Dances with Schnauzers
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Dances with Schnauzers
My 7 month old Schnauzer puppy has a great deal of energy. The two walks he gets a day do not seem to be enough anymore, so we have a dogwalker also popping in during the week to take him down to the off lead park to frolic with his buddies. I am a jogger, but am worried about doing anything like that with him because he is still growing. Yet he runs around like a rabbit when he is with the other dogs. What is the best thing to do here?
Hmm, you are right to worry about physical exercise.
I would be worried that with the dog walker as well, he is already getting too much exercise for his age as it is.
Plus, the more he gets, the more he will need as he gets fitter and fitter.
I would stick to two short walks a day, with some playing with other dogs (thats very important), and LOTS of training and games.
Walks should not be soley about physical exercise and your pup will be far more satisifed and tired if his brain is exercised as well.
Games to play on walks:
Hide and seek - the minute he isnt looking at you, make a silly noise and run off and hide. He has to find you. (and he will if you have lots of treats and toys with you).
Find the toy - get his favourite toy, hide it in some long grass, encourage him to find it.
Self control exercises: Throw his ball but have him wait until you say before he goes to get it. You can take this further by having him do something else, before he gets the ball - with my dog Rocky, i can throw the ball, walk away, have him recall to me and THEN go get the ball.
This teaches them to wait and listen rather than rush off into things.
Sits, downs, recalls, waits, stays - all for plenty of treats. Keep them short but fun.
At home, do the same games, do lots of little training sessions using clicker training.
Train him fun tricks as well, like 'tidy your toys' where he finds his toys and puts them in the toy box. I taught Rocky 'shut the door' so he shuts the door and i can stay on the sofa! You could teach him to retrieve the remote control?
Feed him some of his food from a Kong toy and make it really hard for him to get the food out.
This kind of thing is what puppies need and id say they need this MORE than they need to walk around on a lead.
Their bodies are still growing, and so are their minds but their minds NEED exercise and its so much easier to teach a pup something and have them remember it well.
Obviously, physical exercise and playing with other dogs is also important, but in moderation. And certainly, never allow playing with other dogs to become too silly or he may learn bad manners which could lead him into trouble as soon as he loses his 'puppy licence' (that allowance adult dogs make for a pup so they can do things that for an adult dog to do would be considered rude or threatening).
And no, i wouldnt take him jogging until he is over 2 years old and fully grown. Its a lot of stress on the joints which at his age are not fully formed yet. (tbh, its not that good for people either!).
Em
I would be worried that with the dog walker as well, he is already getting too much exercise for his age as it is.
Plus, the more he gets, the more he will need as he gets fitter and fitter.
I would stick to two short walks a day, with some playing with other dogs (thats very important), and LOTS of training and games.
Walks should not be soley about physical exercise and your pup will be far more satisifed and tired if his brain is exercised as well.
Games to play on walks:
Hide and seek - the minute he isnt looking at you, make a silly noise and run off and hide. He has to find you. (and he will if you have lots of treats and toys with you).
Find the toy - get his favourite toy, hide it in some long grass, encourage him to find it.
Self control exercises: Throw his ball but have him wait until you say before he goes to get it. You can take this further by having him do something else, before he gets the ball - with my dog Rocky, i can throw the ball, walk away, have him recall to me and THEN go get the ball.
This teaches them to wait and listen rather than rush off into things.
Sits, downs, recalls, waits, stays - all for plenty of treats. Keep them short but fun.
At home, do the same games, do lots of little training sessions using clicker training.
Train him fun tricks as well, like 'tidy your toys' where he finds his toys and puts them in the toy box. I taught Rocky 'shut the door' so he shuts the door and i can stay on the sofa! You could teach him to retrieve the remote control?
Feed him some of his food from a Kong toy and make it really hard for him to get the food out.
This kind of thing is what puppies need and id say they need this MORE than they need to walk around on a lead.
Their bodies are still growing, and so are their minds but their minds NEED exercise and its so much easier to teach a pup something and have them remember it well.
Obviously, physical exercise and playing with other dogs is also important, but in moderation. And certainly, never allow playing with other dogs to become too silly or he may learn bad manners which could lead him into trouble as soon as he loses his 'puppy licence' (that allowance adult dogs make for a pup so they can do things that for an adult dog to do would be considered rude or threatening).
And no, i wouldnt take him jogging until he is over 2 years old and fully grown. Its a lot of stress on the joints which at his age are not fully formed yet. (tbh, its not that good for people either!).
Em
just to jump in on this thread, Em could you give step by step instructions on teaching the self control with ball throwing?
My dogs LOVE ball, they adore playing ball - they have their own ball each and don't chase each others ball (this is excellent at the off lead park, as they don't steal other dogs balls, it drives me bonkers when other dogs are constantly stealing my dogs balls!)
I'd love to teach my dogs to wait before retrieving it - I have ideas about how I'd go about it, but I know your methods would be best, so will wait to hear from you!
Thanks
My dogs LOVE ball, they adore playing ball - they have their own ball each and don't chase each others ball (this is excellent at the off lead park, as they don't steal other dogs balls, it drives me bonkers when other dogs are constantly stealing my dogs balls!)
