When do they..

S

spacelady

New member
When do ACDs officially outgrow their crazy puppiness?
My girl turns 11 months in 2 weeks, and she still acts like the crazy 9 week old pup that I got xD
She's got very selective hearing and doesn't always like to do as she's told, she loves jumping on people and no matter how consistent I am, she doesn't seem to get it, etc.
I love her to death, but after having the puppy craziness for 9 months, Im kind of over it xD
 
@spacelady You gotta do training with her. Serious training. Like dog classes

Absolutely must be crate trained

Regular structured exercise

Walk/runs in new areas

Scheduled feeding

Attention. Mine loves watching tv with us. But we have to wear him down with training and exercise

Negative reinforcement. My trainer has this altoids tin with pennies in it. Chance is terrified of that. He will drop whatever hes doing and sit if you shake it
 
@aubreyrose Yeah, she's done two sets of classes, I want to do more but the trainer we're going through won't start for abother month or so.

She's 100% crate trained.

Usually she has exercise, it's just hard with her spay. She was in heat previous to her spay which made it even harder. So she's going on 2 weeks without dog park runs and nice long walks.
 
@spacelady That's 100 percent why.

Chance calmed down around 6 months. But now and 3.5 if we skip activities or dont walk him enough he goes crazy

We walk him like an hour a day, plus ideally an hour in the yard. This is a work day. More on days off. Basically we walk him every morning before work. This doesn't ensure he will be behaving, but it helps. I run him a few times a week and we have him do sprints

If your acd isnt getting serious physical and mental activity every day they will be very very difficult
 
@aubreyrose Yeah, I've been trying to come up with fun activities for when it's too rainy to go on walks (she hates the rain xD).

Most days we do at least 2 hours of walking, several times a week I take her on a 3-5 hour walk.
 
@spacelady Keep on it, she’ll get there. ACDs are a super high energy breed so they have that puppy type energy for a long time but they are highly intelligent and will learn to mind you. Have you tried some training classes yet? Do some research and find a good one in your area, they’re typically not terribly expensive and may help you and her learn a lot.
 
@chefziti We've gone through two full classes for puppies.
She did really well.
It's not that she doesn't know what I want from her, she just wants to do it on her terms xD
 
@spacelady HAHAHAHA! That’s the perfect description of the breed! They are quite headstrong. My oldest likes to look you straight in the eyes after you give her a command and stare at you for a second so you KNOW she heard you but then slowly turns away and continues to ignore. God I love them though.
 
@chefziti Yep!! My girl likes to listen for half a second, then soon as my back is turned, she has ran off to get into trouble xD
And she knows she's not supposed to because she acts all happy as she does it.
They're definitely amazing dogs that's for sure!
 
@aubreyrose When not getting over a spay, she gets at least 5 walks a week. Usually two are several hours long.
We play tug a lot and do a lot of mini agility training (I have a tunnel that I make her race through).
Dog park runs were anywhere from 2 to 3 times a week.
 
@mbch Haha gotcha.
I call it her puppy brain.
I feel like she just has so much energy she just doesn't know what to do with it all.
She just got spayed so our days consist of lounging around and she hates it xD
 
@spacelady The one hard and fast rule for ACDs is a tired dog is a good dog :)

Forced rest for these guys can get crazy.

On the second or third day after getting fixed my guy got the zoomies which included leaping one couch and using the other as a launch pad to get onto the dining table.
 
@mbch Yeah, definitely!
She's got lots of things to chew on, but she just wants to go out and run.
I tried a small walk earlier this week but she kept rolling around in the grass that we had to cut it short, since I don't want her tearing her stitches.
 
@spacelady Ours are almost two and have calmed down quite a bit. I'd say to get her as much exercise as possible. Hours of hiking will calm ours down, but when they haven't gotten outside enough they're like loaded springs!
 
@spacelady Training, socialization with new people/new dogs, running them until they are EXHAUSTED (I take mine to a school early in the morning or later in the evening with a chuck-it, make sure they are completely empty without other dogs, and just run her for thirty minutes until she literally passes out she is so tired), daily walks, and LOTS of thinking toys. My dog is seven years old and she is just as energetic today as she was when she was a puppy. We JUST started training her with a trainer for some aggression issues, and that does help a lot!
 
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