How Do You Make Your Dog Tired?

[648117]

if so, another option, might be, after a walk,
bring Holly right through house, onleash,
and let her out into backyard til she releases all her excitement about her walk.

Yea, our backyard is fully fenced and the dogs have constant free access to it.
I actually always bring Holly through the back gate after walks and let her off the leash so she can pee before she goes inside.
I have tried doing a training session straight after the walk, we trained for about 20 minutes, then I let her go and she still did the crash into Paris thing (and Paris had even walked into the room while we were training so Holly had already seen her, but she wont break a training session to crash into Paris - Holly has great focus during training at home).

I'll try keeping her on the leash and just calmly sitting down (without doing any tricks because that didn't seem to help when I tried it before).

I have tried to do the yawn and slow blink stuff before and Holly didn't even seem to notice but I'll try some more.


Last night I kept treats in my pocket and managed to catch her being calm once, but after that she knew I had food so she alternated between trying to get to my pocket (just accidentally nudging it ), steering at me, climbing on me and offering tricks, lol.
She mostly sat on the chairs arm rest and steered at me and my pocket until she put her chin on my knee (she was still thinking about the food because normally she does not sit on people), she eventually fell asleep like that, but the falling asleep made her lose her balance and she fell off onto the floor
That certainly woke her up
She really does have amazing focus when it comes to food. She is extremely food motivated.

Then she went and lay on the floor, but was still thinking about the food because as soon as my hand went near my pocket her head shot up

How about keeping her busy in a different way. Redirect as to say. Maybe a treatball would help? It would give her the chance to chase, push, jump on, burn her energy, but stay focused on that ball, instead of Paris?

Holly eats plastic so I've been reluctant to try a treatball because I can imagine her deciding to just chew the plastic to get to the treats rather than rolling it around. I put treats in a plastic milk bottle once, instead of trying to get them out by shaking it or pushing it around she just tried to eat the plastic to get to the treats so I had to take it off her.
She does get a kong or chew in the evening but I could put all her breakfast in treatball for during the day (she only has about 1 cup or food (including training treats) per day)

Do you think she will be able to chew a treat ball or should it be ok?

I had a chuckle when you said you can't treat Holly for lying down, because she gets up when you get up. That is exactly what Jinx does. No matter how deep she sleeps, when I get up, she gets up

Yeah, now I just need to un-cross my legs and her head pops up to see if I'm about to stand up, then if I do stand up she will get up.
Especially if I go in the direction of the kitchen, she cannot leave me in the kitchen alone , it's like she thinks what if I decide to give her a treat and she's not their?

 

[tigerlily46514]

//" I have tried to do the yawn and slow blink stuff before and Holly didn't even seem to notice "//
My dog never ever notices, either, ever! unless i make him sit, look at me, and THEN he sees the signals. He is free to look away after he sees the signals.
He is not always able to follow my request to calm down, but, it can work now and then, i am sort of getting impression that maybe one reason it DOES work for my dog,
is cuz i practice this often enough that maybe i am getting good at doing the signals,
or, maybe my dog is getting good at understanding the signals....who knows.

//"but after that she knew I had food so she alternated between trying to get to my pocket (just accidentally nudging it ), steering at me, climbing on me and offering tricks, lol."//


just ignore that, no reward. she'll stop at some point.


//", she eventually fell asleep like that,"//
You could click/treat that too, probably, it looks like Kiko is doing that at times in her video.
Again, like everything else you have taught to Holly, learning to be calm will take repetition not just once.

//" I have tried doing a training session straight after the walk, we trained for about 20 minutes, "//

64827, that was well worth a try, but, generally, training sessions excite my dog! Your dog might be different but
my dog gets amped up by lessons, for a while.
Buddy sometimes takes quite a while to settle back down, he loves training sessions. The net effect ------the end result--------of training sessions for my dog IS he is now more content,
but not IMMEDIATELY after one, nope, not at all.
He often runs about after a lesson, and i follow all lessons with playtime to help him burn off some of his post-lesson joy and excitement.


//"Last night I kept treats in my pocket and managed to catch her being calm once"//

yes, like any other behavior, it will take more than once.
If you click/treat a dog for a sit, to train him to sit,
only once per day, the dog might not ever ever learn "sit"...or, it'd take forevvvvver.
Practicing watching for calm behavior may help you better spot the moments that Holly IS doing something you like, even if only breifly, having clicker and treats right there, can help you better capture such behaviors.




//"I'll try keeping her on the leash and just calmly sitting down (without doing any tricks because that didn't seem to help when I tried it before)."//

YES!! THAT'S IT!! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING, do watch how it's done in the video,
on how to CAPTURE calmness....give Holly a chance to learn what you DO want her to do instead.

after a walk,
You could take Holly out in yard, after each walk and let her blow off her post-walk excitement,
and THEN bring Holly in, on leash, and sit calmly til Holly eventually calms down.
CLICK/TREAT.

worth a try, anyway.

