# mini exercise needs: if it weren't for the beach i couldn't cope



## taem

Sydney (female mini) is just over 6 months now and her desire for energetic activity is increasing to stupid levels. If she were one of those dogs who will fetch all day long that would be an outlet, but she's sort of hit and miss about that. I don't walk her too much right now anyway because she's not fully grown, but I doubt walking would put much of a dent in her energy level anyway.

Bottom line, I really need other dogs and an open leash free area for her to get her activity in. Without that I don't know what I'd do. I'm an out of shape middle aged man, I can't be running around with her for hours on end, I'd die. Plus I smoke.

So I take her to the beach everyday, it's pleasant for me, very fun for her, but it's not just fun and games, I NEED that beach and dogs there that will entertain Sydney. Doesn't have to be a beach -- what I need is a wide open area and lots of other dogs. But the dog park here is crap and the regional parks and trails are non stop poison oak, foxtail, and tics and fleas. I often also go to neighbor's houses that have dogs, but most dogs around here are adults who don't play like Sydney wants to play.

Here's what she needs a good dose of, every morning, we're usually there 1-2 hours:






And I have to add a fetch session, a wrestling/tug/chase-the-toy session, maybe visit a neighbor with a dog, and an evening walk. Without about that much, Sydney will go bonkers. Luckily this is fun most of the time. But it is a HUUUUUUGE time committment. I joke that my sister doesn't have to spend this much time on my nieces but I'm not sure that's inaccurate.

So how do you guys cope with these crazy mammals? What is your mini's daily exercise routine look like? I was warned that minis are high energy and I'd better be prepared, but it's only beginning to really dawn on me how big an issue this is. And Sydney is not even considered high energy, her breeder rated her about middle of the road.

Maybe I'm doing too much and teaching her to be all amped up and hyper? But if I don't do as much as I am doing, she does things like rest her head between her paws and sigh and whine, and start running in circles with a grim look on her face, digs everywhere with the intensity of a dog in heat humping, and makes me feel like a terrible human.


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## fjm

It does get better - I reckon with small dogs the need for energy dissipation peaks around 12 - 24 months, and around 18 months you can work on brain games for at least half the time!


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## Joelly

Taem, I feel for you. Sidney is a fire ball. But she will grow up and hopefully grow out of it. Training and agility classes will help her focus that energy I hope. 

Have you look around for a doggy day care? 

I hope you find something for Sidney to spend her energy on.


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## Locket

Firstly, I LOVE your dog! 

Secondly, I do not envy you! I think you are enabling her energy level. Rather than solely giving her an outlet for her physical energy, put that energy to good use and work her brain! 

I'm not sure what obedience she knows already, but one way you can work her brain is to work on down stays with distractions while at the beach. Let her run like a nut for a half hour or so, and then work on her focusing on you, down stays while other dogs are around, recalls out of a play session, and so on. 
Once she is old enough to participate in dog sports, you might want to jump into some classes right away. I bet she'd be a star!

The doggy day care suggestion is a great idea too.


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## schnauzerpoodle

I think puppies (all dogs in general) need BOTH off-leash playtime and on-leash walks. The more you let him/her run crazy, the more s/he is able to do so the next week and till you can't stand it. S/he will get too excitable, too aroused and will have difficulty to focus when you need her to.

Exercise her brain. Put her on schedule. Train her to stay calm/stay by your foot when you watch TV.

When Nickel was 6 months old, I took him for an on-leash walk (15 mins) in the morning. Fed him and then did a 10-minute clicker session. And then he's crated while I was at work. A potty break during lunch time at our potty spot on the balcony. A little cuddling and another 10-minute clicker session and then back in the crate for another 4.5 hrs. Then it's a one-hour off-leash frisbee session when I got off work. That's when he fetched his frisbee and played with his friends. Then we went for a 10-minute on-leash walk around the block. He's tired but not too tired for some loose leash walking. We practiced loose leash walking, watching, sit/down-stay and then we went home for dinner. No rough housing when inside the house. He zoomed a bit before bedtime.

