My question is Koda won't chill out in the house unless she is alone or in her crate and I am curious as to why. So I was wondering if the people here think Koda is not getting enough exercise daily or if I messed up somewhere during training (which I suspect is the case since I'm a newbie at this whole dog thing). She is a little over 7 months old and gets about an hour and half to two hours of walks daily not including tug a war, fetch and other games we play. If I put her in her crate (which I now realize was wrong, I should have encouraged her to go in on her own) she will take about an hour long nap if I am in the same room as her before she starts barking and is ready to go. If I am in a different room and leave the monitor in with her she will sleep for 2-3 hours at a time. If I gate her in a room in the house and am out of site in the house she will chill out by herself for close to an hour but the second she sees me she will bark relentlessly (to which I don't respond until she is quite for a minute or two as to not promote barking to get attention) This is all great but I always imagined taking a dog for an hour long walk through the woods and coming home and hanging out while the dog lounges on the floor. Is that just a myth, or unrealistic to expect from a 7 month old pup, or is that something I have probably goofed up in training. She will calmly follow me around when I am walking but the minute I sit down she barks and will eventually nip at my legs to try and get some interaction.
She’s walking a lot more than mine do at 7 months old. Mine get 40 minutes at that age. Mollie was a similar dog and didn’t find it easy to settle. I’d do a good 15 minutes training exercises then give her a filled, frozen Kong if I wanted her to settle. This worked well. Keir is a different dog - at six months old he will settle and snooze any where any time. They are all different but they all settle better the more mature they become.
No, not a myth, but maybe not yet, at 7 months. Sometimes walks make them physically fit but don't tire their minds. Do you do any other training with her? Or use a clicker or marker word to train things? I'm pretty sure that my Cassie was a lot like this at Kodys age, she's 19 months now and you see I can barely remember She sleeps all the time now. As Boogie says they are all different, things come with maturity.
I didn't walk Hattie for that length of time until she was much older than that as I worried about the impact on her growing bones/joints. Why not do some indoors training with a clicker, hand touch games, scent work, find it and you will tire her brain. You could also train a 'settle' on a mat or bed. I agree with above, maturity brings some calmness x
Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it. Boogie- I should have added Koda will settle after our long walks if I give her a bully stick/ kong but the minute she has finished the stick or kong she is up and at em. Its definitely reassuring to know they settle naturally as they get older. Selina27- Thanks for the kind the words, I didn't realize it until you said it but we have been doing the same set of tricks for the past 5 months and she knows them all like clockwork. Ill try adding some new ones into to help keep her on her toes and tire her mind out. Charlie- I worried about her joints to and try not to over do it too much but she just seems to have endless energy, I think like you and Selina said though I should mix up some of her exercise more and make sure to give her more mental stimulation. I'll try adding some new games/cues and keep you all posted as to how it goes.
Harley who is 4 gets about an hour walk a day and a quick once around the block later in the evening. We do games that tire her out. We started playing 'find it' - I hid treats around a room and let her find them. As time has gone on, I hide them in, under and on top of things to make it harder and she's not allowed in the room that I'm hiding them. It's one of her favourite games and it really does wear her out.
Thanks Naya, Koda doesn't know the name of any toys or anything like that yet, which ill try to work on over the next few weeks. But in the mean time I am going to try that with some of her favorite treats and see how it goes.
We started doing this too, it’s a great way to spend time with them. I’m progressing along and making it harder now as well. He’s gone from looking for them to sniffing them out. I mix it up with what I use and am trying toys now instead of just treats. I recommend this to anyone. He gets so proud of himself when he’s done.
