Hi. First time posting. I have a 2 year old male. He came from a breeder specializing in hunting dogs, and was trained to hunt. In the field he's a dream, hunts well, and listens to commands. At home he's a good dog, but he is HIGH strung. I know pointers are high energy and not the type to lounge around, and I full knew what I was getting into. My question is if anyone has some tips on how they get their dogs to relax a bit. He's big into whining and "squeaking" at the doors and windows, runs up and down the bottom stairs like a mad-man when he things we're going somewhere. The thing I would LOVE to reduce is the pacing. Constant pacing too and fro, until he finally passes out late evening on his blanket. Any at home training trips to settle him in a little? (I do know "A tired pointer is a good pointer" but this guy can go 10-12 miles and still have energy to pace the windows at home)
How much exercise does he get a day? How much mental stimulation? Does he have a crate? Obedience training, agility, flirt pole, spring pole and treadmill/slatmill are some ways to get rid of excess energy if he needs a little more.
A lot. We run 3+ miles together at my pace 4 times a week, he gets the dog park twice a week on the weekends (in the winter like now, when it's light out during the summer he gets the off leash park 5 days a week), he hunts every other weekend (which by his GPS averages about 10 miles per), and we have about an acre of fenced yard he spends 3-4 hours in per day (which includes training work/brush ups). I'm sure he could technically get more exercise but short of quitting my job to give it to him I don't see how. He does have a crate, we crate him if we're gone from home.
I'm just thinking that he may have been kept in outside kennels whilst with the breeder/previous trainer so is not used to living in the house. If so, his pacing may be a little stress reaction to the larger freedom of the indoors. Perhaps some training like 'leave it', stays etc whilst indoors may help to calm him
No he's been in the house most of his life. He did go away to training for 2 months, and was kenneled (indoor structure but in a kennel all day), but that was a full year ago and he's been home since. We do crate him when we're not home, but my wife works from home so he freely wanders most of the day, except a few hours if she has errands. I can't read his mind but mostly he's going window to window door to door looking for birds. Obviously I want him to want birds but just looking at him he sees so keyed up and would love to get a little balance. I'm going to try some of the place training mentioned above, and maybe working on tiring him out mentally instead of physically as well. Physically he's tireless. I can hunt him for a full half day and it doesn't make a dent.
I have a 9 month old GSP and she was and still is the same way, constantly go go go! My wife and I have found an easy technique that works great with her. At night, instead of giving her an entire meal, we make her work for it. For example, we do clicker training in the house, and the treat we use is her own dog food. Thus we have enough dog food to do hundreds of commands. When we're done with the clicker training, we've taught her to lay down on our couch, and while she is laying down, we give her one piece of kibble at a time, and wait 5 to 10 seconds between pieces of kibble. The entire time, she is using mental energy to focus on being good and laying down properly, waiting for a treat, the kibble. It took about 10 minutes to realize that if she lays down and stays still, she will get a treat. My wife and I can sit through an entire 2 hour movie hand feeding her her own dog kibble, and she will only get up a few times because she's distracted. This is how she eats her dinner. This was very simple for us to teach her, so simple that my parents and parents in law can do it with her no problem. I know your GSP is 2 years old, but if she's a dog that's willing to work like it sounds, you might have good success with this technique.
We have a similar issue at times, I have found bully sticks or beef cheeks seems to help. I give her one when shes amped up and it seems to settle her down.