He needed less off-leash frisbee time starting around 10 months. After about 40 mins, he came back to me and pointed at his leash. And we started to go for longer walks. Now he's 2.5 yrs old, he's happy with 20-30 mins non-stop frisbee playtime and he goes jogging with my husband before bedtime. Now I work from home so we go for a 3-5 miles walk in the morning.


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## taem

I do worry I am enabling manic energy.

Training sessions don't seem to burn her energy at all. We're only doing basic things though, like extending/challenging the stay, leave its on high value items, and not pulling on leash when she sees a cat. Maybe I need to work on some tricks or something.

Getting her to calm/quiet is easy, if I stop moving so does she. Even at the beach if I start walking away she will leave whoever she's playing with and follow. On leash, if I stop walking she sits by my feet. At home if I sit she lies down near me and doesn't move. That's actually one of the problems -- for her to burn energy, I need to engage her, or there has to be a dog around she can play with -- she never plays on her own.

I hadn't thought about doggie day care. For one thing it costs money.


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## Joelly

taem said:


> I hadn't thought about doggie day care. For one thing it costs money.


It does. I'm trying to persuade DH to spend it.


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## schnauzerpoodle

How about getting her some puzzle games?


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## Lily's-Mom

She seems to be having such a good time. She is a cutie for sure. I don't understand what benefit doggie daycare would have other than freeing up the time you spend with Sydney. I agree that some free time is needed, but some on leash time is important too. She can't always be running like that. I think Sydney should have a variety of playtimes, some more quiet. Do you do regular walks with her and/or any training? Lily is a few years old, but still gets the zoomies and runs around like a maniac (in the yard and inside the house, LOL) and loves to play fetch, but still can play on her own - she loves the busy ball with treats in it - and on the leash she's really well mannered. So hopefully Sydney will calm down a bit as she grows up.


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## Indiana

Oh how I know what you're going through! My Maddy is like that, altho she is a standard. Her sister is athletic, but in a pinch she is okay to play in the yard and fetch and whatnot; not Maddy! She is a Tasmanian devil in the house if she doesn't get a good couple of hours of really active play per day. Here are a couple of things that saved my sanity. 1) playdates! If you have a friend with a dog that puts up with Sidney, see if you can borrow their dog for a couple of hours and maybe they will take Sidney sometimes if they have a secure, safe yard to play in; 2) daycare! Yes, it costs money but they come home tired! 3) good healthy chewies, like raw bones or bullies, or those treat puzzle toys. Put really tasty treats in them so Sidney really, really wants to get them out. It will keep her busy for a while and it's exercise. 4) groom her at the end of the day, it's tiring for her, establishes a settle down period in the evening and it will keep her looking great. Also you can check for ticks every day that way. 5) Lots of obedience lessons; it tires them out and helps them to be great dogs after a while. And lastly, I've only had one high-energy dog but Maddy settled down big-time when she reached a year old, so that's my hope for Sidney too! Hang in there! Sidney's going to be an excellent dog when she grows up


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## taem

Well today we went to the beach as usual. At lunch we played fetch. Around dinnertime we had a training session (impulse control, which she needs badly, we worked on on not tugging at the leash when she sees something she wants using a neighbor's cat). And then I walked her about 3 miles. (I was actually worried it's too much for a 6.5 month old.)

At about 8.00 she was running in circles around the yard like a maniac. :\

I think I must be doing something wrong. Because if all minis were this way no one would have them.



schnauzerpoodle said:


> How about getting her some puzzle games?


I got her some Nina Ottosson and similarly styled games. She either figures it out fast and then it doesn't do much for her, or she gets frustrated and mad and just wants to wreck the thing.



Indiana said:


> 1) playdates! If you have a friend with a dog that puts up with Sidney, see if you can borrow their dog for a couple of hours and maybe they will take Sidney sometimes if they have a secure, safe yard to play in;


She gets plenty of playdates, several times a week, though most of the dogs are older and don't play the way she wants. Trudy at 12 years is a gamer but at some point she gets enough of Sydney's ways:






Some of the dogs on the street want nothing to do with Sydney. Wonder why. :| She gets plenty of play with other dogs on the beach though.



> 3) good healthy chewies, like raw bones or bullies, or those treat puzzle toys. Put really tasty treats in them so Sidney really, really wants to get them out. It will keep her busy for a while and it's exercise.


