brain exercise..

tango'smum

tango'smum

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i have a 1 yr old gsd x kelpie.. she gets out daily. but she needs mentel exercise .. anyone come up with any games?. i hide treats around the house garden, stuff her kong..she needs to be doing something all the time. else theres trouble lol.. like bugging the cats or us. chasing her tail..
 
What do you mean by 'getting out'? She is a mix of two working breeds so will need lots of ball play, obedience, agility, flyball, some sort of 'work' to keep her brain occupied.
Do clicker training with her, there are good tutorials on YouTube, jog her, bike her (although maybe keep the high-impact stuff til 18 months to protect her joints)

But PLEASE stop the tailspinning ASAP. It is a 'nothing' habit to self-entertain herself, distract her with a toy or a game or a ball - it might look cute and funny but it is a useless, self-destructive habit which can result in injury, amputation and mental issues, I know two separate females who had to be PTS because it became so ingrained they were basically eating themselves :(
 
CaveCanem said:
What do you mean by 'getting out'? She is a mix of two working breeds so will need lots of ball play, obedience, agility, flyball, some sort of 'work' to keep her brain occupied.
Do clicker training with her, there are good tutorials on YouTube, jog her, bike her (although maybe keep the high-impact stuff til 18 months to protect her joints)

But PLEASE stop the tailspinning ASAP. It is a 'nothing' habit to self-entertain herself, distract her with a toy or a game or a ball - it might look cute and funny but it is a useless, self-destructive habit which can result in injury, amputation and mental issues, I know two separate females who had to be PTS because it became so ingrained they were basically eating themselves :(
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i dont let her chase her tail, i stop her straight away.. its not funny i know...we walk her and take her toy shes loves that.. i got dog training with her. but shes so hypt up she dont listern, can not get her attention..can jog or bike her, as we would have a nasty accident.. shes like a spider on the lead. cant let her of she chases everything that moves...
 
Get a better training class and work on your focus. A good class will help you redirect her chase drive onto a ball.

She is a mix of two smart breeds. You should be able to get a heel out of her and then transfer that to jogging or a bike, they don't just automatically know how to come along beside a bike, it has to be taught.

If you can't cope with her look at a site like AgilityNet and see if you can get her a more active home/somewhere where she can have a lot more stimulation.

You never specified how much exercise she gets? But she never gets off the lead? Just on lead walking? It might explain why she is so hyped up.
 
CaveCanem said:
Get a better training class and work on your focus. A good class will help you redirect her chase drive onto a ball.

She is a mix of two smart breeds. You should be able to get a heel out of her and then transfer that to jogging or a bike, they don't just automatically know how to come along beside a bike, it has to be taught.

If you can't cope with her look at a site like AgilityNet and see if you can get her a more active home/somewhere where she can have a lot more stimulation.

You never specified how much exercise she gets? But she never gets off the lead? Just on lead walking? It might explain why she is so hyped up.
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we take her on walks where we can let her of the lead..as long as we have her toy she will stay close..i can cope.. i had a border collie before..i was told to have him put down, because of his fear aggression.but i worked with him, for 12 yrs. he died last yr.. he was very well trained..
i came on asking if anyone could come up with some games i could play with her in the house, not people telling me i am a bad owner that shouldnt have her...
 
Jeez, where did I say you were a bad owner?

YOU wrote i got dog training with her. but shes so hypt up she dont listern, can not get her attention..can jog or bike her, as we would have a nasty accident.. shes like a spider on the lead. cant let her of she chases everything that moves... and to me that sounds like a dog who needs more work/training and stimulation.

Nobody had replied to you for four days so I thought I would help and you rejected all my suggestions out of hand, including the clicker training.

Suit yourself, you clearly don't need any help after all.
 
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CaveCanem said:
Jeez, where did I say you were a bad owner?

YOU wrote i got dog training with her. but shes so hypt up she dont listern, can not get her attention..can jog or bike her, as we would have a nasty accident.. shes like a spider on the lead. cant let her of she chases everything that moves... and to me that sounds like a dog who needs more work/training and stimulation.

Nobody had replied to you for four days so I thought I would help and you rejected all my suggestions out of hand, including the clicker training.

