The off Switch

[Zhucca]

Duke came with one. He's the laziest lab ever. He turns on with ease generally.. His energy comes in bursts. If he's not motivated enough to exert himself, he won't. His motivations are Boomer, keeping a duck carcass away from me, and swimming. He is slowly liking to fetch. Otherwise, he's in slo mo walking around pouting, or just out cold.

 

[Michiyo-Fir]

Edited to add... This is after a very long hike and training session, about as good as it gets.... Pardon our filthy table and the noise is them running in and out of the crate behind me thinking they can get dinner on command (and the other noise is Denis playing guitar).
YouTube - ‪Moo‬‏

Edited again... Backups version of settle down...
YouTube - ‪Herding dog is herding‬‏

Just curious, do the Malinois need to eat a lot more to keep any weight on them!??! They're constantly in warp speed motion O_O

 

[Gypsydals]

Ivans 6 and I'm STILL waiting for him to find it. The self imposed off switch anyway. If I make him ( lock him up) he will, settle down(physically anway, the brain never shuts down I think). But if I leave him out, hes up, down, up, down. Grabbing toys and running back and forth from the living room and dinning room. With him its not so much the speed hes doing things, its just the length of time hes doing things. I don't think there is a bottom to the energy. I have taken him on a 5-6 mile bike ride, come home and walked him for 5 to 10minutes to cool him down. And hes ready to go again as soon as he cools down. He kind of reminds me of the energizer bunny "Going, Going, Gone."

Peewee I think came with an off switch. He's always been an odd one. Never chewed on things as a puppy and by a year had quit playing with toys.

 

[Shai]

I want dogs who can run all day and sit by my feet at night, or do absolutely nothing all day and STILL sit by my feet quietly at night lol.

Guess the question is how many days in a row do you want them able to handle doing nothing all day and still chilling at night. One day mine could do; K & M would be playing more but they wouldn't be causing mischief or driving me nuts. Two would be...interesting. Three and Mira would be settling down on the ceiling, Kim would be herding anything that moved (and some stuff that doesn't normally) while obsessively squeaking a plushie, and Web would be stealing stuff and deliberately destroying it in front of me to draw attention.

 

[Linds]

Well said. My ideal type of dog more than willing to help them get there but the dog has to meet ya somewhere in the middle to really make it work.

Yep exactly!! I want to be able to do a off leash hike, 10 mile bike, training and then fetch without him slowing down on me but after that or when we can't get that in or the weather doesn't allow the dog is willing to behave, entertain themselves quietly or lay down.

And, I've got it and sounds like you do too.

And I agree Aleron training, rules and genetics. I have a friend with the most crazy drivey energizer bunny APBT ever and she has worked long and hard from day one to get that dog to be able to chill and she will.

 

[sassafras]

I'm pretty sure Pip was born with one.

Maisy has developed hers in the last 6-8 months. Somewhat coincident with the arrival of Squash. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. She got tons of exercise even before he came home, but those two are always up to something together so she's probably more worn out in general.

Squash... not yet. In some ways he's very mellow, but he's extremely nosy and always kind of looking for something to do or get into. In other words, a puppy.

 

[Equinox]

Trent started showing signs of developing an off switch right around 7 or 8 months old.

For me, an off switch doesn't mean that the dog settles down after hours and hours of exercise. Rather, I see it as a dog that can be able to easily settle even if he still has plenty of energy to burn at the moment. It doesn't happen often, but Trent can go days without exercise and still spend every moment lying down quietly besides me. It's not a matter of not having an "on" switch for him, because this dog is high energy, high drive, and plenty of intensity. But when he was injured (external) and ordered to rest, he was able to go 2 weeks with very minimal exercise (slow, short walks, some obedience and mental stimulation every so often), with absolutely no whining and no pacing, though once we were outside he made it clear he wanted to GO GO GO.

If we just ran 8 miles on a sunny day and topped it off with obedience class, he settles down and turns off at home. If we have gone several days without exercise because of an injury on his part or my part (has happened once), he settles down just as easily without any problem. But once I say the words "let's go!" or wave around his rope tug, he snaps up and goes crazy. And I absolutely love that about this dog.

 

[RD]

Eve is 4 years old and she still occasionally forgets her off switch if I don't firmly remind her.