She never does a sustained chewing of anything, 10 minutes tops and then she wants to bury it. She's not into Kongs at all. Only thing she'll go at longer than 10 minutes is a marrow bone or my mom's shoes. :| Treat dispensing balls work really well though, she goes bonkers for those things, I have like half a dozen different ones.



> 4) groom her at the end of the day, it's tiring for her, establishes a settle down period in the evening and it will keep her looking great. Also you can check for ticks every day that way.


I do groom her every night, to check for fleas and tics like you said, and also lately with her big Tina Turner hair she gets tangled real fast. But she seems to get amped up when I brush her out, she almost always insists on playtime after a grooming. She almost seems mad that I brushed her, she'll often clamp down on my sleeve and glare at me until I play with her. It's really weird, my toy poodles that was their favorite thing getting brushed, they would beg endlessly to be brushed but with Syd she just seems resigned to it and determined to get paid for her cooperation.


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## Huxtable

Great thread with a lot of good suggestions... and like others I definitely understand, poodles can have a lot of energy at times!

As you and someone else stated, seems like you may be enabling her just a bit. From what I've seen, read, and experienced you have to sorta treat a dog the way you want them to be... so if you give her endless hours each day to go bozonkers then she'll "learn" to expect that and will continue to expect it...

You mentioned Sydney not chewing on bones for more than 10 minutes... I'd encourage you to try different types and kinds. My guy is particular too, certain chews/bones he'll spend hours on while others may only get 3.5 minutes, lol... try different shapes from the traditional bone to other types... different flavors _(while trying to keep them as natural as possible)_

Long walks can calm even the most energetic dogs down. And that's usually the solution... it was with my sisters dog who is very hyper. When she started to take him on regularly scheduled long walks his temperament calmed down immensely and he always took a loooong nap afterwards. Taking long walks is usually the solution they give on all he dog tv shows too, lol. 

Also, poodles are so smart that they'll entertain themselves. Sometimes I'll spread several of Hux's toys and bones on the floor while I'm doing work or watching tv and he'll throughly entertain himself in different ways: he'll line up all the toys side by side in different parts of the room, he'll play fetch with himself... literally throwing around his bone then going after it, lol, then after awhile he'll use one of the plush toys as a pillow while he works on a bone... then he's knocked out. Poodle minds are quite wondrous if you give them the tools they'll figure it out, lol. 

Love the videos btw!


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## Tonjad

I love your videos! and I too feel your pain ! I did not realize how much energy these guys have ! I had Merlin for 3 wks until I got Sofia--he like to have run my 8 yr old Great Dane to death.......but once I got his littermate --wallah! problem solved. They run at full speed in my extra large yard, they tumble,wrestle and play all kinds of funny games . The only problem I have now is just keeping them clean. They do the same in the house to but once they get to rowdy I send them out ! So I really don't have any real good advice if it isn't possible for you to acquire another young dog...but it worked for me ! But everyone says they do slow down around a year old or so and I am looking forward to that too!


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## ArreauStandardPoodle

I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but just wanted to tell you...she is frigging adorable! And your videos are fantastic. They totally capture her personality. What a stinker!


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## zyrcona

What a nice video, and what a cheerful little dog. 

Some suggestions:

Take up agility (although you may have to wait until she's older -- my agility club won't let dogs under a year attend, but that's standard-sized dogs, so it might vary). You don't have to be particularly agile yourself for your dog to participate. I am not young any more and can't really run properly because of disabilities, and I can still do agility with my dog. I don't think obedience would wear her out, as I have a dog a bit like this who likes to be crazy, and I do take her to obedience and she just fidgets and acts manic there, and goes batsh*t insane in a field when I let her out of the car upon arriving home.

I assume you don't want another dog right now, but consider fostering a slightly older dog who is accepting of other dogs. The dog would not be a permanent addition and will give her someone else to play with until she calms down a bit.


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## Sawyersmomma

That video of her was adorable!!
My spoo is like that too, but I found biking with him does wonders. He's on a leash but still has to run as fast as he can. It's not too hard for the person, and the dog gets a great workout. I only have to run Sawyer maybe 1.5 miles and he's exhausted. It takes less than 20 minutes. I do it twice a day and it seems pretty good. Still play around with him randomly in the day, but the majority of his crazy energy is gone.


