Too much energy

[alecs722]

Hello, my name is Alex. I have a 10 month old, female GSD. I was just wondering how much exercise does my dog need? Today, for example, I took her out on a walk, 0.5 miles to the park. Played there for about 20 minutes with a toy-on-a-stick, in the evening, an hour-long walk and jogged all the way back home. Right now, it's about 11.30PM my time, the dog is still full of energy and keeps bringing me her toy for tug-of-war. Am I doing it wrong? How much should we exercise?

[Ari_RR]

I can envision this... Not easy, eh?
I am not sure there is a mathematical rule to calculate the amount of exercise needed.
But - the answer is not necessarily in increasing the amount of physical exercise.
If I were you, I'd first increase the amount of mental exercise, which can be as tiring if not more than running. In case of my dog - anything related to patience, impulse control, self control - that was hard, and after even a short training session where he had to wait for a permission to do something, he was exhausted

Try more training... More games where she needs to think and solve problems.. Find things, for example... See if that helps.

[Sabrina]

+1 on the mental exercise! Here's a whole thread of ideas: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1135

As your girl is still growing, I think there is still the risk of too much physical exercise. But I'm no puppy expert! I thought there was some sort of rule of thumb, like 5 minutes per month of age, but I've searched and can't find anything on that. So hopefully some puppy experts will chime in!

Also, what do you feed her? If her food has grains in it, that could possibly be a contributing factor.

[Erica]

Yep, intelligent, active breeds can do hours and hours and hours and hours of physical work and not be tired. Mental work is much more satisfying! We've got a thread here that's full of ideas to help wear a dog out. Clicker training, specifically free-shaping or 101 things to do with a box, is popular because they require little effort on the part of the human.

In fact, you may be giving her too much exercise. Since her bones are still developing, and large breed dogs tend to have problems with their hips and elbows, it's important to be cautious about the amount of exercise they get before their growth plates close (around 1-1.5 years for most GSDs). The general rule of thumb is 5 minutes per month of age, so somewhere around 50 minutes a day for your dog. Running on paved surfaces is very hard on their joints, whether immature or completely developed. Hard turns and lots of jumping should be discouraged as well.

[minkee]

And once you are sure that you're doing enough mental exercise to go with that physical exercise, some dogs need to be taught how to be calm and relaxed. Here's a good video of how to go about that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wesm2OpE_2c

[JudyN]

What do you feed her? Some foods can contribute to general hyperactivity - but it's more likely she's 'normal for her' and needs more mental activity.

[alecs722]

Thanks for all your replies, I've found them quite helpful. Especially the ones about too much exercise, I didn't know that. I would hate to stun my dog's growth because of lack of knowledge. As to the question: "What are you feeding her?" I gotta say, not much. She doesn't really love food that much. She is on Royal Canin Puppy Athletic Large, but she doesn't eat more than 0,5 kg/ day. That's about 1 pound I believe. I'm actually worried that she eats too little...

[JudyN]

As to the question: "What are you feeding her?" I gotta say, not much. She doesn't really love food that much. She is on Royal Canin Puppy Athletic Large, but she doesn't eat more than 0,5 kg/ day. That's about 1 pound I believe. I'm actually worried that she eats too little...

I can't find that variety on the Royal Canin website, but one I found that may be similar is Maxi Active Junior: http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/products/pr ... ior-active According to their feeding guide, a 10-month-old pup of 30kg (I'm guessing her approximate weight here) would be 444g a day, so 500g per day should be ample for her - you need to look at the dog in front of you, though, rather than rely in the feeding guide on the packet, as dogs of similar size can have very different nutritional needs.

Royal Canin does contain quite a lot of grain, which many believe dogs don't need and can affect behaviour in some dogs. Most people on this forum would recommend a grain-free diet or raw feeding. This is a good site if you want to research different brands: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/dry/ But this is just a suggestion - in all probability she is perfectly normal for her age and would just benefit from some more mental stimulation.