Walking on the road is out of the question. I have lots of bouncy toys, and he loves to chase them but then he won't hand them over. He pushes the toy at me to tug. He'll only give if he sees me go for a treat. He knows 'drop it' but always gets a treat for it (and I need to keep him keen for those emergency drop its), and I don't want him eating treats the whole evening....
I don't think I should be playing tug o'war with him as he's just started a bit of possessiveness. He also tends to take a leap at you if he loses the tug which has resulted in a few nips.
He's a greyhound collie x, I'm hoping the famous greyhound laziness will kick in soon, but I have a feeling I'm seeing the collie coming out with this boredom. He's doing an awful amount of counter surfing lately too:(

caseyann

andreac wrote: »

Is this your back garden?? :eek: If so, wow, thats fantastic!!!

Nah i just wanted to give op and idea of what she could have in back garden.
Mine is not as neat as the grass in that garden with the dogs,You could kind of say i have a dog playland more than back garden Going to turn it all into concrete and leave only a patch of grass.
But i have all the stuff.

planetX wrote: »

yeah I go out in the dark and throw things - when it's not raining... Walking on the road is out of the question. I have lots of bouncy toys, and he loves to chase them but then he won't hand them over. He pushes the toy at me to tug. He'll only give if he sees me go for a treat. He knows 'drop it' but always gets a treat for it (and I need to keep him keen for those emergency drop its), and I don't want him eating treats the whole evening....
I don't think I should be playing tug o'war with him as he's just started a bit of possessiveness. He also tends to take a leap at you if he loses the tug which has resulted in a few nips.
He's a greyhound collie x, I'm hoping the famous greyhound laziness will kick in soon, but I have a feeling I'm seeing the collie coming out with this boredom. He's doing an awful amount of counter surfing lately too:(

Sounds like you have the collie coming out,but greyhounds love their running and running.We had loads of them growing up famous ones for racing.Spent hours coursing with them.As ours were racing dogs and brought coursing alot found them alot easier to settle down at night.They are pretty good at agility courses also.http://www.neversaynevergreyhounds.net/competing.html
I think you could go with a make up agility course start small and move bigger.
You definitely have to make a stand with the tug of war if nipping at you for it.

tk123

planetX wrote: »

and I don't want him eating treats the whole evening....

Ok well this is an easy one especially if he's on dry food - take a couple of handfuls out of his daily allowance and use them for treats. Giving him a treat when you tell him to drop it is fine - you're reinforcing that when you tell him to drop he gets a treat and praise for doing it. Eventually he'll drop it first and then look for his treat instead of the other way around.

Training really wears them out - leave it/take it (this will help with counter surfing), drop, which hand, stay, wait, sit, lie down, up, tricks etc etc - 10 mins of brain work = 30 mins of walking.
Kongs or food dispensing toys like buster cubes etc will keep them busy too - my guy is quietly sitting in his crate (he's on crate rest) with one of those kong bones with a hole in the end for the last 20 mins - there's all of 2 tablespoons of mushy robbies in it and a few pieces of dry food - I was making up his Kongs for tomorrow and he smelt the food and starting crying for it so I gave him some :rolleyes:
Another thing my guy likes are his nylanones - he'll sit chewing on it for AGES and he knows that they're his things to chew and he's not to touch anything else.

As for tug of war - my guy LOVES it!! If he gets carried away I tell him to drop and reward him then we play again.

What food is he on btw as this could be adding to his hijinks but really he sounds like a normal puppy! :pac:

planetX

I was wondering about the food - he's on burns puppy, but I've been letting him clean up the cat bowls. He's so handy for washing up... it would only add up to a mouthful, but it probably isn't helping.

tk123

Burns recommend to switch to their adult food at 6 months so that could be an idea. I really noticed a difference when I switched my guy to Burns adult - he calmed down a LOT.

planetX

Will switch now you've said that, I have to use up 2 big bags first - I asked the vet last time I was in and he told me to feed the puppy food till a year old:mad:

The Paws

I find certain dog dry food does help to calm them down! mine works only with the Hills - so far.
Don't change your puppy/dog new food immediately - slowly introduce the new food over time - (cos of their sensitive tummy)

any luck so far?

cocker5

OP

def change his food, my cocker was MENTAL at 6 months and our trainer told us to change his food... it helped alot... plus neutering also helps alot... we changed to Burns we buy it from zoolpus.ie...

with regard to exercise... honestly there is no way around this... without excerise your pup will become very destructiive... i know you said you are in the countryside... is there anywhere close you could go to walk him?? My cocker was very destructive when he wasnt excercised enough... my trainer recommended cycling him (only for 10 mins for a 6 month old pup)... but it really tires them out... plus they love it!

If not how about cycling him ??

You can both get visi vets and lights for your bike... and always keep your dog on the side away from traffic...

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/dog_bicycle_baskets/biking_leads/129831

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_collars_dog_leads/dog_walking_accessories/129620

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_collars_dog_leads/dog_walking_accessories/129630

I cycled my cocker from 1 years of age until around 3... honestly it was a life saver! you asked when do they clam down?? well not until after 2 if im honest! :eek:

what about some mental stimualtion games?? i got this for my guy and he loves it!

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/intelligence_games/treat_toys_dogs/217160

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/intelligence_games/146815

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/intelligence_games/129747

Best of luck

planetX

Do you mean cycling with your dog on a lead? I'd be killed:eek:

I need a treadmill, maybe he could power our house while he's at it...
I like the look of that egg toy, that looks fun - dear though. Ripping up the recycling is cheaper and lots of fun apparently.

JustAThought

Hi! Mine loves to play hide the treat! I get about 20 or 30 very small treats ( 1/2 fingernail size; usually her dry food) & hide them around The room at sniff height or below, while she " waits" behind the door in the next room. Then I let her in & she has to sniff out the treats & gets to eat them! She LOVES it, I sit there relaxing & reading & say " good find" every now & then when I hear a crunch!! It takes her about 20 minutes to find them all& we play it about 3 times & then she's all full up and happy & relaxed!!! Sniffing really tires them out apparently!!!!
And I get to have a coffee!!!!!!
( just make sure it comes out of her daily food allowance or youll have a fatso on your hands!!) good luck!
Loved the squirty up bottle & stock cubes idea; must try; thanks!!!

Kali_Kalika

I had the same problem - my girl was :mad:NOT:mad: a fan of the clocks going back! And thusly - I wasn't happy either! :rolleyes: A bored collie isn't a good thing! Thankfully I discovered these online Nite Ize Meteorlight K9 - http://www.glo-balls.com/led-balls-frisbees.html

They bounce just like tennis balls but they glow and flash (yes, and freak out "the normals" :D I wonder how much the UFO sighting reports have gone up in my town since these were delivered? :rolleyes:)

They're brilliant and I can't recommend them enough!