My puppy is a year and a half. She is still really young, but she almost literally jumps off the walls. She is a Neo Mastiff, Bulldog, Pitbull Mix. I am just looking for new suggestions.
2006-07-10 03:21:21 · 8 answers · asked by shannonhmt 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Dogs are athletes - especially terriers! You need to take her for daily thirty minute runs, not just a casual walk around the block.
Do some training, teach her some new tricks to keep her brain busy!
Read some great books on training. (Try not to pick books randomly - there are a lot of bad books out there also!) These are some of my favorites and you can get them on Amazon.com
What All Good Dogs Should Know – Volhard http://www.volhard.com/
Good Owners, Great Dogs - Brian Kilcommins
Dog Tricks : Eighty-Eight Challenging Activities for Your Dog from World-Class Trainers by Haggerty and Benjamin
Don't Shoot the Dog - Pryor
Training Your Dog: The Step by Step Method - Volhard
Dog Problems - Benjamin
Cesar's Way - Cesar Millan
Also, watch the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. Cesar Millan is the best trainer I've ever seen on TV.
http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/
Avoid games like frisbee that involve jumping and twisting, and tug-of-war which encourages aggression. Get a tetherball game and hang the ball at a low enough height that she can grab at it. (NOTE: this can sometimes lead to a lot of barking and really piss off your neighbors!) For my terriers, I installed an overhead wire across my yard, attached a pulley and ran a second wire down toward the ground with a fuzzy dog toy at the end of it. They love zipping it back and forth and playing tug-of-war with it. You can also teach her to play flyball - a competitive dog sport where the dog is trained to launch her own ball from a box with a spring inside.
http://www.flyball.org/
With mastiffs, I prefer to use a giant-sized Kong toy so she can't swallow it. If she won't bring it back, just get a bunch of them and keep throwing them for her to chase. Then go to the other side of the yard and throw them back.
2006-07-10 07:20:32 · answer #1 · answered by Danger, Will Robinson! 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You can keep a dog quietly occupied for hours by stuffing a kong or hollow marrow bone with peanut butter, squeese cheese or even mushed up slices of bread. Takes a looong time to get it all licked out. Make sure to drop a smidge off her regual dinner to make up for it.
and yes the food can affect energy level - I saw my brother lab go balistic after being fed a bag of high artifical coloring food, so try a switch.
2006-07-10 11:04:54 · answer #2 · answered by ragapple 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're feeding her high-energy dog food, cut back to your regular dog food. The high-energy stuff gives them more calories so they'll have more energy. I saw this with my pure-breed Sheltie and he was going ballistic while he was on the high energy stuff. We cut him back to regualr dog food and he's just a little hyper, but not as much as he was.
2006-07-10 10:25:57 · answer #3 · answered by I want my *old* MTV 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Excersize. Take it for runs while you ride a bike. A sleeping dog is usually a lot calmer.
2006-07-10 10:57:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
watch the dog whisperer. it will give you some great training tools.
2006-07-10 10:24:19 · answer #5 · answered by ChitChatBrat 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am feeling your pain right now
2006-07-10 10:31:59 · answer #6 · answered by oveningskor 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i agee wit chitchat totaly
2006-07-10 10:36:25 · answer #7 · answered by thispersonlol 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
start to play with him then, while you're playing with him start to give him a belly rub.
2006-07-10 10:31:40 · answer #8 · answered by Duce 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