Define "energy"

How do you all exercise and keep up with your "always on the go or passed out sleeping" puppers?  Have you found their off button

Neiko hit his peak puppy energy around 7 months old. Abbie is following right in his foot steps. She NEVER stops and I mean NEVER. It's like the energyzer bunny on speed.

 With Neiko, and now with Abbie - if I'm laying on the couch watching TV, I always have some sort of toy in my hand - a tennis ball or a stuffie or soft frisbee, and I just constantly toss it up in the air for her to catch. This doesn't bother me at all and works on her catching coordination plus it keeps her busy.

She gets an occassional Raw meaty bone when I really don't want to deal with her.

 Let's see - besides that there's swimming/fetch at the same time, rough housing with the other dogs (she's usually just attached to their necks whether they like it or not), trick training and off leash trip to the neighborhood park and believe it or not - on leash walking

I guess nothing really tires her out to the point that it would other normal dogs. It just takes the edge off.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though. Neiko is now almost 2 and he finally has a nice off switch. He can be very calm and settled when we're in the house and rearing to go when we go off leash somewhere. I'm waiting for this day with Abbie :)

 Maze hit her peak "Puppy energy" at 9 months. Lol. Before that she was like the energizer bunny. Seriously it was like somebody stuck a battery up her butt. Poor Kameo had taken to sitting on top of the bookshelves and even then Maze would run laps at the bottom trying to get him to play.

I started teaching her "Find it" to use her nose and work her brain.  Also I started using a frozen Kong to get her to sit still for 5 minutes.  Thankfully now at 2 years old, she's content to lay in a sunbeam with in side but outside, she's all energy and keeps trying to get my neighbor's older dog to play. Lol. We still do Find It, and we've started naming the toys. We also play fetch in the house so Maze burns energy by doing random twists and jumps to catch the ball.. Think Disc Dog.. That's the kind of tricks she does without me teaching them.. 

Really wish she liked frisbees. Lol.

 jewliee - I see you can understand!  I love her energy but sometimes I need that off switch - she will get a RMB when I need her to settle (she'll happily chew that thing for an hour non-stop).  I'm trying to get together with other dog folk in the area to setup playdates - but it'll be a slow process (I've created groups on yahoo, google, AND msn lol - I would on meetup.com but there's a fee for that unfortunately).  Craigs List I looked and put out a post but the responses I've gotten have all but 1 not be legit.  I really just don't like Craig's List never had much success with it unfortunately.  ALso I think you said it best "it just takes the edge off" that's all I really hope for with Ari - taking the edge off!  Once and only once I managed to tucker her right out.  It included 5ish miles of walking that day, and 2 swim sessions (first being 3-45 minutes, and the second over an hour spent at the river with her alternating between running and digging in the sand and swimming).  Oh and we did the game we play with her where my SO stands at the bottom of a hill and me on the top and we call her to us and make her do some commands for cookies (so she has to run up and down the hill AND do some brain excercises!)  She was clonked out happily for the rest of the night. 

Mostly the problem is with her energy means she is play biting us once more to the point of frustration with me.  She was taken from her litter at 10 weeks - but her mother never corrected any harsh biting (she just played with them) and it seems the other littermates didn't either - so she never learned from them b/c the silly dogs all had high pain tolerance and/or  just didn't seem to care!   She needs a doggy friend to play with like a dog, not me or my SO (we've never permitted this)

Tonight it looks like the rain might hold so I'm going to try to scoot in some swim time for her.  She'll go after a stick (only sticks she won't retrieve her toys from the river - we found this out the hard way lol, bye bye tennis ball...) a million times before she'll tire of it.  She's too ill mannered right now to take to a dog park (and no parks around here are fenced in and/or allow dogs otherwise) - but hopefully soon once we have her recall down much better than it is (she's friendly, just TOO friendly and excitably and I would be that person with THAT crazy spastic puppy ruining everyone else's good time at the dog park!)

I'm not expecting her to slow down anytime soon, her breed is notorious for staying young and puppy like for a long time - but I would like a little down time - or right now I'd settle for her sleeping in till 6am lol.   

oranges81

 Maze hit her peak "Puppy energy" at 9 months. Lol. Before that she was like the energizer bunny. Seriously it was like somebody stuck a battery up her butt. Poor Kameo had taken to sitting on top of the bookshelves and even then Maze would run laps at the bottom trying to get him to play.

I started teaching her "Find it" to use her nose and work her brain.  Also I started using a frozen Kong to get her to sit still for 5 minutes.  Thankfully now at 2 years old, she's content to lay in a sunbeam with in side but outside, she's all energy and keeps trying to get my neighbor's older dog to play. Lol. We still do Find It, and we've started naming the toys. We also play fetch in the house so Maze burns energy by doing random twists and jumps to catch the ball.. Think Disc Dog.. That's the kind of tricks she does without me teaching them.. 

Really wish she liked frisbees. Lol.

