Tired Puppies.. aren't good Puppies?
"A tired puppy is a good puppy"
If you've been around dog people any length of time (especially with a young dog) you've more than likely heard that phrase. A phrase I used all.the.time over the last six years.
David is teaching me more and more that what applies to one dog, doesn't necessarily apply to another dog. I knew this of course, especially when working in a kennel/dog daycare environment. We had many different dogs come in on a regular basis, and it was easy to realize how different each dog was. However when you have a new dog coming every 18 months or so, its hard to keep things in perspective.
Intiways.
To every rule there is an exception? Well Ladies and Gentlemen I have the exception!
When it comes to David, the last thing you want to do before starting a 10+ stop outing is tire him out. But this past Thursday, I forgot that little fact,when I decided to swing by a local park, before heading on our excursion. David ran, and played and had a great time the other puppies, and was quite worn out by the time we left.
Great right?
This outing should be a breeze, with my calm quiet dog by my side.
Yeah no.
We've all seen the toddler, who is tired out of their mind, and just can't quite hold themselves together, and tears and tantrums ensue until they are allowed some time to rest.
That was David in a nutshell. Instead of tears and tantrums, we just get an easily exited puppy (wanting to play with anything brushing by his head) and lots of collie noises/responses to things. Which can be quite...noisy at times. :)
He eventually calmed down, but there were a couple of instances when my toddler couldn't contain himself, and we had to beat a hasty retreat. (Hence why we got in and out of eight different places)
The bad thing is, I KNEW this about David, if you want a calm David, you keep the David calm. I've got a huge post (that I've yet to publish) talking about how exercise GIVES energy, something I've learned training for a 5K over the last month. Rob also taught me this. The more I exercised, the more "ramped" up he seemed to get. The harder he was to settle, but at the time I didn't know what else to do.
A tired puppy is a good puppy.
Not in our case!
Comments
We had a similar experience when I was raising Derby. Before one of our obedience classes I decided to take Derby for a long walk (about 3 miles) to try and tire him out. Unfortunately just like you said "Tired puppies...aren't good puppies". Derby was jumping around, whining, and had trouble concentrating at obedience class. Most puppies I've raised are usually calmer when they are tired, but I learned that it's not true of all puppies.
Take care,
Colby
She was at work with me and started jumping like crazy on one of my co-workers. I tried playing to tire her out but she got more and more excited. Eventually, I picked her up and put her into her crate, expecting her to become insane. Instead, she lay right down and went to sleep.
She didn't need more exercise. She needed rest. Honey was a hyper little toddler.
David just might be the kind of dog who doesn't switch gears easily from active to still. Your idea that to have him calm means to keep him calm is very wise.