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  1. #1
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    Mentally tiring activities

    I need some ideas for how to mentally tire out my 6-month old Diggity. Aside from working on things he’s learned in training, are there other things that work well that would tire him out?

    Currently, we work on sit, stay, lie down, settle, here (targets), back up, roll over, spin / twirl, left paw / right paw, and leave it. We’re also doing nose work and practice “find it” with birch oil, but I don’t want to do that every day. We also go for at least one walk a day.

    I need ideas...he gets restless and bored at certain points during the day and evening.


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  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Off leash running/walking in the woods and swimming always tire mine out.

    Food puzzle toys are good - Kongs, snuffle mats/balls, slow bowl feeders, box filled with wadded up paper with little kibble pieces sprinkled inside.

    Presto is always tired after agility practice which for a puppy is contacts and wraps basically, maybe some short straight tunnels. He's not always that tired after obedience training unless it's an hour-long lesson.

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  4. #3
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    I hear ya. Taking Stormy to new places or giving her new experiences works well, but is time consuming. On a daily basis, we live off the Treat Ball and Wobble Kong. She was getting too fast with the Wobble Kong, so I used tape to narrow the dispensing hole by half. I divide her dinner into thirds, so she has 3 rounds with it, taking her about 20-30 minutes total.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
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  6. #4
    Real Retriever Beth C's Avatar
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    You could use some of his kibble, usually used for meals, to hide for him to find around the house. Start out easy until he gets the idea, then make the find sites increasingly harder. Of course, don't let him see you hide the kibble.

    We send Lido (now 7.5 months) to doggie daycare twice a week. He's happy, and we're even happier! At their age, they have a never ending supply of energy, don't they?

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  8. #5
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    All great ideas, thank you!

    I take Diggity to daycare once a week and it helps a bit, but on the days that I don’t, he has energy to burn. I am sensitive to the fact that he is a growing puppy, so I don’t yet run with him and I try to limit his longer walks, so the hardest days are the ones when we take it easy physically.

    In the spring, I am going to try tracking. I wish they did it year round out here, but with the weather, it seems to shut down during the winter months.

    Besides the things Diggity already knows (first post in this thread), are there other tasks you guys have taught your dogs that you’d recommend I work on with him? He is a super fast learner, so I am looking for more things to teach him.


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  9. #6
    Real Retriever Beth C's Avatar
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    We're taking Lido to another puppy class starting later this month for 6 weeks. He's already been to one puppy kindergarten class when he was younger, but he needs another refresher course. We're going to a different trainer this time - one who has a more serious approach, while still being positively based. We want the training in a group atmosphere, because he needs to learn to behave around others, not just us. He's fine at home, but he's horrible when he gets around other people. Once he's a year old, then we can enroll him in regular obedience classes. Lido's so big and strong, that it's crucial that he learns basic manners. Has Diggity been to puppy kindergarten yet?

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  11. #7
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    Yeah, you can read my post in the Fire Hydrant about our first day of puppy k. Taking classes is highly stimulating for labs.

    What I remember from Kimber at that age was that doggie play was the only thing that really wore her out. In addition to daycare, do you have any buddies Diggity can meet up with? I know dog parks are controversial, but the one near us is well run- might that be an option?

    We're starting to teach Stormy 'fetch.' Right now, I throw the ball and she runs after it. Sometimes she sits on it, lol. About 1 in 10 times she brings it back. But I've been walking around the yard, throwing the ball, she chases it, I walk to it and throw it again- and that's been giving her some run time without the forced run concerns.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
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  13. #8
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    I’ve done several classes with Diggity, up through Level 2 Obedience. We’ve also done an Intro to Scent Work. Next up, probably in February, will be Level 3, Canine Good Citizen. We’ve learned a lot in those classes and we practice those things at home right now. The reason why I started this post is to see if anyone had any additional ideas for things that would mentally tire him out. We do get together with some of his pals a few times a week and that definitely tires him out physically. But I want to tire him out mentally too, especially on those days when he doesn’t get a ton of physical exercise. He just has so much energy to burn!


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  14. #9
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    Oh and he definitely loses all focus when he sees other people or dogs, especially dogs! Although by the end of level 2 obedience class, he had gotten 1000 times better than day 1 of kindergarten when I had to hold him back the entire time we were in class. Everyone else’s puppy was relatively well behaved, but Diggity was majorly hyped up the entire class. It was exhausting!


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