LMBO battery up her butt!  That's great :)  I started introducing Find it to Ari as a new game to play inside.  Ari LOOOVES her frisbee - it's rubber so she also uses it as a chew toy. 
 

 Lucky! Maze is terrified of the frisbee.. No idea why never had any bad experiences with it.. But she loves tennis balls. Lol.

Also I would hide random treats around the house, leash up Maze and teach her "Sniff" I'd point to a spot, say "Sniff" and she'd sniff out the treat. But she couldn't get it out so she had to sit and "point" then she'd get the treat. Lol.

 Maybe try smearing peanut butter on a frisbee - Ari will walk through fire if it means just one lick of peanut butter.  She can hear a jar of it opening within a 10-mile radius.  I like the hiding treats game I'll have to try that out with Ari too!  That would be especially useful now that winters coming up and there may be some days when getting outside is going to be rough.  Especially if we have anything like last years snowfall and ice issues!

 She'll eat out of the frisbee, chew on it but make it fly and she'll run in the opposite direction. Even if it's just rolling across the ground.  Maze is a peanut butter fiend also. Lol.

 Ena's riiiight there, too. Today, she went to work with me. She really just hangs out, unfortunately. We did get in about a mile of walking to and from the resturaunt for lunch. She got a little bit of obedience in the store, and some passing around. Now? She's sitting next to me, barking her fool head off. I did tire her out, once. It wasn't any fun, though, because I passed out, too, LOL. She's terrified of the treadmill! Silly dog...

 Woobie's 2 and can still go 5 miles easily, spend several hours running crazy 'round the dog park with friends, go to the lake and swim until everyone else poops out (not him, of course!) and be ready for another 5 mile walk to close the day. He IS the Energizer Bunny.  An off button came with time, but I get the eyeball.  I ignore him, but he sits next to me staring and panting.  And if I move at all, he jumps on me runs around my legs and growls.  What's funny is that Indie will try to play with him and he wants nothing to do with him, he just wants me to TAKE HIM OUTSIDE NOW!!!!

He'll probably be 15 or 16 before he finally starts to slow down!   

BCMixs

An off button came with time, but I get the eyeball. 

That made me laugh.  I've seen that stare.  It can be hard to ignore sometimes.  ROFL.

The thing that works best for us (Heidi) is the Chuckit.  She's almost 2 (in January) and her off switch is starting to blossom.  But, it does require lots of run to switch it.  Its easy for me though because we are on an acre and half all fenced.  I can chuck the ball for 5 or 10 minutes then bring her in and she settles right down.  I think too we are so routine oriented, she knows that when she comes in and she sees the beds...its time for settle.  Most of the day, they are outside unless its just grossly hot, storming or the mosquitos are herrendous (like right now...post Ike)  Anyway, routine helps the off switch, I think.

And, things will also change with the addition of Lil' Bruder.  So far, they are either playing up a storm or focused on each other...that works the mind which is also tiring.

 Before Onyx, Crusher was go go go.  He still is, but he's happy to play with her when I'm not available.  And she's always up for anything.  She doesn't care where the attention comes from...even if its just her own tail that wags at her.  She can happily toss a sock around in the kitchen for hours...well, until it lands somewhere she can't get to, like on top of the fridge..honest.

Before Onyx, I took Crusher to the park every morning to play with his friends.  He would play hard for a good hour and a half every morning, and the park was on a hill, so that helped too I'm sure.  If we didn't go one morning, he was not a good dog.  He would pull like a banshee on his afternoon and evening walks, he would chew on anything he could find, dig big holes in the back yard, and just generally be a pest.  

His off switch came in around age 2 I think.  Oh, but he can still run for a good 3 miles at a steady pace and he'd walk all day long if I wanted him to.  That's probably due to his breed though.  Onyx' off switch is tripped somewhere within her crate.  I think its like a charging station and she goes into standby mode.

When Jewel was young I would have been lost without our four wheelers.That was the only way I could keep up with her

Tena

 LOL I think the crate as a charging station is a very apt description.  The crate is the only time she's calm - but lately she's taken to 3:30am wakeup calls so this doesn't help with my energy level in the morning to go out for a walk later on (NOT at 3:30 - we are trying to do what we can to break this habit she's gotten into - even though all we'll do if she persists in whining is take her out to potty then crate her back up). 

Once Ari's fully developed I'll be introducing biking with her.  I love to bike, so that'll be a good oppertunity for me to work her harder than just a walk is capable of.  

I should see if she has any interest in a chuck it!  Weirdly when we are outside she wants NOTHING to do with any toys, only sticks....silly girl :)

I know about energy with 3 Border Collies. My girls would go until they dropped if I let them. Since we are outside less in the winter months I use backpacks. In the summer it's not a problem because we are outside all day, but who wants to be out in -25 temps?

We walk with backpacks, ride bike and even play with them on when it is below zero outside. Of course they are not heavy with weight, about 2 to 3 pounds, but without them we would be out playing all day long.

It works for us.