Hyper APBT
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Hyper APBT
Hi everyone, it's been a while since I posted last and I have a new question. My 9 (or so) month old female APBT has bursts of hyperactive behavior that I have trouble controlling. When she's in a normal, calm mood, she's pretty obedient and good. That's about 80% of the time she's awake. The other 20% she acts like a crazed idiot! LOL! She'll have fits of energy where she'll run around the house at full speed chasing the cat or finding things to shred or trying to make my older dog play with her by jumping all over the place, etc. She knows she's not allowed on the furniture, but she gets so hyper sometimes she'll just leap all over everything in a frenzy! Ignoring her does no good; she'll just find something to destroy if we do that. Sometimes it's ok because someone is able to play with her and turn her hyperness into something fun. But it's not so good when she goes all crazy and I'm in the shower or something - she'll just bark up a storm and tear something up. And it's bad when it's late at night and no one is in the mood to play tug of war or take her on a walk. We have to teach her to somehow control her moods so that we can make her calm down sometimes. I'm pretty sure she gets enough exercise. We have a big yard and she spends at least 1 hr per day running out there playing fetch (or run at the ball and then chase imaginary stuff instead of fetching) and so forth. What to do? Thanks!!!
Hiya,
Just a quick message because im off to bed (its 5.30am UK...)
1/ Look at her food, some dog foods, like some people foods will cause hyperactive behaviour - seen kids on a sugar rush... same thing can happen to dogs!
Look for a food that has the main ingredient as meat, and check carefully because certainly in the UK, its the single largest ingredient listed first... so it could look like:
"Yappy Dog Food for Yappy Dogs..." (joke)
Ingredients:
30% meat meal
20% maize
20% wheat
15% barley
10% beet pulp
5% glucose
You might think 'hey, 30% of this is meat..."
But actually a/ 30% is meat 'meal' which again in the UK is actually ground up feather, bone, horn, feet, etc... the real content of actual meat may be very low... then, the biggy is...... 55% of my made up dog food is cereal, another 10% is filler (beet pulp, its used in dog food to create undigested bulk cos we dog owners like to see firm poops)..
So in that pretend dog food, 65% is not meat and not particularly useful to the dog (a carnivore... not a grain eater).
It may not be that, and some dogs will do pretty well on a food like that, they are after all scavengers and omnivores as well as carnivores, but generalising (dangerous i know), a low meat high cereal high sugar high preservatives/flavourings etc diet will have a bad effect on many aspects of your dog, and the common problems such diets cause are hyperactivity, skin problems and often temperament problems.
So first thing, check the food, oh and it doesnt really matter if its a well known brand.... one of the most heavily advertised brands in the uk, Bakers Complete, contains more additives/preservatives, ie E-Numbers, than a McDonalds cheeseburger (they can't sue me for that..... thats absolutely true!).
The next thing is.... 2/ Exercise.
1hour in the yard is not enough. Or to put it another way.... 23 hours of hte day doing very little..... see what i mean?
So look at the food, change it for one with better quality and fewer ingredients and more meat.... and more exercise, not just running around after the ball but training sessions, games, walks etc. Have a look at the clicker training thread as that method really gets a dogs mind working, and contrary to popular belief..... APBT like a great number of bull breeds have GREAT minds IF they are put to work in the right way.
Just a quick message because im off to bed (its 5.30am UK...)
1/ Look at her food, some dog foods, like some people foods will cause hyperactive behaviour - seen kids on a sugar rush... same thing can happen to dogs!
Look for a food that has the main ingredient as meat, and check carefully because certainly in the UK, its the single largest ingredient listed first... so it could look like:
"Yappy Dog Food for Yappy Dogs..." (joke)
Ingredients:
30% meat meal
20% maize
20% wheat
15% barley
10% beet pulp
5% glucose
You might think 'hey, 30% of this is meat..."
But actually a/ 30% is meat 'meal' which again in the UK is actually ground up feather, bone, horn, feet, etc... the real content of actual meat may be very low... then, the biggy is...... 55% of my made up dog food is cereal, another 10% is filler (beet pulp, its used in dog food to create undigested bulk cos we dog owners like to see firm poops)..
So in that pretend dog food, 65% is not meat and not particularly useful to the dog (a carnivore... not a grain eater).
It may not be that, and some dogs will do pretty well on a food like that, they are after all scavengers and omnivores as well as carnivores, but generalising (dangerous i know), a low meat high cereal high sugar high preservatives/flavourings etc diet will have a bad effect on many aspects of your dog, and the common problems such diets cause are hyperactivity, skin problems and often temperament problems.
So first thing, check the food, oh and it doesnt really matter if its a well known brand.... one of the most heavily advertised brands in the uk, Bakers Complete, contains more additives/preservatives, ie E-Numbers, than a McDonalds cheeseburger (they can't sue me for that..... thats absolutely true!).
The next thing is.... 2/ Exercise.
1hour in the yard is not enough. Or to put it another way.... 23 hours of hte day doing very little..... see what i mean?
So look at the food, change it for one with better quality and fewer ingredients and more meat.... and more exercise, not just running around after the ball but training sessions, games, walks etc. Have a look at the clicker training thread as that method really gets a dogs mind working, and contrary to popular belief..... APBT like a great number of bull breeds have GREAT minds IF they are put to work in the right way.
APBTs make good SAR dogs and they were still working a long time after other dogs had given up at the WTC. They also have good temperaments if you get the balance between food and exercise right, pity humans can't be bred for good temperamentsAPBT like a great number of bull breeds have GREAT minds IF they are put to work in the right way.
Terriers are bred to do a job, which is another reason why an hour a day exercise isn't enough, most can go all day working as many do. They need mental simulation as well as good exercise.
You could put up an agility course in your yard, small jumps, tunnels, etc and teach him how to use them. This will be fun for you as well as him.
In the house you can teach him to fetch name items, like the remote, in fact, they can be quite useful round the house.
The more you do with your dog the better behaved he will be.
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Thanks guys! I'm pretty sure her food is good. She eats Canidae brand dry food. Also, I didn't make myself very clear on the exercise thing. I agree that only one hour of total exercise would be awful! LOL! What I meant to say was that she gets at least one hour of strenuous exercise per day in addition to other, less strenuous excercise and play time. We'll play outside for at least an hour (depending on the weather) and then when we're in the house, she's either sleeping or playing fetch or tug of war or hide and seek (I hide smelly stuff from her and she tracks it down). I have to admit, I only spend a few minutes on training her every day, but I don't mind if she doesn't learn any new commands. I like her to have a bit of her crazy personality. I don't want a completely mellow dog - I just want her to be able to calm down once she gets into one of her moods. Like this morning, for example, she was lying by my feet on the floor while I was eating my breakfast. Then, all of a sudden, she sat up and stared at me with her ears perked. I said, "What?" and she just launched herself at my face and started tearing around the room. Then she got tired and went to sleep.