YOU CAN DO THIS, 64!! YOU CAN!! This might take some tweaking along the way,
and this will take REPETITION til Holly has even a clue what you are rewarding,
but, you can do this!!


but who knows, maybe someone has some better idea on how to teach Holly to not jump on Paris when she comes in from walks? if you are feeling this can not possibly work for *your* dog, then maybe it's best to let someone else think up another idea, I was just trying to brainstorm ideas on how to teach Holly that you want her to sit calmly when she comes in.THERE'S ALWAYS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM!!

If there is no way your dog is ever calm for a moment,to work on rewarding that,
mayyyyyyyyybe easier thing is
you could bring either Paris, or Holly, into separate rooms for about 5-10 minutes after each walk? I think you DO want to prevent all the jumping on Paris, since Paris herself can not stop it, right?
so i think you do have to prevent all the jumping as am integral part of eradicating this behavior altogether.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"Do you think she will be able to chew a treat ball or should it be ok?"//


imo,
it's fine to give a dog a treatball,
but THAT is not part of being calm. Watch the video on how to capture calmness, IF you are interested in learning how to capture and reward calmness. It's defnintely going to be challenging for your dog,
but, you can do it!!

but, you could sure try that, is right as Holly comes in after walk, give her a treatball before she jumps on Paris!!

//"Yeah, now I just need to un-cross my legs"//


so does my dog. If i move, he looks to see what i'm doing.

but, if i wait a moment, my dog does not find my new position of my uncrossed leg that mesmerizing, he calms back down and THAT'S WHEN you can click/treat a moment of calmness.

capturing calmness does not mean your dog wil no longer be interested if you get up, my dog does exact same thing, if i get up,
he gets up.
If i go in a new room, he follows me.


Anything i do, my dog observes to see if something fun will happen next....are we going somewhere???..........no? oh well....settles back down again the way Holly was before you crossed your leg.............= CLICK/TREAT.



capturing calmness means you have clicker/treats at the ready,
and click and toss treat any time you spot your dog being calm.

but yeah, if you go into kitchen, sure, your dog will follow you. Capturing calmness will not, in any way, render your dog immobile.

 

[648117]

I tried to do the capturing calmness again last night. But Holly really is determined when it comes to treats and when I wouldn't give her more treats (after capturing her the first time so she realised I had treats on me) because she was trying to get them and hadn't realised that I wanted her to be calm she decided to discover a new unwanted behaviour ....


She's figured out how to get onto the kitchen table.
We already knew she could get up there if she can jump onto a seat first and then onto the table so we always have the chairs pushed right in so she can't get on them and we try not to have food on the table incase she does get up there.

So last night she out smarted us. She went out to the kitchen and managed to get the unopened bag of cat treats off the table. I went out there and all the chairs were in as they should be so I guessed the treats must have been near the edge and she jumped (Holly can bounce high enough to get stuff off the kitchen counter if it is anywhere near the edge) I could not see a way for her to get up there at all so I really thought they must have been near the edge.
So I went back into the lounge and the next minute Holly runs in with a packet of tissues that I thought had been on the table, so I went out to the table and there was some ripped tissues on the table so I knew she had been up there but could not at all see how she got up there, there was no way up.
So I put some dog treats on the table and stood in the doorway to watch what Holly did.....

She circled the table looking for a way up. Then she jumed on to the seat of a chair under the table (the backs of the chairs are pushed hard against the edge of the table) and crawled around the chairs under the table for a bit (between the seat and the bottom of the table). Then she got down, then jumped up again and crawled over to the chair at the head of the table. Then (and I could not believe this) she started to rock the chair back and forth until it rocked enough for her to get her head and shoulders into the gap between the edge of the table and the back of the chair on its outward rock . Once she had done this is was easy for her to jump up to the table and the chair would fall back into place so you could not tell how she got up there

She is way too smart. I really could not believe that she had figured this out. Amazing. I actually think she is smarter than a lot of humans.

But now how do we keep her off the table?

Also when she did eventually go to sleep (she eventually does sleep but doesn't calm down first, she'll be running around then suddenly just jump onto a chair in the lounge, lie down and go to sleep) I gave her some treats for sleeping (the treat giving woke her but then she went to sleep again instead of fully waking up).

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"She's figured out how to get onto the kitchen table."//


Hang in there 64,you CAN solve this one! and i am pretty sure, when you DO solve it, you will begin to feel increased confidence in your own ability to help your dog. I don't sense you have a ton of confidence that YOU CAN solve these issues, which is understandable when dealing with a very very lively puppy, but keep telling yourself "i CAN solve this! it will take a little while, and a lot of consistency and persistence, but i CAN solve this!"

