Puppy NEVER tired :P

jsabina

Hi everybody.
My 14 weeks old puppy is a lot active and NEVER tired.
On weekend all my time is for him..
I've read that they should go for walks 5 min every month of age.. so now should be 15-20 minutes..

Today we have been in puppy school for one hour.. then walking playing in the park for 20 minutes minimum.. a short nap and food.. then walking around here for other 20 minutes... and he is still active running as crazy in the back garden, playing, chewing, destroying

And it's almost like that always..

It's a bit difficult to understand how much should I exercize him???

thanks!

Victor

jsabina wrote: »

I've read that they should go for walks 5 min every month of age.. so now should be 15-20 minutes..

I thought this was on-leash time, not total exercise.

One way a friend uses to exercise his Jack Russell on walks is to have 2-3 people and have her run between them. She does much more running/walking than the humans. Balls and other toys are also useful. Laser pointers are also useful.

Regardless, puppies to to have fairly endless energy.

tk123

Victor wrote: »

I thought this was on-leash time, not total exercise.

Yeah that's how I did it - didn't count playing and running around just walking! I saw his pic on FB btw OP and recognised him!!

RubyGirl

Are you crate training him, good way to give him some time to relax.

jsabina

Yep to crate training... well, not all day when I am at home..
he sleeps there.. and some evenings etc..

just after I posted this thread he started sleeping ahaha

so the crate is not an "evil" way to stop him acting crazy?
usually I put him there with the kong or something..

and yes I thought 20 minutes walking on the leash or in the park.. I think?

Sigma Force

Puppys that age go non stop, with the occasional nap and then they are up again playing and creating mayhem..it's totally normal. Short regular walks are fine but I don't think you need to time it so closely. Instead watch the puppy if the pup is still full of beans after 20 minutes of walking then maybe he needs a bit longer. You'll know yourself when the pup is tired, pups are on the go all the time I know people need to ensure they don't strain the pups muscles and their wee paws are soft and too much walking too soon might result in sore paws but you don't need to be too specific about timings, he'll let you know when he's had enough.

A walk at his age is more about sniffing every few seconds, usually with puppies they'll spend 10 minutes of that time walking and the other 10 minutes stopping and starting and sniffing about.

It does get easier but they do play and play and play all day with short naps just like a baby would..tg puppies grow up quicker though.

Whispered

If you're finding it hard to tire him out I'd say do some more training with him, or mind games, like hiding things for him to go look for. Or play hide and seek with him. You ask him to wait while you go hide, then call him. It's great fun!

He's probably getting loads of physical exercise, but some more mental exercise might help too.

jsabina

I do training with him, the things like sit, down, search for kibbles..
he has a kong and a plastic bottle with kibble..

yesterday after the park he has been a fantastic quiet dog he was tired..

I will try other mental games, any suggestion is welcome!

thanks as usual!!

tk123

Clicker training and shaping is great for wearing them out! Shaping is where you want the dog to perform an action - eg standing with his paws up on a box, or in the box, touching an object with his paw/nose etc... You break it down into small steps and reward the dog as you go along and they basically figure out what it is they have to do to get the click and treat. I've thought my dog loads of tricks and actions using clicker training and he loves it - you can seem him figuring out the puzzle to find out what I want him to do!

There's loads of videos on YouTube to get ideas. This one is a good example imo - the owner clicks for the simplest interaction at first where the dog just sniffs at the box, then starts to withhold the treat/click to wait for the dog to do more. You can see how quickly the dog catches on that the box is something to do with him getting the treats!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBlrlhGk_S4