Post by tank on May 8, 2009 11:09:55 GMT -5
Lu has sooooo much energy. I feel like I provide her with more than enough physical exercise every day, as in she gets very tired out after. I don't really need much help with that. I think it's the mental energy that I am having to deal with. What's some good ways to mentally tire her out. Here are some things I do with her.
Tug of war games with "get it" "drop it" "leave it" cues
train old tricks
train new tricks game where she has to do something different every time in order to get a reward.
catching a tennis ball in her mouth
I don't know if any of these even count as mental games or are they all just spending more physical energy?
I think she has been really over stimulated because of the nice weather. Her leash walking is getting better but yesterday I brought her to a hippie circus thing and she was so out of control because she wanted to greet everything and everyone and jump on them etc, it was not a good scene. I am glad I brought her though, because she got a lot of good socialization in too. She played gentle with some kids (about 4-5) and showed no fear whatsoever even though there was people running around her and lots of noise. The only time she got a little nervous around (all she did was sit still and whine and look worried) was when she saw 2 people tackle each other in fun. I don't think she realized they were playing, and she has witnessed her dad get tackled in the house and it was pretty traumatic for her.
These may be 2 different issues, but my dog trainer friend told me she thinks Lucy needs more mental exercise after seeing her in public around a lot of people and commotion.
Oh on a side note, both days she was sorta hyper during social times, she had a lot of physical exercise beforehand and was physically tired.
Tug of war games with "get it" "drop it" "leave it" cues
train old tricks
train new tricks game where she has to do something different every time in order to get a reward.
catching a tennis ball in her mouth
I don't know if any of these even count as mental games or are they all just spending more physical energy?
I think she has been really over stimulated because of the nice weather. Her leash walking is getting better but yesterday I brought her to a hippie circus thing and she was so out of control because she wanted to greet everything and everyone and jump on them etc, it was not a good scene. I am glad I brought her though, because she got a lot of good socialization in too. She played gentle with some kids (about 4-5) and showed no fear whatsoever even though there was people running around her and lots of noise. The only time she got a little nervous around (all she did was sit still and whine and look worried) was when she saw 2 people tackle each other in fun. I don't think she realized they were playing, and she has witnessed her dad get tackled in the house and it was pretty traumatic for her.
These may be 2 different issues, but my dog trainer friend told me she thinks Lucy needs more mental exercise after seeing her in public around a lot of people and commotion.
Oh on a side note, both days she was sorta hyper during social times, she had a lot of physical exercise beforehand and was physically tired.