I think solving the kitchen table issue will be a lot easier for you, than teaching Holly how to be calm, and will increase your skills, too.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"I tried to do the capturing calmness again last night."//

keep at it, this will take MORE than one reward, for Holly to grasp what she IS being rewarded for. Ignore her attempts to get your treats,
and when she settles again, in time,
CLICK/TREAT.

Holly IS a smart dog,
and once she has been consistently rewarded enough times,
for being calm,
she will begin to grasp the idea.

 

[648117]

She hadn't been on the kitchen table for months because she hasn't been able to get up there, she just figured out this new technique and she is good at learning to do things only when no one else is in the room because she knows she shouldn't be doing it (eg, splashing in the water bowel, scratching at the cupboards doors and getting the tea towels off the kitchen bench - I very rarely actually see her doing these things).

She doesn't get food off the coffee tables, she is pretty good about that because no one is allowed to feed her off there plates or feed her any human food she doesn't really try to get it (although she probably would eat stuff off the coffee table if it was left there and no one else was in the room if she realised it was there).

But I'll watch the video again tonight and see if it helps (I think I watched it a few months ago).

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"But I'll watch the video again tonight and see if it helps (I think I watched it a few months ago)."//


i had a feeling all along, by the things you were saying, that you had not watched the "CAPTURING CALMNESS" video, or just zoomed through it, or not watched it recently. What we absorb when we are just watching some video that is posted somewhere,
and what we absorb when we are truly truly trying to duplicate what Kikopup is doing,
can be different!!
sometimes i see some video, is of no particular interest to me at the time,
but later,
when i am trying to do what is in that video,
i watch it way more carefully,
and over and over. I get a lot more out of it, when i have tried the stuff, and THEN rewatch Kikopup doing it.....


when i am working on something she is teaching,
i often watch Kikopup's videos daily,
or a few times a day,
IT'S ONLY FIVE MINUTES LONG...

and each time i watch it, i can spot something, "ah ha, okay then, let me try this again!"
and off i go! rofl!
yes, 64, don't hesitate to watch a Kikopup video over
and over...i still pick up on ideas each time i watch her.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"She doesn't get food off the coffee tables,"//

You can still try the techiniques in the Kikopup "counter surfing" video for your kitchen area where Holly is getting treats from.

GOOD LUCK YOU CAN DO IT, 64!!

 

[MaryK]

Ra Kismet is now two and half years old and STILL hyper . I walked and trained him about the same and the awful dog school gave me a lecture lasting I am NOT exaggerating HALF AN HOUR - which involved something about children I was too busy keeping Rakins from getting into more strife for trying to dig up the grounds, he was BORED STUPID. But if I didn't give him loads of exercise he was bouncing off the walls.

He's a mad 'soccer player' and even after running full tilt, nose down guiding his soccer ball, he'll pant heavily, jump into my once lovely water feature, then resume as if he's just started playing. He can go for a good hour or more like this, if I have the time to spend with him, I do give him LOADS of time. As he doesn't like playing alone (no cheer leaders) he'll come in but soon want to go outside and play again. Now at two and half he's a bit better at staying quiet inside but....... leave him without any exercise for too long and it's massive sighs, huge flops on the floor and last resort - paw Mom until he's allowed outside to play. I cannot leave the door open because I have two cats, both inside cats, so I have to get up and let him outside. Besides, he LOVES company when he's outside, as all dogs do, so doubt it would make much difference if he could run in and out as he pleased.

Heard somewhere, forget where, that some dogs remain ADOLESCENTS UNTIL THEY ARE FIVE OR SIX YEARS OLD I think Ra is going to be one of them

 

[southerngirl]

http://dogtime.com/adolescents.html This website says adolescents ends at 2 or three years old for late bloomers. By five and six years old dogs should have outgrown the driving you nuts stage and learned that their is a time for play and a time to chill. My six year old dog has learned this but every once in a while she will have a "I'm going to drive you nutz today"

 

[MaryK]

One other thing worth trying,
to help elicit calmness in your dog,
that i use allllllllllllll the time,
i mean allllllllll the time,
is try talking to Holly in HER OWN language. some ppl laugh,
but, it works for me anyway.

Next time you want Holly to calm down,
offer Holly a yawn,
some sloow blinks,
and one (1) deep slow exhalation through your nose.

Holly will know what you said, that's HER language.
She may
or may not be able to do what you said, "calm down"
but, she will know what you said.

when i offer my dog calming signals, sometimes he turns his head away (good answer)
or sometimes he agrees with his own slow blinks or yawns or deep sighs.

lol, sometimes, in the evening, i do a deep slow exhalation out of my nose,
and in seconds, Buddy does exact same thing back to me...too funny.