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## annadee

Sawyersmomma said:


> That video of her was adorable!!
> My spoo is like that too, but I found biking with him does wonders. He's on a leash but still has to run as fast as he can. It's not too hard for the person, and the dog gets a great workout. I only have to run Sawyer maybe 1.5 miles and he's exhausted. It takes less than 20 minutes. I do it twice a day and it seems pretty good. Still play around with him randomly in the day, but the majority of his crazy energy is gone.


I agree, biking with your dog is an awesome way to tire them out!!! In Max's younger crazy days, this was what we'd do to let out his energy before guests came over. He was out like a light for the rest of the day! (We biked for 20-45 minutes).


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## Sawyersmomma

Actually, I guess for mini's they don't have to be as careful about exercise as standards at a young age, right?


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## taem

I do plan on adding a dog to the household, just a question of when, hopefully they will get along and exercise one another lol, let me get back to being lazy.

Sydney's breeder told me that over stimulating a puppy would result in neurotic frenzied activity as much as understimulating, so I'm thinking I'm not getting the balance right.

But finding that balance is hard because if I am not engaging her directly Sydney lies down and goes to sleep. If I'm at my desk all day, she will lie at my feet and sleep/sigh all day.

So I'm curious -- how does your mini's daily schedule look? How much sleep does s/he get? Particularly the puppies out there, or if you remember your mini's schedule as a puppy.


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## caroline429

taem said:


> But finding that balance is hard because if I am not engaging her directly Sydney lies down and goes to sleep. If I'm at my desk all day, she will lie at my feet and sleep/sigh all day.


Maybe you're reading too much into those sighs?  Maybe she is sighing with contentment being near you?  Personally, I'd celebrate the fact she is not moving! LOL

My Cali (9 months) is exactly like your Sydney. Watching your video is like watching Cali at the dog park. She's full out, non-stop. She drives most of the other dogs nuts wanting to play so much, even other puppies. The only dog that ever had the same energy level as her was an 11-month old Malinois!

When we do go to the dog park, which isn't every day, I have to limit her to 1/2 an hour. On one occasion when she was around 7 months old, I forgot my watch and stayed for an hour. Cali ran herself so hard playing with the other dogs that she was quite stiff later in the day. 

When I first got her at 4 months, her energy almost drove me insane. I spent most of the day trying to play with her, exercise her, divert her, anything to stop her moving! After a few months of this, I finally snapped. LOL 

I decided then and there that she was going to fit into my schedule instead of the other way around. I stopped trying to burn off all the energy because she doesn't seem to have an off button anyway. I stopped feeling guilty abut not being able to amuse her constantly. She gets enough exercise to keep her healthy and enough mental stimulation to keep her challenged and the rest of the time, if I'm busy, I expect her to amuse herself. I do have a life too. LOL 

She gets a 45-minute walk (actually a trot because she doesn't walk anywhere LOL) first thing every morning. She usually sleeps for about an hour or so after we come back. When she wakes up, she'll play by herself. 
Occasionally she'll have a play date with another dog or she'll go to the dog park but this isn't an every day occurrence. 

When she comes to me with a ball she wants me to throw or a toy to play tug, if I'm busy, I ignore her. If she persists with bugging me, she gets a verbal reprimand. I found ignoring her did her the world of good. She found ways to amuse herself. She has a ton of toys, lots of things to chew on (a deer antler and a pizzle being her favorites) a yard to hunt bugs and squirrels in and lots of windows to look out of. Don't get me wrong, I do often play with her, but not every single time she wants me to. As long as she isn't chewing on something of mine, I don't worry if she wants to zoom around the house and fling her toys everywhere.

Later in the afternoon, I take her for another 45 minute walk and then usually brush her right after her walk. She has a class of some type one evening a week. Usually by about 8:30 she's up on the couch, either watching TV with me or just hanging out having her belly rubbed. She goes out again before bed and then she's asleep for the night.

