On switch getting stuck?

Laurelin

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#1
I am just lamenting really.

Lately Mia has been really doing well turning on and off when I need her to. She sleeps a lot more and chews on bully sticks nicely and really only bugs me if we've done NOTHING that day. I mean, she's still hyper and always has been and is STILL unable to be left uncontained because she'll destroy things.... but she's been better. As a pup and up until about 3 years old she was nonstop literally in a way I have personally never had a dog be. I mean... just never stopped doing something. But in the last 1.5 years she's seemed to reign it in.

Every now and then she has days where she drives me batty. Today is one of those days. I was gone less than half my usual work day. We got a walk, we got 30 mins of agility practice a piece, she ate her two meals in food toys, and we played 30 minutes of non-stop fetch. Last night we did agility for 1.5 hours at the field and over the weekend we did 2 long hikes.

Tonight she was on crack. Screaming at the top of her lungs, squeaking tennis balls for hours on end, throwing things at my face, barking nonstop for as long as I ignored her, zoomies around the house, redirecting on Summer....

I think what is frustrating is that I don't see a pattern at all to pinpoint when she has these total wild child moments. Amount of exercise and work doesn't seem to be the factor. We can have days of nothing and she's fine or we may exercise her a lot one day and she is still a nutcase (or vice-versa)

Luckily she turns off if you force her to. I put her in a down stay and told her to cool it and within about 10 minutes she had stopped panting and fidgeting. Now she is asleep. But I LITERALLY have to put her somewhere and not let her move. You can't ignore these 'sessions' out of her, she will just keep screaming and being thoroughly obnoxious.

Anyways, not sure what I'm looking for. Commiseration? Ideas? The closest thing I can think of is a toddler pitching a fit- that is almost exactly what it seems like to me.
 

stardogs

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#2
Honestly, it sounds like overstimulation/over-tired behavior - I wouldn't be surprised if it correlates with the day after a busy weekend/couple of days, especially if she was sleeping less over that time period. In your shoes, I'd be intervening a LOT earlier with the forced rest as it sounds like in those situations she just can't do it herself and letting her continue to wind up isn't helping anyone.
 

Laurelin

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#3
I should add I typed this up last night but forgot to hit send so that's why the timing might not make sense for early morning.


I have for a while thought it was overtired behavior but I just haven't seen any correlation either way with how she acts vs how much exercise she gets. It seems like no matter how much exercise she gets she has an equal chance of going nuts like she did last night.

I do think I need to stop her earlier. We do a lot of impulse control games while playing and I've been incorporating tricks into these 'sessions'. Maybe I should calm her down first then later in the evening get her out to play on more my terms than hers. I don't mind having to force cool downs but didn't know if anyone else has dogs like that? Sometimes we go crazy and then I say all done and she switches it off like a pro. But a lot of times she just has to be put in a down stay either in her kennel or on a couch/chair/mat to dial it down. Last night she crashed about 10 minutes later and fell asleep.
 

MicksMom

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#4
Honestly, it sounds like overstimulation/over-tired behavior...
Same thing I was thinking.


...I have for a while thought it was overtired behavior but I just haven't seen any correlation either way with how she acts vs how much exercise she gets. It seems like no matter how much exercise she gets she has an equal chance of going nuts like she did last night...
It may not be just physical activity. She could be on mental stimulation overload. There may be something going on near you during the day that isn't letting her rest mentally (did that make sense?).
 
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#5
Also, I don't know about anyone else but the cooler fall weather is making my dogs go out of their dang minds.
 

Taqroy

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#6
Also, I don't know about anyone else but the cooler fall weather is making my dogs go out of their dang minds.
I was going to mention this but I don't know what the weather is like where you're at Laur. My dogs have been insanely annoying for the last week or so and exercise, training, screaming, and pulling hair out (mine not theirs) is having no effect whatsoever.
 

Laurelin

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#7
It is somewhat cooler here and Mia is definitely a winter dog so I do think that could partially explain the fact that she's wilder lately for no reason. I've been leaving my windows open and letting the cooler air in.