Wink does not have an off switch until her batteries run completely out. Then she recharges and googogogogogoes for another 8-10 hours.

 

[Hillside]

Wait a second, some dogs have an ON switch? Wow, can Saga get one of those? She doesn't even bark, much less get off the couch/bed when someone bangs on my door. Maybe if it is a food delivery. Maybe.

 

[monkeys23]

If she gets good hard exercise daily Lily is content to be a lazy bum in the house, but if she doesn't there is tail chasing and spastic husky zoomies and general obnoxiousness. She is NOT a morning dog and will sleep in with me very contently. But once I get up its all zoom.

Scout settles "okay" but she's always down for wrestling. Sometimes she paces anxiously, but I think thats anxiety related and not lack of an off-switch.

My parent's BC settles in nicely now, I think its because he's seven. Our old BC didn't slow until he was 11.

 

[HayleyMarie]

Teagan developed hers at around a 7-8 months give or take. But she is still very active and willing to do anything. Like a full days hike ect ect.

My dog is not a lazy dog at all. Its just very easy to re direct her. And to get her to calm down if I am not willing to go run with her. She also entertains her self very nicely so if I am not home or sitting watching TV she will grab a toy and play with it.

But I think if she was a dog that was never excersised, never really played with she would go insane and I would have trouble on my hands.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Teagan developed hers at around a 7-8 months give or take. But she is still very active and willing to do anything. Like a full days hike ect ect.

My dog is not a lazy dog at all. Its just very easy to re direct her. And to get her to calm down if I am not willing to go run with her. She also entertains her self very nicely so if I am not home or sitting watching TV she will grab a toy and play with it.

But I think if she was a dog that was never excersised, never really played with she would go insane and I would have trouble on my hands.

Yep, this is Jackson. He's willing to go all day with me doing whatever but also is able to chill nicely on a rainy day, etc. But I think if he had a different kind of owner... like one that left home for 8hrs a day by himself and then came home and did barely anything with him, he would NOT be a fun dog to live with. Since I got him from a BYB and picked between him and his brother, I often wonder what his brother's life is like.... I met the woman who purchased him since we were there at the same time and she lived in an apartment in DC and seemed like she wouldn't be the type of be going on walks, etc, but I could be totally wrong, lol.

 

[Southpaw]

Yep, this is Jackson. He's willing to go all day with me doing whatever but also is able to chill nicely on a rainy day, etc. But I think if he had a different kind of owner... like one that left home for 8hrs a day by himself and then came home and did barely anything with him, he would NOT be a fun dog to live with. Since I got him from a BYB and picked between him and his brother, I often wonder what his brother's life is like.... I met the woman who purchased him since we were there at the same time and she lived in an apartment in DC and seemed like she wouldn't be the type of be going on walks, etc, but I could be totally wrong, lol.

I wonder though if the "nurture" part of raising a puppy affects this though. If a dog is crated 8+ hours a day ever since they're a puppy, do they just grow accustomed to that and therefore they don't get crazy if they don't get lots of exercise? Within reason of course. But sometimes I think those dogs are more mellow and better at settling, because they have to be.

 

[RD]

I wonder though if the "nurture" part of raising a puppy affects this though. If a dog is crated 8+ hours a day ever since they're a puppy, do they just grow accustomed to that and therefore they don't get crazy if they don't get lots of exercise? Within reason of course. But sometimes I think those dogs are more mellow and better at settling, because they have to be.

I made Eve spend at least a few hours a day in her crate (even if I didn't need to crate her) for this reason. It helped me tremendously with her. There are some times when she won't settle, I'm annoyed with her, and I can put her in a crate and know she'll lay down and rest.

I never crated Wink and she is bloody unbearable, and won't settle down even when she's crated.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

I wonder though if the "nurture" part of raising a puppy affects this though. If a dog is crated 8+ hours a day ever since they're a puppy, do they just grow accustomed to that and therefore they don't get crazy if they don't get lots of exercise? Within reason of course. But sometimes I think those dogs are more mellow and better at settling, because they have to be.

Our malinois have always been crated for up to and around 8 hours a day. They'll settle in the crate, they're used to it, but outside the crate the world revolves around them and go-go-go.