buddys way to hyperactive

hi all . my dog buddy is just to hyperactive hes getting on for 7 months, he never stops , he gets walked at least once a day for an hour / hour and half , in the afternoon , and most nites has a 15 minute walk about 9 , but even when he gets back from his walk hes bouncing around being a bugger . Also he just cannot be calm in our living room , he just runs round the table and behind the setee like a mad head, untill it becomes the point where he gets a firm telling off and put in the kitchen to calm down . weve tried just ignoring him and turning away , weve tried a water spray , taking his toys away but nothing seems to work he doesnt learn , a few people have suggested having him neauted . what are people thoughts on this , has any one else had problems like this with there dogs .

cheers

Does he have a good run around off lead when out for a walk? May be an idea to split the walk into 2 walks. One in the morning of about half an hour then another later on for another half an hour. What does he eat? How much? How often? Sorry so many questions but have to get the bigger picture. Neutering can work for the calming effect but not always. May be an idea to talk to your veterinary about this though.

he has 2 eggs scammbled in the morning around half 7 , then at 2 he will have a feed then again at 5 , atm he has bakers complete , and when hes on a walk hes off the lead running about chasing his ball so has plenty of exercise

It could be his food or maybe you just have an energetic dog

He's still very young, and that is a major factor. Also, Bakers is a very low quality food. and has more additives than nutrients in it. I would most definitely change his food, and perhaps as well as his physical exercise, stimulate his brain as well as this is actually more tiring for them. Things like scent games, and seeking games are good ways to tire them out.

Can't say much more than above. Mentle stimulation can really help, lots of training, search games etc. I would say you need to split his walks imo anyway, but also add in the training. Defo swap foods, and remember he is 7 months its all about basic training. Patience, persistance and time

jakeyboi wrote:he has 2 eggs scammbled in the morning around half 7 , then at 2 he will have a feed then again at 5 , atm he has bakers complete , and when hes on a walk hes off the lead running about chasing his ball so has plenty of exercise

Oh, no, not Bakers!

Please change it over gradually to a better quality food. Bakers is absolutely full of artificial additives (flavouring/colouring etc). Try getting a fish based food (fish4dogs is quite a good one), without grain fillers - although I feed raw, I buy salmon & potato complete food to give Dempsey as treats. The eggs are fine, but shouldn't have butter added. A raw egg a couple of times a week would be good, too.

Also, he really ought to be walked at least twice a day, preferably 3 times. At 7 months he should probably be walked for about 30/40 minutes in the morning (to include some off lead play/ball chasing etc) and 30/40 minutes again in the late afternoon/evening. Then a short walk before bedtime is often good.

bakers is known to make dogs hyperactive because the food is designed to look tastey to humans. Dogs dont care what it looks or smells like so long as its food and they like it. The bakers has lots of colourings and addatives which any one with kids knows if you give a kid a can of coke or a a packet of smarties they are bouncing off the walls. gradualy cange his dinner to soemthing else and when he's been on his new dinner for a while see if theres a difference in his bhaviour. plus maybe throwing in an extra walk with some play time in it.

Agree with all above. Mental stimulation really helps to tire them out at that age.

ok thanks for all the advice , he sometimes has the eggs raw , but when there scrambled i dont add anything to it just whisk them up , what would people recomand for his food , id prefere to keep him on dry food as tins smell the house out and makes his poo runny ,

Just do a search for food there is a list of different ones available plus there will be posts about food types.

Sorry, just found this link for food recommendations.

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t598-dry-food-recommendations?highlight=dry+food+reccomendations

I had the same problem with my boy Chase for a little while. I upped him to 2 walks a day of at least an hour n a half each time, Plus added some mental stimulation, and his now as good as gold.

And like everyone's already said try to avoid bakers, my mate had his female staff on bakers and she was craaaazy hyperactive. Over a few weeks he switched her to james welbeloved (the same food i use) and within 2 months she had completely calmed down.

hi all , ive changed his food to something called 'wainwrights' and although its only been a week or 2 i can see a very slight change in his behavoiur all ready . cheers for all the help . also alot of people have mentioned mental simulation.. what is this

It's things like 'seek' where your dog has to use his senses to get a reward. Just hide some treats around the room and tell him to 'seek'. To start with you might have to point out one or two, but he'll soon get the hang of it!

jakeyboi wrote: alot of people have mentioned mental simulation.. what is this

Anything that requires them to use their mind - learning tricks, obedience exercises, scent work and so on. A part of this can also be teaching him to relax. For instance you can teach some version of a "go to mat" cue. I've done a lot of relaxation training with my guy who turns 9 months tomorrow and it really helps a LOT. I do clicker training and since this requires the dog to do lots of the training it's very effective at calming them down so I warmly recommend that way of training. You can read a bit about it here if you're interested: http://wrigglebutts.com/training/clickertraining/ If you want to try the clicker training you need to get a clicker and treats. The free clicker training class from http://www.canisclickertraining.com/ is a great way to start.

As for the relaxation training - this is what I've done with Gummi (after conditioning the clicker).
1) On leash relaxation: put puppy on a leash, give puppy enough leash to lie down comfortably but not get up. Step on the leash and ignore puppy when he tries to get up, but feel free to give attention and praise and even treats when puppy lies down
2) On bed/in crate training: get clicker and treats and puppy (on leash if necessary). Get out the bed(crate). When puppy looks at the bed - click and treat (C&T). Any interest in the bed = C&T but gradually increase the criteria so he has to approach the bed/touch the bed and so on. It can be helpful to toss the treats on the bed so he has to get on it to eat them. Soon you'll only C&T for going onto the bed - now start rewarding sitting down/lying down on the bed. Once he's lying down on the bed start C&T only when he's resting his chin on the ground/his paw or he rolls onto his side and any other more relaxed positions. Reward "average and better". Gradually increase the time he has to lie down before he's rewarded. If he moves from the bed before getting a treat but immediately goes back it's good to C&T immediately. With a little training you'll be able to do this while you're watching TV (have the clicker and treats handy and watch the dog out of the corner of your eye). I've done this with two dog beds, the couch and the crate for Gummi + one area of the floor.
3) General relaxation: C&T for any relaxed behavior like lying down on the floor or outside on leash when you're standing still for some reason. For example when I'm dicing chicken for dinner and Gummi lies down I'll mark this (I use my marker word "good" that's been taught in the same way as the clicker when I need both my hands like when I'm cooking, it's a little less effective than the clicker but works well) and treat him. Either I'll toss a bit of whatever I'm chopping or I'll have treats handy. Generally I do both. Now we've finally reached the point where I'll sometimes forget he's there as he'll just lie down and when I'm doing stuff in the kitchen! Took time - but SO worth it.

Good advice Ane

My boy Vinnie completely ruined my Christmas Day yesterday. I took him to my sisters as usual (she has a staffy and a greyhound cross). He usually tears around mad for about 10 mins then calms down but yesterday he was just like a mad dog. He flew around the house at 100 mph, knocking everything over, jumping all over the furniture and even jumped on the coffee table and scratched it. He's a really solid strong dog and I just could not control him at all. He nearly pulled me over when I grabbed his collar. I had to drive him all the way home after driving an hour to get there. As soon as I got home he crashed out on the sofa!! And I spent xmas day on my own!