I need doggy advice!

[starfish]

 So you all know we adopted a dog last year, she was supposed to be a 3 year old italian greyhound lab mix. She is driving me crazy, shes barely a year old,  and omg the hyperness is killing me. She gets two to three walks a day. We run in the morning and a longer walk in the evening. We have tons of toys, we bought dog puzzles, and tricks. She has passed both basic and intermediate dog training classes. She really loves to be with us, but she is so hyper I bought a hands free running leash so i could pretty much wear her all day. If I just let her out she runs full out and knocks the kids over to the point when I open her crate the kids run screaming to the couch. 
  I don't know what else we can do, will she calm her self down when she is older? I worry about running to much with her and joint issues. She destroys everything she can get her paws or mouth on. She is a sweet dog, when she calms down, she is perfect. Gentle with the kids, she knows tons of tricks, walks pretty good on a leash. I just don't know how to tire her out more. All my other dogs have been older 5 or more when I adopted, thats why I wanted a older dog this time too. The kids love her when she calms down, and if shes in the crate, they want to feed her treats and talk to her, because she can't knock them over. 
  I was thinking agility training, but no one near us does that. Plus I worry it will just build her up so I never can calm her down. The dog trainer even said we must give her red bull before class, she has never seen a dog so energetic do tricks. 

  I have no urge to rehome her, I just want some puppy tricks to calm her down, or tell me she will calm down soon! 


If you ask my 3 year old she will tell you Ponyo is a little hyper.

[Deleted]

Aw man - how is she with other dogs? I wonder about trips to an offleash dog park to let her just play around with all the other dogs? What about a run-lease thing (where the leash clips on to a line) in the yard so that as long as the kids get out of the way of that range, they won't get knocked over?

[nomad100]

The off leash dog park saved us and Willow the first year we had her. At 10 months old, she had so much freaking energy. She would run around for an hour before getting tired. Now at 5 she is a lazy lump and only runs when there are treats involved. She really started to mellow out at about 2.5 and at a little over 3 had pretty much turned into the perfect dog.

[starfish]

Jan 9, 2015 15:27:59 GMT -5 @ksta said:

Aw man - how is she with other dogs? I wonder about trips to an offleash dog park to let her just play around with all the other dogs? What about a run-lease thing (where the leash clips on to a line) in the yard so that as long as the kids get out of the way of that range, they won't get knocked over?

We tried this, she snapped the halter running from one and side and it flipped her. We were lucky she didn't hurt her self, and didn't escape. 


She loves other dogs, wants to play, when we did training she would bark and go into  play mode, and super submissive to the dogs she got to house with. The trainer brought her dog in once and Ponyo and her had a blast. The off leash worries me because she does jump on  people and she isn't a small dog, and the one time she escaped out the fence, she refused to come back till she wanted too. I would worry she would leave us, and never come back. 
  She also was attacked by the next door dogs, and still doesn't mind and wants to love on every other dog even if they don't want her around them. She is not the brightest dog. 

  

[starfish]

Jan 9, 2015 16:59:48 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

The off leash dog park saved us and Willow the first year we had her. At 10 months old, she had so much freaking energy. She would run around for an hour before getting tired. Now at 5 she is a lazy lump and only runs when there are treats involved. She really started to mellow out at about 2.5 and at a little over 3 had pretty much turned into the perfect dog.

Glad to hear this, I really wanted a older dog for the snuggle and lazy factors. She totally pulled the wool over our eyes when we visited her at the shelter. She was so calm! We still not sure how old she is, the vet told us she still growing and her growth plates are still opened, so she might even get bigger, which is fine we wanted a large dog. 

I hoping she getting close to year and half or older!

[nomad100]

Jan 9, 2015 20:10:15 GMT -5 starfish said:

Jan 9, 2015 16:59:48 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

The off leash dog park saved us and Willow the first year we had her. At 10 months old, she had so much freaking energy. She would run around for an hour before getting tired. Now at 5 she is a lazy lump and only runs when there are treats involved. She really started to mellow out at about 2.5 and at a little over 3 had pretty much turned into the perfect dog.

Glad to hear this, I really wanted a older dog for the snuggle and lazy factors. She totally pulled the wool over our eyes when we visited her at the shelter. She was so calm! We still not sure how old she is, the vet told us she still growing and her growth plates are still opened, so she might even get bigger, which is fine we wanted a large dog. 

I hoping she getting close to year and half or older!

Yeah Willow is a Boxer Pointer mix and she was pretty calm when we picker her up from the rescue. About a week or two later, the craziness started to come out.  Thankfully we found the off-leash dog park.  It was our saving grace.  That and Nylabones.  She chewed the crap out of them, saving our shoes and the rest of our house.  

[dr.girlfriend]

We've been setting up "doggie play dates" with dogs in the neighborhood. 45 minutes of wrestling with another dog and Marley sleeps for the rest of the day!