Jewlieee
Posted : 11/20/2007 4:15:30 PM
oh a cattle dog mix eh? Yeah, she needs a lot of exercise and mental stimulation. Cattle dog mixes are usually very good at frisbee, agility, fly ball, etc. They have the drive to learn complicated routines and the energy to back it up. Invest in a few frisbees, some tug toys, a chuck it or 2 and so on. Get yourself a trick training book and start to teach the dog tricks, like weave through your legs, get the remote control, drop dirty laundry in the laundry basket, turn on and off lights, find things, etc. on top of the normal tricks like shake, wave, roll over, touch and so on. Try to do all of this by free shaping instead of luring with food. This makes the dog think for itself and teaches the dog how to learn. A 10-15 min free shaping lesson will really tire a dog out. Especially a drivey high energy dog.
You can also teach it things using a frisbee - how to go around your back and out to catch the frisbee. leap over your knee to catch the frisbee, low catches, long catches, etc.
You absolutely don't need to do all kinds of vigorous activity yourself if you learn how to tire a dog out by making it think and exercise itself (chase, fetch, etc)