Calm bcs and mixes?

[Pam Wolf]

IMO it is some of both but mainly the training. Teaching the dog what you desire. You can either have a dog that wants to play fetch 24/7 or a dog willing to lie on a dog bed in the living room. It is what you expect and train for.

[Canaqua]

IMO it is some of both but mainly the training. Teaching the dog what you desire. You can either have a dog that wants to play fetch 24/7 or a dog willing to lie on a dog bed in the living room. It is what you expect and train for.

 

Wow, this is so true! We have a 13 year old ACD mix, who is my husband's dog. He had her for about 6 months before I met him, 11+ years ago. DH is a pretty driven and "busy" guy (he manufactures a lot of the "busy" . He was so concerned about giving the ACD enough exercise and entertainment that he was constantly throwing sticks, thinking up games, etc... She actually has a lot of anxiety about trying to please him, she thinks the way to please him is by constantly fetching and playing, even in her old age. I don't like walking with them together in the woods, because there's incessant barking and nagging for him to throw a stick for her. When I walk her out in the woods alone, we go for a nice, hour long, walk in the woods...no barking, no pestering, because she doesn't feel she has to please me that way, I want companionship and not a whole lot more from her and she's good with that.

 

BC mix is "my" dog. She's only 7 months old, so she gets into her share of trouble (chewing everything mostly!), but she's pretty calm for a puppy that age. I work from home several days a week and she is content to lie on the couch next to me while I'm on conference calls until we take a break to go for a walk or go out and play in the yard. She gets plenty of exercise, but it's not the frenetic kind . She reminds me of nothing more than the Thoroughbred horse I lease. They are both extremely bright and sensitive animals, bred to work and please the human...they are "tryers", so you have to be very careful about what expectations you set, because they will move heaven and earth to meet them and suffer from pretty serious anxiety if the expectations aren't something they can do.

[terrecar]

You do realize that if you provide him with as much exercise as you can provide that you are creating a dog who will require that much exercise, right?

J.

 

Not to resurrect a thread to anyone's annoyance, but...This has been very helpful advice for me, and likely will be for others. I am learning to at least attempt to read my dog better and not obsess so much over the excercise thing (I live on a single acre). Hannah still gets to run at the park, but that's only because it is so big and so often vacant. If I go there and cannot take her off lead because other people/dogs are there, I simply put her on a flexi or check cord and have fun with her. My dog does have an off switch, but it only works if I actually flip it. So, thanks Julie!

[simba]

Not to resurrect a thread to anyone's annoyance, but...This has been very helpful advice for me, and likely will be for others.

 

Considering how many dogs get re-homed or worse for being hyperactive, I'd say it's no bad thing to resurrect it.

 

So what's the line between encouraging hyperness and providing adequate exercise? What time/distance of exercise is normal, or required to keep a border collie happy?

[juliepoudrier]

Simba,

I think it depends on the individual dog to some extent (nature), but also on the expectations the owner sets early (nurture). Last week, I took my four-month-old on a mile long walk through the woods with a couple of my other dogs. We stopped to play in the creek. When we got to the pasture where I checked on the sheep and their hay situation (sort of a break, though the pup tried to go gather the flock), we went to the pond and played there a bit (dogs playing, me watching). Then we walked the mile back home with another stop at the creek. Although I might have taken her on this walk a month ago, I wouldn't have done it much earlier than that because it would have been something like a forced march for a baby dog. But now she's old enough that I don't consider a mile or two with me walking and them doing whatever they want to be excessive exercise (though I wouldn't do it multiple times a day and probably not every day either).

 

I am fortunate that I have other dogs, a couple of whom will play with a puppy, but I really don't give any sort of "structured" exercise to a puppy. She can run around in the yard with the other dogs. I'll play tug and maybe "wrestle" with her a bit. But even at 16 weeks she spends a good part of the day sleeping and I don't try to get her to play or anything else. A sleeping puppy is a good puppy!

 

I took her to an agility trial this past weekend to see a friend I haven't seen in a while and who was competing there. We were there maybe 4 hours each day. She did nothing but meet people and dogs, and by the midway point she was ready to nap. And that being tired out was really all just from *mental* engagement, since she was on a leash the entire time and not really getting any real pyysical exericise.

 

This is pretty much how I raise any pup. And of the 10 dogs I have (not all raised from puppyhood) i have just one who is a bit annoying about racing to the door every time I move, and that seems to largely be because of his genetic makeup (i.e., his close relatives exhibit some of the same behaviors).

 

During the months when taking long walks in the woods is impossible because of the ticks my dogs get very little exercise--just what chores need done, which aren't super labor intensive, and setting sheep for trials when we're hired to do so (for which I mainly use one dog) and however they exercise themselves outside.

 

When we can go for walks, we'll go two or three times a day. I'm guessing it's a mile or less each trip. The dogs of course cover a lot more ground than I do and at a faster pace. I don't do any of the chuck-it or frisbee out in the yard (I will kick the occasional pine cone that is dropped at my feet) and although I'll play in the house some, it's rather limited by how much I can stand with 10 dogs getting excited.

 

So, in the case of my dogs, very little actual exercise is needed. But I raised them (the ones I raised from pups) that way. Early on I bought more into the ball throwing, frisbee playing stuff and I kept ending up with injured dogs. I just don't do that much (if at all) anymore. I still get injuries while working, but that's about it.

 

And my dogs are not crazed maniacs in the house, depserate for something to do....

 

J.

[Maralynn]

I think the key is to have more of a dog centered lifestyle as opposed to keeping your dog busy with lots of exercise. I routinely take a dog along when I run errands. I exercise in ways that will accommodate them (ie walking or biking so they can come along). They follow me around as I do chores. Then throw in some random training sessions and bones to chew on and they're pretty content.

[Star]

I'd have to agree that what they really want is for you to interact with them. Star is, fortunately, a good couch potato. I, too, spend a lot of time working from home and sit at the computer all day. The dogs sleep and will chill most of the day. When I'm up and about, not working, Star is my shadow and I talk to her constantly (instead of talking to myself, I guess!). I can see pending boredom, though, if I get terribly busy for a few days. She lays with her head on the floor and her eyes look all around. I call this, "Thinking up something to do." If I ignore this, she will eventually go get (in order of preference) a pair of dirty underwear, a piece of paper from my office garbage, or a toy and proceed to shred it. She never does this if I'm gone all day, though.