Mia is definitely more mentally active than physically. Idk how to properly explain it. Sometimes she gets wild and seems to need a good run but she got some nice running yesterday. No off leash time though and that usually goes farther than ball/training.
 

stardogs

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#8
I've been leaving my windows open and letting the cooler air in.
When I first start leaving my windows open in the spring and fall, Aeri gets VERY hyperalert and does not settle nearly as well, especially during the day. It was pretty stark when I finally realized the trigger - she could suddenly hear soooo much more than when the windows are shut!
 

Shai

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#9
Yeah Webby's been like this lately. Mira has been even more amped than usual lately but she's focused about it...mostly just the cooler temps and all the field work. She keeps hoping every shift of my weight or indrawn breath means we're going to go do more field work.

Web's been more of wild energy type. So we've gone back to lots of self control work. Amping up then quieting then amping then quieting all when directed. Rewarding for choosing quiet time. Playing games that let him work out frustration as well as introducing new tricks to give him something to think hard about (introducing a footstall...thank goodness he's light...landed on my face twice last night haha).

It'll pass as long as we stay on it and don't let them rehearse the behavior :)
 

Laurelin

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#10
This is going to sound stupid but I didn't even think of how much more sound she is hearing while I'm out since I've left the windows open. Derp. That makes a lot of sense to me.

We've slowed down trick training since tricks class is over. I should pick that back up. Hmmm need new ideas.
 

stardogs

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#11
This is going to sound stupid but I didn't even think of how much more sound she is hearing while I'm out since I've left the windows open. Derp. That makes a lot of sense to me.
Yea, it took me 2 YEARS of season changes to figure this out with Aeri. LOL Don't feel bad!
 

JacksonsMom

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#12
Sometimes I find that the more I give Jackson, the more he expects. Like, sometimes we'll have 2-3 rainy days in a row for example and basically do nothing more than maybe a little trick session of game of ball in the house and he's pretty content to go lay down and do nothing. But then one day we'll walk for 6 miles, go to the pet store, go to the dog park, all in one day, and we come home and he annoys the crap out of me when I think he should be exhausted.

But on the flip side, I can totally tell when he hasn't been getting enough physical exercise too because he gets antsy and finds things around the house to chew (but my back area tends to be messy since it's partially my little 5 year old sisters playroom) so yeah he finds little toys and pieces of plastic to pick up and start chewing. And just becomes an all around nuisance.

But I have no answers for you. I definitely think the weather has a lot to do with it - fall-like weather and winter weather make Jax a lot more playful. Summer tends to drag him down.
 

Beanie

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#13
We've slowed down trick training since tricks class is over. I should pick that back up. Hmmm need new ideas.
Footstall, footstall, footstall!!


Cooler weather definitely makes my boys extra crazy. Coming out of the dead of winter is the same, when they realize I'm actually willing to stay outside for more than the amount of time it takes to walk around and scoop poop. =P
 

k9krazee

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#14
I feel ya!! Crossbone has been crazy lately too. Sometimes he has to be forced to lay down and then he'll crash as well, he's not always great about doing it on his own or he's scared he'll miss something fun. I have thought recently the more tricks, the more agility and the more ball fun we have the crazier he gets.

I never thought about the windows before, either! That's a good point! Since moving to the new house Cross has full run of the house and his yard is double the size that it was. BUT there's a window that faces our work and I always see his little face in the window throughout the day. Every noise he hears (every time we go to the dumpster, get in our cars or go out to the work garage) he's there watching. In the last house we literally kept all of the blinds down at all times. I guess we'll be fixing that! :)
 

Gypsydals

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#15
Ivan has been hyper vigilant lately too. Part of it is the cooler weather and the kids going back to school. Now its quiet all day and then about 3ish the kids start coming home from school and he can hear them outside.
 

GipsyQueen

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#16
I blame the cool weather as well. Zora is extra crazy outside and wants to do nothing else but spend the whole day outdoors. Her craziness could of course be puberty too. -.-
 

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