How much enrichment is ideal for dogs?

[lushee_00]

7 month old poodle mix, rehomed to us at 5 months. This my first dog so I have 0 experience caring for one before him.

Currently, we do a 1-2 hour hike at our local trail every other day and a 20-30 minute walk on those days. We don’t do multiple walks throughout the day, just one long walk. At home, he does around 15-20 minutes of trick training and gets a lick mat with goats milk everyday. There are days when he has some behavioural issues (really just biting hands and feet but boy does it hurt), so I’m wondering if we need to adjust his routine? Is this just something he’ll consistently do until he reaches a certain age? Should we be walking him more/less/differently? Should we incorporate more enrichment at home?

 

[laynson]

@lushee_00 It sounds like you're doing a great job with enrichment, but I think you could benefit from boundaries. Puppy mouthing is super common and there's tons of videos on YouTube that can help to stop that. Also, it's super nice to enforce quiet time/settle time. I prefer a combination of crate and capturing settle. For example, I finish our walks or hikes with 15-30 min of quiet time in the crate with something to chew on - just to destim and relax into house mode. I also, feed all meals in the crate with 15 min eat/settle time before they're released to chill in house mode with me. My dogs are pretty high drive herding dogs and teaching them to just chill out when we aren't working is awesome for my mental as well as theirs.

 

[lushee_00]

@laynson My dog whines in the crate if he didn’t enter on his own or has a treat with him, he seems to get more excited every time we crate him in order to calm him down. I’m considering crate training, but my parents are really against it as his whining is really loud and we live in a condo.

 

[laynson]

@lushee_00 Crate training is a life saver but it can get a little stressful. For starters all meals should be fed in the crate. Next, all fun/tasty treats not being used for training is done in the crate. The tricky part, most essential to his learning the proper way, is that you release him just before he whines, but never while he's whining (in his brain whining = somebody will let him out) just wait for the moment between the moments and in a calm, matter of fact way just open the door. Do not make a deal out of him leaving the crate! Literally pretend he's invisible for a few minutes after he's out. The overall message is crate=lots of fun and moment of leaving the crate=boring/lowkey/meh energy. It's not a big deal and there isn't any sense in making the crate a big deal. Take it slow and build his duration in it. You could always let him cry it out, but imo it could backfire and make the crate a bad place.

As I write this right now my oldest male is just lounging in his crate with the door open. They learn to like the crate and it becomes their own little bed room

 

[ishi]

@lushee_00 Trying crate training like place. Have him enter (leave the door open) and wait to release him (increase the time each time and door closed unlocked). Limits your grooming options if he isn’t crate trained.

 

[kimberlystambaugh]

@lushee_00 A 2 hour hike is a lot, and then you do another 30 minute walk … why ? The dog is good to chill for the rest of the day after so much activity. I don’t think he needs more enrichment. But you should train away the biting habit. If he ever bites you, he needs to be isolated for 60 seconds or so to learn that biting = fun stops

 

[grace53]

@kimberlystambaugh I think they’re saying they do a 1-2 hour walk every other day and a 20-30 minute walk on the alternate days.

 

[ishi]

@lushee_00 Try getting him a puzzle for the days at home like the Nina Ottosson puzzles (skip beginner) or more training sessions.

 

[lolasrobot]

@lushee_00 I would maybe add in 10-15 minutes of fetch into his schedule. I have a doodle, and he needs to get his sprinting in. The biting at that age is also a little concerning, I’m guessing the previous owners didn’t do anything to train him out of it. Unfortunately I don’t have any pointers for that.

 

[lushee_00]

@lolasrobot Is it okay to play fetch inside? He’s still working on his recall and his long line is only around 600 cm, he has a hard time sprinting in it

 

[laynson]

@lushee_00 Try flirt/prey pole it's minimal space friendly and intense fun for them

 

[laynson]

@lushee_00 Depending on where you live if you have a ranch supply store go and get yourself a lunge whip and tie a toy to the end of it (personally I use a strip of undyed leather instead)

 

[lolasrobot]

@lushee_00 If you're limited to inside, I would maybe try getting a good tug game going. You could also get a 20-25 yard long leash and find a nice open field, that's what we did while we worked on our dogs recall.

 

[kyfisher1]

@lushee_00 walking is great but all dogs need heavy exercise. rough play and running does the trick. most dogs need 45 minutes to an hour of heavy exercise daily to stay healthy.

 

[demetrius01]

@lushee_00 I was told walk them on the lead for 5 minutes for every month they’ve been alive. So a 5 month dog gets 20 mins. Then give them some yard time playing a ball etc. Interspersed with short blasts of training multiple times.

With the nipping, walk out the room, count to ten and come back in like nothing happened. Repeat. It’ll get worse for a minute then they’ll stop.

 

[kamienzen]

@lushee_00 Poodles are really intelligent dogs originally bred for retrieving ducks from water,so I would suggest doing something similar to this if you can as often as you can. Look into gun dog training methods to give you a start.
A 2 hour hike is probably a bit much for a 5 month old to be honest, instead mix up the walk with obedience training and the tricks to really work the mind. Breed specific training and mental stimulation are two things that in my opinion are often overlooked in dog ownership and will make a real difference in behaviour and your relationship with the dog. Most dogs want to work so let them work for all the good things,food,treats and play .