Are you stressing out your dog in an attempt to tire him?

[lynners]

I found this article quite interesting. For many of us, we already know that mental stimulation is just as important as physical, but this article explains a little bit of the "why".

Produced by the University of Sacramento Dog Training and Behaviour Center.
Is there such a thing as too much fetch? http://www.4pawsu.com/fetch.htm

[kian]

Interesting article. I to intermix training with play and it is good balance just like she was trying to say. It's seems when we just play, play, play, focus is lost and any learned self control is lost to, in essence the wild side takes over. All our play sessions have to have some obedience work in it for counterbalance, so really it makes sense. What do you think?

Think of children who are allowed to run wild and play, no discipline and they really don't get along well with others. Makes sense with dogs who really have a child like quality when it comes to play. The article is a good reminder.

[4CrazyCanines]

Wow - very interesting article. Thanks for sharing!

"It’s not the running or fetching itself which is overly stressful. Running, fetching, flyball or agility can be great. But, as with so many things, we tend to overdo it. It is the prolonged rushing about with little or no cooling down or relaxation period where we are artificially creating the drive that can cause difficulty."
I found that part especially interesting. Diesel just went to his first flyball tournament last month. He's normally fairly reactive in stressful/overstimulating situations but I think that there was so much stimulation (countless barking and super ramped up dogs, countless yelling people, whistles going off, etc) that his reactions were different than I expected (he stayed fairly close to me, barked less than normal, recalled quicker than usual, etc). The tournament started at 7am and ended at 4pm two days in a row - I have to question if that is indeed overdoing it (and Diesel wasn't even running full time)!

[Stewie'sSlave]

Great article! I try to do something new with Stewie every day! We now do the scent game. I got the idea from Cesar's seminar. He said about how some dogs get bored from finding their dog food in the same place everyday, so If you wanted to challenge them, move it somewhere else or something like that. Instead I break up pieces of salami or cheese, whatever he likes. And hide it all over the house. I then let him out of my room, let him smell my hands, and say "Find It" and he's busy lol He's really good too.

I also had the ball where u put treats in, and he has to roll it. I want to get one of those wooden puzzles sometime. He just loves to figure things out!

[purdyandi]

Good article.
I do notice that on those days when we headed to the dog park and then I'll decide that the group of dogs are just not compatible, Divali seemed to be perfectly happy to drive around (well, actually, I won't let her drive --I do.) and watch out the window- in a very intent sight-houndy kind of way. She seems pretty calm when we get back home. Now, granted, I don't think driving around in the car is an adequate substitute for all physical exercise, but, Divali, for one, really benefits from being out and about just observing.

[Deltablue]

This is very interesting!

I agree. I always say that our Texas Blue Lacy is "grumpy" after a hard days play. He gets "tired" and therefore "grouchy". I think humans do the same thing. I temper his 'play' with a daily walk, and daily training sessions.

Good article!

[SookDog]

I've just gotten around to reading this now, but these are definitely observable behaviors in the dog park. As a city dweller, Sookie and I go to the dog park every day, sometimes more than once. She's not a fetch-maniac, but there are loads of dogs that are. Some get so obsessive about the ball that they resource guard with it, they growl at any dog that comes near, and they act in a generally frenzied way. I've seen dogs run so much that they throw up I like the author's point of tempering physical exercise with mental exercise. I always work training into our visits at the park, making her come to me even when she's involved in something else, running through her little repertoire of tricks, and staying still beside me when dogs are playing (that one is TOUGH!). I think I'll try the hide and seek/find it game next with her

[Deerie me]

This is the thread I was looking for earlier. I thought I'd bump it up so that it doesn't get lost.

[Lana'sMommy]

I'm so glad I came across this thread and article! Such good information. As a new mommy to a Malinois Shepherd/Lab Mix, I think knowing this information is going to go a long way in raising a happy, healthy, stable puppy.

My husband just brought our 10 week old bundle of joy to my office today to meet new people and explore, and we were discussing that we needed to challenge her more mentally since physical exercise is clearly not enough. The timing to finding this article could not have been better

[J-Bean]

A very intersting article. I have noticed my Wilbur gets very overexcited and 'mouthy' (a word I use to describe when he nips chews and gnaws on me when playing) after longer playtimes. My solution over the last two weeks has been to try to calm him down (as if to stop playing) but now I see that a better solution may be not to stop playing, but instead to play something quieter, such as obedience training, retrieving, etc. I shall try this immediately and see if it works.

[iheartmydog]

That was a very interesting article! (I hope I'm allowed to post even though this is kind of old. ) I noticed this a long time ago, and with other people's dogs. I work with the trainers at the local shelter a lot and people would come up and say "I exercised him so much, why is he still crazy?"

With Dakota and Alice (More so Dakota, Alice is at the beginning stages.) I have them work for their reward (Throwing the ball, tug, flirt pole, etc) and during play. I'll throw the ball for Dakota and say "Platz!" in the middle on his chase, he downs, "Yes!" he gets the ball and comes back doing his funny happy run that he always does when he does something right. I'll make him heel for a tug, I used his tug to teach him to out on his tug.

I noticed, even in doing a lot of stuff like that I was lacking eye contact/focus. So I started having him give me eye contact for almost everything. When waiting for food in the morning, before I throw the frisbee, before I tug.

When we bike, I have different commands for speed up, slow down, left, right, move over, and when we stop to cross a road I taught him to automatically go to my side and sit until I say "okay" and we move forward.


And I have to say, when they said "Dogs are born to save energy" I couldn't help but think "Have you met a working Malinois?" (Joke)