Off Switch

Do your dogs have one? Did they come with it or did you create it? Have you tried to culture one and failed? Is it something you desire or something that you don't care that much about?



I was thinking about this because Fergus is finally catching on which makes me happy. He drove me nuts with his busy but the other dogs have been rubbing off on him and I've been encouraging it like crazy so now he's finally starting to chill out during the day when we're not doing anything. Right now I'm on the couch and my legs are weighted down by three dogs sleeping and it's absolutely lovely.

Didgie and Traveler both kinda came with good off switches, it's pretty inherent in the breed. Didgie was more likely to keep herself entertained when she was younger but now has really started to cuddle with me more when not doing things.



So, what about your dogs?

Leo came with it.

If I am not doing anything, Leo is sleeping/looking out the window/lying down and gazing at me. If he hasn't gotten any exercise that day, he might pester me to play for a while, but pretty easily gives up and just chills.

Outside, he is go go go go the entire time for hours on end, so I am VERY thankful that he knows how to settle in the house. He would be a nightmare otherwise. This dog just does not stop outside :yikes:

Trent definitely has it, but I got him as a puppy so I can't really say he came with one lol He was always good in the crate, but it was a while before he was tolerable out and about (even when supervised).

Outdoors under distraction he's a bit busier and can be pretty leaky. Sometimes I end up using the "head down" command (down and chin on the floor so vocalizations are minimal). Indoors he's great, settles very quickly.

A good off switch is definitely something I desire, though it's not as important to me as it was a few years ago. I'm starting to think that I could be happy living with a dog without one, but who knows It really depends on the individual dog. Busy dogs are much more preferable to eternally leaky ones.

Dekka has an exceptional off switch. To the point that people who have never seen her "ON" have a hard time picturing her having a 'balls to the wall' style of running agility. Or her intensity when hunting or wishing to hunt.

Schen is still a puppy but I imagine he will. I don't think his on is going to be crazy as it is.

Meg came with a spectacular off-switch. It took me years to cultivate her on switch.

Gusto had a terrible one, but some of that was just busy puppy stuff. At three, he is really has a great off switch.

Maisy has the best, Pip has a great one.

Squash is... learning. I think he'll always be learning. He's busy and nosy and paces, and I've been told his mother is a big pacer, too. So partially I work on cultivating it, and partially I work on ignoring some stuff.

I need off, because i'm not always on

Mine have all had one. I don't know if it was created or already there. It seems to just happen with training and bonding. For me, the crate is always a stfu and chill zone, so it's probably a little of both for me and my dogs. The relax and chill just carries over from the crate to everywhere else when I tell them. Not that they always need to be told, they mostly just go with whatever is going on. they're up when i'm up and pretty relaxed when i'm am. Yoli is mostly that way, except when the cats get her going, then she's a little more "on" than I'd like, but it mostly pisses my wife off, which means I don't like it much either

Otherwise they're pretty good at going with whatever may or may not be happening, and when it is go time, they go. No questions asked

Jack doesn't have an ON or an OFF switch/

Crossbone is getting better about settling in OUR house--but is still pretty bad at other places. It's not something that I've worked on a whole lot though.

Roxie's got a pretty great off switch. It's been cultivated since the day I got her (she did have an off switch, but not a good one!) and we can be playing pretty hard and then I'll say "enough!" and she plops right down.

Happy & Lucy don't even turn on.

Juno & Cajun had to develop one.
With Juno i think I over-exercised her and got her used to constant activity. Then that got annoying, so we got to a point where she had to have designated afternoon naps lol where I'd set her somewhere with a bully stick or kong or something. Just a quiet activity. Gave me some peace. Then I think with age + me not having time to exercise her 24/7 anymore, she got used to doing really well with minimal exercise.

Cajun, for a good month after we got her, did not ever stop moving. Literally. She only stopped when she was crated otherwise she constantly paced. I don't really know what that was. But I think her settling in + actually receiving exercise now, she's pretty mellow in the house.

Abrams was cultivated and is still an ongoing process.

When we're not doing something and it falls in the zome of his bedtime/naptime he just sleeps. But if he feels understimulated or if he hasn't gotten a lot of exercise, he is super annoying. He paces, flings toys at Cynder's face, stares holes in to you, tries to climb into your lap and look pathetic, chases the cat, every movement you make results in him barking and leaping as high as he can, etc., etc.

