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Hi!
As many of you know, I am expecting twins in June. I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, but both babies are nearing 4 pounds, so I’m basically full term physically. My Doberman, Colt, turned 3 in January. He’s an excellent dog, we have multiple titles in a variety of venues including Obedience and Rally. His training is not really an issue. His energy level, however, is becoming a problem as I get bigger (and bigger… and bigger…) and less active.
He is a typical Doberman in almost every way. He needs a job and he thrives on direction and praise.
Now that I’m not taking him to class every week and not as active outside with him, he’s a bottled-up, never-ending juggernaut of undirected energy. He is driving me crazy. He runs through the house like he’s never been indoors. I cue “down” and he’s flat on the floor immediately, but as soon as I ask for something else (place, heel, crate, etc) to move him from wherever he down’d, he’s executing the behavior like a fire was lit under him. If anything is between him and his place or him and his crate, he just bulldozes through it, even if it’s me or my son or the other dog. He has no slow mode. He’s either in a cued down-stay or he’s running wild.
I know he’s craving more interaction and he’s trying his hardest to make me happy. But I’m at the end of my patience with the running, bulldozing, and go-go-go he has right now.
The most frustrating thing is that he knows how to behave. He has manners. And he’s a very well-behaved dog when he’s calm. He was raised alongside my son (he came home at 14 weeks when my son was 10 months old) and he’s normally very aware of his body and doesn’t knock into people. Yesterday he almost knocked me down coming out of his crate. The only reason I didn’t fall was because he knocked me into the TV stand and I sat down on it instead of falling in the floor.
I used to take him to CD classes weekly in addition to spending 30-60 minutes in the yard with him every evening doing activities like scentwork, mock rally courses, or just obedience drills. We also went to the park every week or so and did long sniffy walks on the trails. He truly thrives on work.
I know I built him this way since he was a puppy, but I would have sworn he had a good off-switch… until I couldn’t maintain that level of daily activity with him. He could lay on his place or settle in the floor and he’d sleep when I was busy inside. But now even when I put him on his place he gets up every few minutes and whines when I tell him to lay down.
He wants to be touching me 24/7, too. And I feel bad telling him to go away, but I’m exhausted and he’s very large. He isn’t happy to just lay in the bed or on the couch with me anymore, he wants to be right on me. I’m sure part of it is my hormones and part of it is the reduction in active training and that combined had made him very clingy.
I’m sure after the twins are born we will be getting more active again and I’ll be able to move and breathe well enough to spend more time with him in the yard. But for now we are both miserable and I’d like to help him chill out so that I can also chill out. I hate getting onto him, he melts into a sad little puddle if I ever raise my voice. But sometimes he’s doing tornado spins in the kitchen or something and I have to shout to make him stop (this is also a safety issue, he’s banged his head into the doorframe more than once while doing these psycho spins).
How do I give him an energy outlet to bring him back down to a manageable level that lets his brain come back online?
Any other tips for this season of our life?
Thanks, everyone!
As many of you know, I am expecting twins in June. I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, but both babies are nearing 4 pounds, so I’m basically full term physically. My Doberman, Colt, turned 3 in January. He’s an excellent dog, we have multiple titles in a variety of venues including Obedience and Rally. His training is not really an issue. His energy level, however, is becoming a problem as I get bigger (and bigger… and bigger…) and less active.
He is a typical Doberman in almost every way. He needs a job and he thrives on direction and praise.
Now that I’m not taking him to class every week and not as active outside with him, he’s a bottled-up, never-ending juggernaut of undirected energy. He is driving me crazy. He runs through the house like he’s never been indoors. I cue “down” and he’s flat on the floor immediately, but as soon as I ask for something else (place, heel, crate, etc) to move him from wherever he down’d, he’s executing the behavior like a fire was lit under him. If anything is between him and his place or him and his crate, he just bulldozes through it, even if it’s me or my son or the other dog. He has no slow mode. He’s either in a cued down-stay or he’s running wild.
I know he’s craving more interaction and he’s trying his hardest to make me happy. But I’m at the end of my patience with the running, bulldozing, and go-go-go he has right now.
The most frustrating thing is that he knows how to behave. He has manners. And he’s a very well-behaved dog when he’s calm. He was raised alongside my son (he came home at 14 weeks when my son was 10 months old) and he’s normally very aware of his body and doesn’t knock into people. Yesterday he almost knocked me down coming out of his crate. The only reason I didn’t fall was because he knocked me into the TV stand and I sat down on it instead of falling in the floor.
I used to take him to CD classes weekly in addition to spending 30-60 minutes in the yard with him every evening doing activities like scentwork, mock rally courses, or just obedience drills. We also went to the park every week or so and did long sniffy walks on the trails. He truly thrives on work.
I know I built him this way since he was a puppy, but I would have sworn he had a good off-switch… until I couldn’t maintain that level of daily activity with him. He could lay on his place or settle in the floor and he’d sleep when I was busy inside. But now even when I put him on his place he gets up every few minutes and whines when I tell him to lay down.
He wants to be touching me 24/7, too. And I feel bad telling him to go away, but I’m exhausted and he’s very large. He isn’t happy to just lay in the bed or on the couch with me anymore, he wants to be right on me. I’m sure part of it is my hormones and part of it is the reduction in active training and that combined had made him very clingy.
I’m sure after the twins are born we will be getting more active again and I’ll be able to move and breathe well enough to spend more time with him in the yard. But for now we are both miserable and I’d like to help him chill out so that I can also chill out. I hate getting onto him, he melts into a sad little puddle if I ever raise my voice. But sometimes he’s doing tornado spins in the kitchen or something and I have to shout to make him stop (this is also a safety issue, he’s banged his head into the doorframe more than once while doing these psycho spins).
How do I give him an energy outlet to bring him back down to a manageable level that lets his brain come back online?
Any other tips for this season of our life?
Thanks, everyone!