Wow! Fantastic video Been reading through this thread and agree with Tiger Lily's advice.
I have a VERY energetic youngster and AFTER his walk, I always let him have a 'free play in the garden' time. Unfortunately NO where close to give in him a 'free' run, nearest pooch park is well over an hour away and I just cannot always make that amount of time. I don't drive. So, we do lots of OTHER activities to keep him active, which results in a much calmer dog at night. We train, play 'soccer' in the garden, visit friends on 'play dates', visit the vet and show off our tricks, visit the pet market and again LOL show off our tricks. Visit the doggy boutique and once more yep show off our tricks.

But like Tiger Lily, I too just adore his 'zoomies' and crazy things he does, he makes me laugh and laughing is the best thing around - that and a happy DO

 

[Evie]

Ra Kismet is now two and half years old and STILL hyper . I walked and trained him about the same and the awful dog school gave me a lecture lasting I am NOT exaggerating HALF AN HOUR - which involved something about children I was too busy keeping Rakins from getting into more strife for trying to dig up the grounds, he was BORED STUPID. But if I didn't give him loads of exercise he was bouncing off the walls.

He's a mad 'soccer player' and even after running full tilt, nose down guiding his soccer ball, he'll pant heavily, jump into my once lovely water feature, then resume as if he's just started playing. He can go for a good hour or more like this, if I have the time to spend with him, I do give him LOADS of time. As he doesn't like playing alone (no cheer leaders) he'll come in but soon want to go outside and play again. Now at two and half he's a bit better at staying quiet inside but....... leave him without any exercise for too long and it's massive sighs, huge flops on the floor and last resort - paw Mom until he's allowed outside to play. I cannot leave the door open because I have two cats, both inside cats, so I have to get up and let him outside. Besides, he LOVES company when he's outside, as all dogs do, so doubt it would make much difference if he could run in and out as he pleased.

Heard somewhere, forget where, that some dogs remain ADOLESCENTS UNTIL THEY ARE FIVE OR SIX YEARS OLD I think Ra is going to be one of them

Sounds like Ra and Evie are a match made in heaven... Only Evie would try and pick up Ra's soccer ball and run around with it

But seriously, my solution to crazy annoying puppy is a long trip to the dog park.

 

[MaryK]

Sounds like Ra and Evie are a match made in heaven... Only Evie would try and pick up Ra's soccer ball and run around with it

But seriously, my solution to crazy annoying puppy is a long trip to the dog park.

LOL Doesn't it just. He'd probably let her too, he doesn't mind sharing, so long as he get's a play too

Good idea Evie, that shakes the fidgets out of their lovely tails

 

[MaryK]

Just tried the 'dog communication' shown in the video. My two boys can get a bit antsy, especially Zeus he's suffering from 'grumpy ol' man syndrome" not entirely due to the Cushings either. So, when he started showing his displeasure over whatever it was that was bugging him, usually Ra Kismet being 'puppy' I went into 'dog communication mode'. Yawned, did the slow eye blink and turned my head away. And the result - BOTH dogs quieted down, Zeus to lie on the sofa and Ra Kismet, after giving me a rather surprised 'look' to lie on the ottoman. PEACE PERFECT PEACE reigned and all was calmed down VERY quickly

O.K. anyone watching you may think it's time to bring on the little men in white coats but the dogs 'get it' and that's all that matters

 

[Pawbla]

I don't know if this has been suggested, I haven't read the whole thread, but have you tried three 15 minute walks instead of a 45 minute walks? Or nine 5 minute walks lol. It helps some hyper dogs, although it causes the complete opposite in some other dogs (just like long walks!). It reduces the hyperactivity without making the dog build so much stamina.

 

[648117]

She has actually improved lately. She still just has the one walk per day and it's usually about an hour now. There is no way I could fit nine walks into the day because I'm not home all day. She already seems to have massive stamina.

But I've discovered that Holly really likes to be brushed. I used to just brush her after her weekly bath (she's goes to the dog park on Saturdays after class and at the moment it is rather muddy) and she seemed to like it so I started brushing her more.

I brush her most evenings (after her training session) now and it seems to help her calm down and she likes it and looks forward to it when I get the brush and towel out (she sits on the towel while I brush her).

I think it must feel relaxing and she sits calmly while I brush her and then after that she gets her chew treat which she goes and eats and then stays resonably seatled until bed time (unless someone makes her excited ).

The added bonus is it makes her look clean, soft and fluffy

 

[Pawbla]

Nine 5-minute-walks was an exaggeration . But I'm glad she's improved!

 

[southerngirl]

Zeus he's suffering from 'grumpy ol' man syndrome"

Lol my 16 year old Lab/Dalmatian suffers from this too. One of his nicknames is Grumpy ol fart.

 

[MaryK]

Lol my 16 year old Lab/Dalmatian suffers from this too. One of his nicknames is Grumpy ol fart.

LOL Zeus too could be 'Grumpy Ol Fart" as he lets go with some real stinkers at times.