I have a young male Labrador that goes crazy indoors. I had a few ideas to tire him out and wanted to know if they were safe, healthy, and effective. 1. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XE0NWAS/ It's a dog harness/backpack. I was thinking about putting it on the dog and loading it with some lead bricks that I have. I heard some people used something like this to train German Shepherds to be physically stronger. My concerns are: A. Is it effective? B. Will the dog accept it? C. Will it cause any harm to the dog's hips, legs, back, or joints or cause it to grow improperly? 2. https://www.amazon.com/OurPets-Smarter-Interactive-Treat-Colors/dp/B003ARUKTG It's a dog puzzle toy/treat dispenser. A. Is it safe? B. Will it keep the dog busy or will he play with it for one or two days and then forget about it? C. What are some good treats to get? By good, I mean I want the dog to want them, to not cause significant weight gain, and not cause damage to the dog's teeth. I also want something economical. How does this look? https://www.amazon.com/GREENIES-Dental-Treats-Petite-Original/dp/B01M4HF20A/ Any other suggestions to tire out the dog to keep it from going crazy in the evening?
LOL. Your evenings sound like our evenings. It will be easier when it isn't so dark so early. We do a lot of 'indoor fetch' in the evenings. We also have Libby run between my husband and I. We each take turns saying 'come' and we can get her running back and forth that way. Tires her out.
What training do you do and how often do you train? It sounds as if your dog might need more mental stimulation but not in the form of gadgets but several training sessions a day which will tire him out. And he will start to follow your cues.
Primuspaul, I agree completely with Heidrun, you need to be doing lots of short training sessions with him to keep his attention and give him mental stimulation. I certainly wouldn't put heavy weights on his back, that could be very damaging to his joints. What he needs is a nice walk in the evening, then some games in the house, such as search. Hide a few treats around the room, then send him to look for them. Start out really simple, then you can make it progressively difficult. You need to interact more with him - when you become the most important thing, the provider of interesting things to do, then he will start to listen to you. Gadgets cannot take the place of that crucial interaction with you.
Then you could tire him out by training these things. "come" is a great one to start in the house. By the time Spring comes around you will have a dog with a good foundation in recall. Puzzle/treat dispensers are safe as long as they are supervised - we had a Nina Ottoson Tornado, but while Coco loves getting the treats out (just his kibble), it wasn't long before he worked it out, he does it really quickly now and it doesn't keep him engaged for very long. Teach him "tuggy" games, gentle games of "fetch". Try teaching him "find it" - that's fun. Teach him tricks - anything you teach your dog has value, even "party tricks", and you get that crucial interaction. Any training sessions will help tire him. Good luck.
I probably should have mentioned that our 'inside' games are in addition to her obedience training and a daily walk. Our local Petsmart has been a great place to teach us the basics. We do a run-through of her basic training commands a few times a day. She loves it and it gives her some focus on us. Loose leash training is FINALLY coming around, too! This has been a lot of work and we have forgotten what it is like to have a puppy in the house. It's been a lot of years. But Libby is SO smart (our vet says TOO smart!) and it is really rewarding to see what she learns.
Err. Lead bricks? Really? No, let's not do that. It's not going to do a jot to calm him down and could physically harm him. I agree with all the above that he needs more mental stimulation and training to be calm. If he won't listen to you, it shows you need to do more training until he can. Some young dogs go a bit mad when they are over-tired. A crate or pen is a very useful tool to give them a place to settle down safely. When my girl was a young pup, she was just like a over-tired toddler and could be a bit of a beast. A couple of minutes after popping her in her crate, she'd be sound asleep.
Lots of helpful tips given here already. But bear in mind that you could possibly harm your dog by using weights if he is still growing (or less than 18 months old) Using weights to strengthen a dog's muscles might be useful if training the dog for some kind of endurance event or weight bearing exercise, otherwise I suspect it would serve no useful purpose. What many people don't take into account is that trying to tire a dog out on a regular basis simply makes him fitter, and faster and even more full of energy. Think of athletes. Do they all flop on the couch exhausted at the end of every day? The truth is, they probably have more energy than the rest of us - not less This is what you need to tackle. Once you have your dog trained, there are no end of fun games you can play with him to give him the mental stimulation and physical exercise that he needs.
As a pup Homer had his worst crazy moment between 9pm and 10pm, when hubby and I wanted to settle down and relax. So I understand your predicament. We gave him antler chews but unfortunately these began to wear down his teeth but at the time they kept him quiet for a while. I sometimes took Homer for a quiet controlled boring lead walk, only round the block or so. Then were we very boring and didn't interact with him, well as little as possible but he got cuddles for being calm and quiet. Try training a down and stay down for longer periods of time or train a settle command.
