I was talking to some of the people who are in my GSD Ali's tracking class and they seemed to think her level of activity was abnormal, even for a GSD. One actually has GSD too, which is why I'm curious now.
Ali is 7 months old.
I was wondering, is it abnormal? I am a stay at home wife so she gets a lot of attention.
- Awake at 9 am
- 9:00-10:00 An hour of play outside, chasing balls and her flirt pole. Heavy play and some obedience with the pole.
- 10-10:30 Breakfast
- 10:30-11:30 Another hour or so digging in the snow and foraging for treats for the other part of her breakfast
- 11:30-12:30-ish A nap, usually 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours max
- 12:30-1:00 Calm activities like chewing while she wakes up, some obedience training
- 1:00-2:00 Long on-leash walk. Lots of sniffing (And anyone following my posts, she does fine with cars now! Still scared of snow mobiles though.)
- 2:00-2:30 More play, usually tug, tag, and chase is what she wants to play here
- 2:30-3:30 Another nap, if she didn't take a long nap in the morning around 1 1/2 hours, if she did no more than an hour.
- 3:30-4:00 More calm stuff while she wakes up
- 4:00-5:00 Crazy play outside, anything that keeps her running and engaged. Obedience mixed in. (2 days a week, her tracking class)
- 5:00-5:30 Her supper.
- 5:30-7:00 In her kennel while we eat whatever I managed to get cooked while she was asleep and I clean up! She rarely sleeps in this time.
- 7:00-7:30 More running-type play outside
- 7:30-8:30 Some laid-back scent training to calm her down for the night
- 8:30-9:30 Calm search games inside the house to calm her even more, things to chew, any low-key activities we can come up with
- 9:30-10:00 Eventually falls asleep
If you ignore her when she wants to play she will immediately start making up her own games to get people to 'play' and become ornery and destructive. She cannot be left unsupervised while awake at all, she will chew on the house itself out of boredom.
I fully admit it is very hard to get anything done around the house right now. Keeping Ali engaged so she doesn't become bored and destructive takes up most of my time and energy.
The TL;DR version, some acquaintances think it's odd Ali is awake for 12-13 hours, only naps like 2 1/2 hours during that time, and just keeps going and going. Unless she is asleep or has her mind on an activity she is destructive and rambunctious. I have no idea how normal this is, never had a GSD before.
I have had a high energy dog before, mutt from a working sled dog kennel, but I don't remember what it was like when that dog was a puppy anymore, too many years ago. Only the later years are fresh in my mind.
Ali is 7 months old.
I was wondering, is it abnormal? I am a stay at home wife so she gets a lot of attention.
- Awake at 9 am
- 9:00-10:00 An hour of play outside, chasing balls and her flirt pole. Heavy play and some obedience with the pole.
- 10-10:30 Breakfast
- 10:30-11:30 Another hour or so digging in the snow and foraging for treats for the other part of her breakfast
- 11:30-12:30-ish A nap, usually 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours max
- 12:30-1:00 Calm activities like chewing while she wakes up, some obedience training
- 1:00-2:00 Long on-leash walk. Lots of sniffing (And anyone following my posts, she does fine with cars now! Still scared of snow mobiles though.)
- 2:00-2:30 More play, usually tug, tag, and chase is what she wants to play here
- 2:30-3:30 Another nap, if she didn't take a long nap in the morning around 1 1/2 hours, if she did no more than an hour.
- 3:30-4:00 More calm stuff while she wakes up
- 4:00-5:00 Crazy play outside, anything that keeps her running and engaged. Obedience mixed in. (2 days a week, her tracking class)
- 5:00-5:30 Her supper.
- 5:30-7:00 In her kennel while we eat whatever I managed to get cooked while she was asleep and I clean up! She rarely sleeps in this time.
- 7:00-7:30 More running-type play outside
- 7:30-8:30 Some laid-back scent training to calm her down for the night
- 8:30-9:30 Calm search games inside the house to calm her even more, things to chew, any low-key activities we can come up with
- 9:30-10:00 Eventually falls asleep
If you ignore her when she wants to play she will immediately start making up her own games to get people to 'play' and become ornery and destructive. She cannot be left unsupervised while awake at all, she will chew on the house itself out of boredom.
I fully admit it is very hard to get anything done around the house right now. Keeping Ali engaged so she doesn't become bored and destructive takes up most of my time and energy.
The TL;DR version, some acquaintances think it's odd Ali is awake for 12-13 hours, only naps like 2 1/2 hours during that time, and just keeps going and going. Unless she is asleep or has her mind on an activity she is destructive and rambunctious. I have no idea how normal this is, never had a GSD before.
I have had a high energy dog before, mutt from a working sled dog kennel, but I don't remember what it was like when that dog was a puppy anymore, too many years ago. Only the later years are fresh in my mind.