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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Jean is a graduate of Animal Behavior College and teaches basic obedience using positive motivation training techniques. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and has been teaching family dog basic obedience for three years. Jean is also a graduate of Northeastern University and is the co-founder of pupforum.com.
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2/27/2005
Help! My dog is _________ all the time!
Jumping, barking, digging, chewing, chasing… insert any of these words
into the sentence above and you get what trainers hear all the time.
The majority of the time the answer to these problems is simple; more exercise for the dog,
physical and mental. It is tough to misbehave when you are too tired. A sleeping dog is a good dog.
Every dog has energy they need to burn off one way or another. It is surprising how many people
underestimate their dog’s exercise needs. If you don’t provide an energy outlet, your dog will find one.
Usually the dog will revert to the “job” they were bred for: Terriers will dig, working dogs will bark,
herding dogs may wear a whole in the carpet running tight circles in the living room.
Give some thought to what your dog’s natural “job” is. Most herding breeds were bred to run. All day.
While problem solving to keep the herd in line. Rather than letting your dog create his own “job”
which may be undesirable, designate a job for him.
Your dog will adjust to your energy level to a certain degree, but you can’t expect a German Shepard to
be satisfied with one 20-minute walk per day. If you have a dog under the age of one, your dog needs
to be lying down panting tired at least once a day, five days a week. That might mean the equivalent
of five miles of running.
I realize that some people at this point have scoffed, “there is just no way I can run 5 miles 5 days a week.”
Luckily you don’t have to. There are plenty of ways you can have your dog run around while you stay
virtually still.
The most obvious solution is a good long game of fetch. If you don’t have a safe place to let your dog
run around outdoors, fetch up and down the stairs is fantastic, as long as your dog is
not terribly clumsy.
I don’t want any letters from Great Dane owners cursing me because their 140-pound dog took a nose-dive!
Some dogs don’t fetch. But it’s likely they chase instead. I am a fan of playing with a laser pointer.
**Disclaimer** we have had letters here at pupforum asking us not to sell laser pointers because some
dogs take to shadow chasing after they have played with them. When you play with a pointer,
once your dog has caught the light, turn it off, throw a treat to him and say “Oh what a good job! You got it!”.
Make it clear to your dog that the game is over. If you find your dog still looking for the
light once you have ended the game, don’t play with it anymore, this is not a good game for your dog.
Your dog needs mental stimulation too. Of course there is always basic obedience.
You can also come up with games or jobs for your dog to do. Most dogs are thrilled to
have a job so get creative. Teach him to find your keys, or to shut the door behind you
when you come home.
Teach him to play hide and seek (another good way to sit still while your dog runs around). Have
your dog in another room where he can’t see you. Place treats around the room in obvious places
like on a chair or on the coffee table. Bring your dog in the room and say, “Find it!”. If he does not
go to the treats right away, point them out one by one and say, “Find it” by each one.
Then do the whole thing again. He’ll pick up on it pretty quick. As he gets better at finding the
treats, try putting them under a blanket or in less obvious places. You can also do this with toys.
There are other reasons that your dog may bark, or chew, or dig excessively. But, if you are
having a problem with excessive anything please try giving your dog adequate exercise before you blame him!
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