Tips For Exercising A Puppy?

[christina7689]

Our new puppy doesn't go for walks yet since she is not vaccinated fully.

Any tips for exercise? She just goes crazy a few times a day as she has no outlet for her energy.

I have tried "fetch" in the kitchen, but she tends to get overexcited and start biting my feet and hands, she even drew blood yesterday we are working on bite inhibition....but, its very slow, and just impossible when she gets overexcited.

Is it bad to allow her to get so excited? Is there any way to exercise a puppy without them going insane, or is it pretty much one and the same at a young age?

 

[AMIT]

evn im undergoing same problem...pls help

 

[mewzard]

by "goes crazy" do you mean she runs around full speed, with her tail between her legs and ears back?.....if so thats good!! all puppies do it as a way of working off excess energy - it's actually more exercise than a walk to be honest, it also stretches all their muscles which i think probably helps them to relax. Okas still does this now at 1 year old, and i encourage her to do it by using things i know trigger her to do it - eg. water spray makes Oka /go crazy/, so sometimes when she's being a bit silly i'll get the hose out in the hopes she'll go running around and tire herself out.
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Even when your puppy is able to go for walks they should be very short; 5 minutes for every mouth of your puppies life. Play should make up the bulk of the puppies exercise. Try wiggling a rag around and getting the pup to chase it. Play heeling games where you treat the puppy for coming close to your leg, walk on a bit and treat again when she/he gets there again. Recall games; place a lead on your pup and place it around a pole (don't tie it), hold the other end, call your puppy & let go of the lead, and treat the puppy for getting to you...this will be a really short distance. But the lead resistance builds up drive.

 

[running_dog]

I think puppies do tend to go insane! Isn't this known as the zoomies?

With excited biting I think you'll have to do things that are exciting then calm then exciting then calm so that it doesn't get to that stage, prevention is far better than cure. What about doing something like fetch, sit, heel, sit, fetch, sit, paw, down, wait, fetch... so there is plenty of exercise but it doesn't get out of hand? You'll quickly figure out how much calm you need between the exciting things. If you do things that make your pup think or use its nose - like "find it" you'll find it gets tired very quickly. There are lots of tricks you can train in the calm times - figure eight, touch (touch could really help with the biting too) bow, roll over, dead (very calming, my dog often goes to sleep and I struggle to resurrect him ), high five...

"Wait" and "Come" are often underrated as a form of exercise and they are great training that can be fun but very controlled. Even now I sometimes just do 6 long (I mean playing field long) recalls as the off lead exercise for my adult dog.

 

[christina7689]

zoomies sounds about right! Sometimes she runs around, although, mewzard I have never noticed how her tail and ears are at these times. I'll look today! The only problem with this is that I need to be on the other side of the baby gate, because when she runs close to you, you become the toy, and it hurts

We have been trying fetch a bit in the kitchen, and that seems to work well...sometimes. Yesterday we had a good session where she didn't go after my feet at all, which was nice! She doesn't understand yet that she should let go of the toy....so we play fetch with more than one toy at a time I make her sit before I'll throw it again, so I imagine that helps calm her a bit...even if it's ever so slightly.

Maybe I'll train and do training right after she gets up from a nap/bathroom break. Maybe that will help ensure she is not yet too excited.

 

[mewzard]

zoomies sounds about right! Sometimes she runs around, although, mewzard I have never noticed how her tail and ears are at these times. I'll look today! The only problem with this is that I need to be on the other side of the baby gate, because when she runs close to you, you become the toy, and it hurts

We have been trying fetch a bit in the kitchen, and that seems to work well...sometimes. Yesterday we had a good session where she didn't go after my feet at all, which was nice! She doesn't understand yet that she should let go of the toy....so we play fetch with more than one toy at a time I make her sit before I'll throw it again, so I imagine that helps calm her a bit...even if it's ever so slightly.

Maybe I'll train and do training right after she gets up from a nap/bathroom break. Maybe that will help ensure she is not yet too excited.

Ohhh believe me i know about becoming a toy!! having to brace yourself as 15+kg of puppy comes charging at you becomes a good habit when the puppy becomes "grown up" and is now 30kg of dog charging towards you.
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To get her to drop the toy hold a treat to her nose, and say /drop/ (or another release word - i use /out/) as she lets go. A word of warning about getting her to sit - don't make the mistake I did of making the game full of too many rules. I've had to spend the past few months teaching Oka that toys and games with me are fun!! (this is also to do with her breeder but still...) > watch carefully to see how long it take before she gets over excited then next time play for a minute less that way you get lots of fun but can start to avoid the 'silly' bit.
I found a photo of Oka having "mad 5 minutes", "zoomies", "flid" - Oka doesn't tuck her tail but holds it down low (i think it's too long to hold underneath!!)...

 

[christina7689]

Hehe, looks like Oka is having fun

When Andi plays her tail it straight up (little stubby tail). Does that mean something different?

 

[mewzard]

When playing the tail will be up thats "happy", when having the "Zoomies" the tail will be held "safe".

I used this resource alot when Oka was small (she is our first dog ever, neither of us had a dog as kids either); http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html

 

[christina7689]

Thanks so much! My fiance and I both had dogs as kids, but we were too young to think about training, so it's all brand new, and really not what I expected. I knew it would be lot of work, but yeesh. lol.

 

[jackienmutts]

Sounds like the 'zoomies' to me!! Oh, puppies are so darn cute!! Good suggestions above - start teaching some basic commands - sit, down, shake, heel, etc - a few short sessions a day will help wear that little brain out, plus just play, play play!!! That's what puppies are for - and yes, watch out for those razor teeth, they're dangerous!!