Kennel Boredom Strategies - Page 2

laura271,

I'm going to look at things a little differently. First, she's 8 mos. old. Still a pup, still learning and still growing. You know how a pup/young dog has a TON of energy and as the dog gets older, (no set age/time) but the dog enjoys relaxing....... still has energy and wants to play but not that "constant" 24/7 energy?

My thoughts are the dog is young, hence a lot of energy. Like having an athlete who just can't wait to take on the world! And show everyone what he can do. Show and prove! Prove and show! I'm being nice not mean, and I for one know there is not enough hours in the day or enough days in the week. And I have three. One hr and forty-five mins. is not enough, you're teasing him. Just as he's warming up it's back to the 10X10. IMO it's great to work his mind but he wants to run, to work.

First suggestion and I already know it's not a possible, but get a playmate. Next, the "destructiveness" in my eyes isn't destructiveness. Yes, things are being destroyed but she is a pup, doing what she is doing to satisfy her need to use energy. She is keeping herself "occupied" the only way she knows how or that is available to her. Not exactly as we humans would like but she's looking at it through her eyes.

If time is limited for activity, I would try things that take strength, energy, stamina. I would run her and run her hard. A two ball method; not saying you can't but if you can throw ball A as far away as you can. As soon as she picks it up, RECALL, and as she's racing back to you and near you throw ball B the opposite way  as far away as you can. Use like a Kong ball because if you use tennis balls say after 15 mins they'll be saturated with spit. If you can't throw far then wear a glove and use tennis balls with a racquet. That will send the ball a good distance. Plant a 4X4 post in the ground and with a heavy duty rope you now have a tie out post you can use as a tug post. And that will tire her out. Teach her to pull a weighted sled. Have her carry weighted packs on walks/hikes.  Walk/hike UPHILL if possible.   

I came back to this thread to link it to another post and saw that there were two updates that I missed.

@destiny4u- We exercise her 3 hours per day (plus OB training). There's two of us so it's feasible (and my husband works from home often) and yes ...both of us lost ten pounds. We live near a school with a large fenced field so every morning at 5 AM, each of us stands at opposite ends of the field and call her - we run her until her tongue hangs out of the side of her mouth. We hire a dog walker for the times that my husband travels.

@alboe2009- I'm working on wearing my husband down to get another GSD to keep her company (didn't everyone here start out with just one?). Your suggestion about a hill is awesome. We take her to a park now that has a steep hill and throw pieces of wood up the hill to keep her in constant motion. She won't quit retrieving even though it's clear she's exhausted (my husband worries he's going to give her a heart attack). This really works and means she'll sleep in her kennel.

We also moved her dog house outside her kennel (we're idiots- we should have done this from the beginning). The meat in the block of ice helps to occupy her. We bought a stainless steel water dish that BOLTS (off the ground) to the side of her kennel and also left the original flat-side stainless steel bucket in her kennel. She can now hurl the bucket across her pen (joy!) but still have water for the day. When it warms up, we'll get her a kiddie pool since she loves water. We also shove her Kongs in the fence so that she has to work to pull them through- she never tires of this game (and she normally doesn't play with Kongs at all).

She sounds so high energy, what a challenge. :)

What's her pedigree?

yeh, work your dog!