I'd love to teach my dogs to wait before retrieving it - I have ideas about how I'd go about it, but I know your methods would be best, so will wait to hear from you!
Thanks
Ok
Rocky already knew what 'wait' means..... just so everything is clear, 'wait' means 'stay until i tell you to do something else' as opposed to 'stay' which means 'dont move until i come back and get you'.
That way you dont risk a dog breaking a stay command.
So if you have a dog who will wait until he is told he can have his food, wait until he is told he can get in or out of the car or go through doors etc, you have the beginnings of this.
(If not, teach that first and the easiest thing to do is build it up in small stages, so sit and wait for 1 second before food bowl goes down..... sit and wait for two seconds after bowl hits the floor, etc etc, ditto with the other stuff.)
With rocky, i would get the ball, hold rocky by his collar, tell him 'wait' and gently lob the ball just a few feet.
Then id really gently release his collar, so he barely felt it, and give him a second then ask him to get the ball.
Make sure you NEVER give the release command at the same second as you release the collar or the dog will learn to predict that the feeling of the collar being released means 'go right now'.
Letting go and re taking the collar before giving the release command will also help prevent this.
(Ditto when you are unclipping your dogs leash for off lead running, snap the trigger clip a few times before and after you unclip it, then the snap noise of the trigger isnt the signal for the dog to hurtle off!)
Back to the ball game - do a few throws where you hold the dogs collar and ask for a wait and just throw the ball a few feet. Then, make it clear with your body language that the strict stuff is over and do a few throws where its clear he can go and get it straight away - otherwise its not fun!
Then do a few more waits. (It may be easier if you have a game first, then do the training as then your dog will be a little less excited).
When you no longer have to hold the dogs collar , you can step up to throwing the ball a little further.
Then further still.
Then see if you can step away a few feet before throwing the ball, or wait a few more seconds before giving the retrieve command.
At each stage, its important to prevent your dog making a mistake, so if you go to throwing the ball further, go back to holding the collar, then he cant make a mistake.
Preventing your dog from getting it wrong, so he can only get it right is easily more than half the battle!
If you want to put your dog in a wait, walk away, throw the ball, recall your dog to you then send the dog for the ball.....
Start by making it easy, so just walk a few feet away. Throw the ball a few feet directly past you, so dog has to run to you to get the ball anyway. And then encourage the recall to you first with some delicious treat (or even, sneakily,another identical ball!).
With a bit of practice, and plenty of rewards you could have your dog in a down-wait, whilst you throw multiple balls and then send him out to retrieve them one by one to you.... big thing to work up to but you should be able to achieve that by the middle of august if you do a few sessions every day.
Hth
Em
Rocky already knew what 'wait' means..... just so everything is clear, 'wait' means 'stay until i tell you to do something else' as opposed to 'stay' which means 'dont move until i come back and get you'.
That way you dont risk a dog breaking a stay command.
So if you have a dog who will wait until he is told he can have his food, wait until he is told he can get in or out of the car or go through doors etc, you have the beginnings of this.
(If not, teach that first and the easiest thing to do is build it up in small stages, so sit and wait for 1 second before food bowl goes down..... sit and wait for two seconds after bowl hits the floor, etc etc, ditto with the other stuff.)
With rocky, i would get the ball, hold rocky by his collar, tell him 'wait' and gently lob the ball just a few feet.
Then id really gently release his collar, so he barely felt it, and give him a second then ask him to get the ball.
Make sure you NEVER give the release command at the same second as you release the collar or the dog will learn to predict that the feeling of the collar being released means 'go right now'.
Letting go and re taking the collar before giving the release command will also help prevent this.
(Ditto when you are unclipping your dogs leash for off lead running, snap the trigger clip a few times before and after you unclip it, then the snap noise of the trigger isnt the signal for the dog to hurtle off!)
Back to the ball game - do a few throws where you hold the dogs collar and ask for a wait and just throw the ball a few feet. Then, make it clear with your body language that the strict stuff is over and do a few throws where its clear he can go and get it straight away - otherwise its not fun!
Then do a few more waits. (It may be easier if you have a game first, then do the training as then your dog will be a little less excited).
When you no longer have to hold the dogs collar , you can step up to throwing the ball a little further.
Then further still.
Then see if you can step away a few feet before throwing the ball, or wait a few more seconds before giving the retrieve command.
At each stage, its important to prevent your dog making a mistake, so if you go to throwing the ball further, go back to holding the collar, then he cant make a mistake.
Preventing your dog from getting it wrong, so he can only get it right is easily more than half the battle!
If you want to put your dog in a wait, walk away, throw the ball, recall your dog to you then send the dog for the ball.....
Start by making it easy, so just walk a few feet away. Throw the ball a few feet directly past you, so dog has to run to you to get the ball anyway. And then encourage the recall to you first with some delicious treat (or even, sneakily,another identical ball!).
With a bit of practice, and plenty of rewards you could have your dog in a down-wait, whilst you throw multiple balls and then send him out to retrieve them one by one to you.... big thing to work up to but you should be able to achieve that by the middle of august if you do a few sessions every day.
Hth
Em