Even then, though, he's pretty good about being told, "No. Go lay down," and he'll go and lay down and attempt to be good.

Having an off switch, or being able to constructively occupy themself, is super important to me. It would drive me batty if I had a dog that would. not. settle. Abrams i bad enough, but at least I know if I really need to get him to be calm I can.

Patton has a taught off switch at my house. He does not generalize this well, yet.

Recon has what I think is a natural off switch, since it transfers to wherever he is at.

Frag is partially trained, mostly natural.

Foster dog has NONE.

I prefer natural off switches or easily trained relaxation.

I have greyhounds. 'nuff said.

No, but seriously, I chose this breed for many reasons, and their reputation as couch potatoes was one. That said, adopting a 5 year old ex-racer is different than bringing in an 8 week old puppy. Kili didn't find her off switch until she was about 18 months old. Part of that may have simply been age, part of it may also have been the fact that I raised her to be higher energy than most average greyhounds. But... that said, I don't think there's a greyhound out there that doesn't have an off switch. They have less of an off switch and more of an ON switch. lol

Syl has an off switch but that doesn't mean she is sleeping. It just means she will do her own thing.

You know what's funny, and I wonder if anyone elses dogs are like this, is mine are fantastic for pretty much the entire day. Until we get to right before bedtime. Around 8/9 they all start getting super annoying. Playing like crazy, barking, wrestling, getting into things.

But they all sleep like angels as soon as I got to my room and they get on the bed. Then they don't move. Drives me NUTS before hand though.

Wesley needs an on switch, he spends most of the day doing his dead poodle impression.

Feist needed to have one taught to her, she fought it hard but now she's good. I swear we had one particular battle of wills and after that, she got it. She was probably 8-9 months old and I was working with her leashed next to me. We'd had some issues with her not settling up to this point. She kept on trying to get up, gnaw through the leash, etc. FOR HALF AN HOUR. She had already had sufficient exercise and mental stimulation prior to this, I'm not a meanie. But finally she gave up and went to sleep, I won MHUAHAHA, and the world has been better ever since she learned you don't eff with mommy, she's the most stubborn person ever.

Artimis has an awesome natural off switch. He kind of goes with the flow. If I want to play, he is up and ready to go! But the moment I sit down he'll snuggle in and relax for hours.

Talon....well....he doesn't have the best off switch. He'll relax easily in his crate, but when left to his own devices he can be busy. He won't sit or lay down like Art, but he also doesn't sit and bug me, he just does his own thing.

Though, after these last few weeks he is like a frantic monkey inside, he currently is in desperate need of an outlet.

Yep. Pretty common occurrence it seems! I call it "the witching hour" in my puppy classes when I explain that it's totally normal. haha.

Morgan came with one pretty much from the beginning. It got a little fuzzy during his tween phase, but even then I don't remember it being all that bad. In all honesty, he's been very good at responding to "off" time vs. "on" time.

I'm not really sure.

Summer is 10 1/2 now and would probably sleep 23 1/2 hours a day if you let her (ok slight exaggeration but sometimes I have to drag her from bed). She was busier when I got her at 4 years old but mostly if she needs something she just stares at you for hours on end. She's not very demanding.

Mia is good now and pretty lazy at almost 6 years old. It has taken health problems though and I think she's finally gotten ok with her new life as a lay around the house kind of dog. She still has a big tendency to get into things all the time and I don't see that ever quitting. She doesn't wake me up at 5 am anymore. I'll have to post a video of young Mia, she was a mess! Even with tons of exercise. I remember posting a video of her getting into my backpack and being told I needed to exercise that poor dog only she'd already had 2 hours free running at the park earlier. Mia went through clear phases of having to be in a down stay to calm her down too. She'd demand bark for HOURS on end.

Hank is odd... The first month of being home he was terrible and wild. Unbelievable energy and tearing around the house at the speed of light most the time. But then he'd crash when it was bed time. He is really good about sleeping at bed time and always has been. He is busy around the house about half the time. The other half he is asleep. But when he is awake he is WILD. He wakes me up around 6:30 am every single day. He doesn't sleep in very well. I feel like Hank turns off better than Mia did at the same age but Hank's 'on' is more on. He's always accepted when games are over too. Hank has shredded up more things volume-wise but tends to stick to cheap things whereas Mia destroyed expensive non-dog things. Hank is not nearly as good at problem solving how to destroy things either.

Hank has a definite 'witching hour' around 9 pm where he goes NUTS every day.