Suit yourself, you clearly don't need any help after all.
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sorry, i responed that way.. but you did say i should rehome her as i cant give her what she needs... i have taken in what you have said, its very helpfull thankyou..
i will start again...
she gets out for a run of the lead daily for an hour or so, more weekends..
so she gets pyisical excersice.. she also needs mentel excersice..just chasing a ball around is not enough, i need to keep her brain busy..:)
 
No worries. Try things like hide and seek/scentwork in the house (like hide her toy and ask her to go and find it with a time delay) if that is not too similar to what you are doing already, object discrimination (ask her to indicate 'ball' 'teddy' 'stick' etc) all of this can be done via clicker training or without.
I did most of my pup's foundation training (sit, stay, down, stand, heel, here) with a clicker in the living room while I was watching the soaps :)
 
CaveCanem said:
No worries. Try things like hide and seek/scentwork in the house (like hide her toy and ask her to go and find it with a time delay) if that is not too similar to what you are doing already, object discrimination (ask her to indicate 'ball' 'teddy' 'stick' etc) all of this can be done via clicker training or without.
I did most of my pup's foundation training (sit, stay, down, stand, heel, here) with a clicker in the living room while I was watching the soaps :)
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thankyou....shes so hard to get her attention, i want her to lock on to me when training and not whats round her.. so easily distracted....my border collie was so easy...:D. should i let her race around with her to for a while then put it away then try training, its recall and heel work thats shes lacking...
 
Can you use the toy on walks to help with the training? Sprocket is easily distracted if I am using food rewards but is very tennis ball focussed so I used to use this to help with the training. It took a bit of time because as soon as he saw the ball he would just be dancing round me for me to throw it but now I can get him to do a bit of heelwork or sit/down stay etc and then he gets to play as a reward. I also try not to let him race around at the start of the walk but get him to do some work first and then he can run around (helps calm him down on the short walk to the recreation ground and means he doesn't shoot off the second I take his lead off).
 
The trick is that you should be seen as the provider of all good things, IE food and toys, I like hand feeding, and hate to repeat myself but I have found it really helpful to wear an old bodywarmer or camera/fishing jacket that you can keep food/toy/a ball in, so that YOU are the source of the food and toys, not a bowl or a toybox to which she can help herself.

Train hungry and feed all or part of her daily allowance from your pocket throughout the day so that she is always coming to you for food and she has to work for it, she doesn't just get food or a ball 'just because', she has to be looking at you and paying attention.

I use two balls, makes for a speedier recall, dog does not get second ball until he has dropped the first. Also chucking balls down a hill and making them climb back up is another lazy way to exercise :p
 
CaveCanem said:
The trick is that you should be seen as the provider of all good things, IE food and toys, I like hand feeding, and hate to repeat myself but I have found it really helpful to wear an old bodywarmer or camera/fishing jacket that you can keep food/toy/a ball in, so that YOU are the source of the food and toys, not a bowl or a toybox to which she can help herself.

Train hungry and feed all or part of her daily allowance from your pocket throughout the day so that she is always coming to you for food and she has to work for it, she doesn't just get food or a ball 'just because', she has to be looking at you and paying attention.

I use two balls, makes for a speedier recall, dog does not get second ball until he has dropped the first. Also chucking balls down a hill and making them climb back up is another lazy way to exercise :p
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lol... yes we do the hill thing...good plan re food...
 
weevil said:
Can you use the toy on walks to help with the training? Sprocket is easily distracted if I am using food rewards but is very tennis ball focussed so I used to use this to help with the training. It took a bit of time because as soon as he saw the ball he would just be dancing round me for me to throw it but now I can get him to do a bit of heelwork or sit/down stay etc and then he gets to play as a reward. I also try not to let him race around at the start of the walk but get him to do some work first and then he can run around (helps calm him down on the short walk to the recreation ground and means he doesn't shoot off the second I take his lead off).
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wow this sounds just like sophie...the dancing bit....
 
As Weevil says you can also ask for work in return for a 'free' or 'take a break' command, so dog must be calm and sit, stay, heel etc then chuck the ball/and or let her play. My wee dog is very hyper but he doesn't get anything until he is calm and paying attention, if he works himself into a frenzy he gets ignored or put away until he has calmed down. The minute he is silent and looking at me and sitting at peace, reward. It can be a slow process and quite infuriating but worth it :p
 
tango'smum said:
wow this sounds just like sophie...the dancing bit....
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The first time I made him work for his ball it took about 20 minutes of me standing still ignoring the leaping and dancing and whining until he finally twigged that I wanted him to actually do something first. He used to get really worked up when he saw the ball (to the point where I couldn't catch him to get his lead back on) but this has really helped as he knows he will still get to play but he has to be calm first.
I also play lots of games with him in the house (hiding treats for him to find), scent games where he has to identify the pot with treats in etc. This is mainly to build up his confidence but also keeps him entertained so he doesn't just spend the evenings systematically pulling the stuffing out of his bed/toys:rolleyes:
 
CaveCanem said:
As Weevil says you can also ask for work in return for a 'free' or 'take a break' command, so dog must be calm and sit, stay, heel etc then chuck the ball/and or let her play. My wee dog is very hyper but he doesn't get anything until he is calm and paying attention, if he works himself into a frenzy he gets ignored or put away until he has calmed down. The minute he is silent and looking at me and sitting at peace, reward. It can be a slow process and quite infuriating but worth it :p
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thankyou...i will try all thats been suggested...
 
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