As to the total amount of time she spends sleeping, I'd say it's about 4 or 5 hours during day, another hour or so on the couch in the evening and then 8 hours at night. When she's sleeping during the day, it's by no means a deep sleep, she's instantly up if something interesting is going on. If I have to go out during the day, she's in her xpen with a peanut butter stuffed Kong and a safe chewie of some kind. I'm sure when the Kong is finished, she probably goes to sleep so I guess on those days she sleeps more.

She is much, much easier to live with now. I honestly don't know if it was the ignoring her sometimes and insisting she fit into my schedule that did it or if she's just settled down a bit now she's 9 months old. I do feel your pain though, LOL, Cali was about the age of your pup when I finally snapped!


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## Indiana

Interesting about the overstimulation being as detrimental as understimulation, I never thought of that. Ours are standards but Maddy has so much energy, I feel the same as you...if they were all like her, no one would ever want a poodle! I take them for a 5 k run in the mornings, except for every once in a while when I decide to rest my legs when I take them for a 6 or 7 k bike ride, during which they run flat out. When we get home, I get ready for work then groom them, feed them, and they have a 3 hour nap. Then when they get up, they're freaking out with energy again! But the rest of the day, their only exercise is playing in our grassy back yard because I have to watch their feet. Maddy's pawpads get worn down by so much running with me. Anyway one thing I think you'll notice is that when they get out of the puppy stage, they calm down a lot. Now, when ours are wrestling inside and making a lot of noise (thumping against walls and such) I put them outside and after 10 minutes of frantic chasing each other and tackling, they are ready to come back inside for a little nap. SOOOOO much better than when they were pups!


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## annadee

Indiana said:


> Interesting about the overstimulation being as detrimental as understimulation, I never thought of that. Ours are standards but Maddy has so much energy, I feel the same as you...if they were all like her, no one would ever want a poodle! I take them for a 5 k run in the mornings, except for every once in a while when I decide to rest my legs when I take them for a 6 or 7 k bike ride, during which they run flat out. When we get home, I get ready for work then groom them, feed them, and they have a 3 hour nap. Then when they get up, they're freaking out with energy again! But the rest of the day, their only exercise is playing in our grassy back yard because I have to watch their feet. Maddy's pawpads get worn down by so much running with me. Anyway one thing I think you'll notice is that when they get out of the puppy stage, they calm down a lot. Now, when ours are wrestling inside and making a lot of noise (thumping against walls and such) I put them outside and after 10 minutes of frantic chasing each other and tackling, they are ready to come back inside for a little nap. SOOOOO much better than when they were pups!


Just curious of the wearing of the pads, do you run with your spoos on concrete?


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## Joelly

I second annadee about the pads. It actually can worn out (?). I'm curious.

When Charlie sits and sighs next to me, I just pet his head and tell him its ok, let's be lazy today.


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## oceanrose

Minis, and poodles in general are definitely high energy. Especially puppies.

When Ramses was that age, I found he would run himself out so much, he'd spend one day a week just sleeping and hanging out. (normally it was Tuesday). And that was with getting most of his exercise inside a townhouse (most of it through retrieving).

His days now at 1 year old go like this:

Sleep till 9:00 (I am not a morning person, he is not a morning dog). Get up, go outside in the yard for freetime with my other dogs while I garden or clean the house. Then he comes in, we do a quick training session, and if I have nothing planned we hang out. He normally goes back to sleep (just like Sydney at your feet) while I work.

In the afternoon, normally we play some (ok an hour or more) of fetch, or if I'm too busy he spends his time pushing his tennis ball into things, dropping it off furniture, and occasionally getting it stuck somewhere so I have to rescue it. 

Most evenings we go to the beach for a 3-4 mile walk. He's on a 50 foot line there, and spends his time tracking and then trying to catch seagulls. I have NO idea how many miles he covers at a run, but I would seriously guess 6-10. 

On days that it's rainy, he's fine to snooze most of the day, chewing a raw bone for his main activity and a few fetch games. 

One thing I have noticed with him, is the more active I am, the more active he is. I have NEVER seen him give up on a beach walk, even though sometimes we'd go twice, and spend several hours each time. I've never seen him give up on any activity, he would go till he dropped. But, at the same time, I think he's happy to sleep too, puppies do need their sleep. 

The biggest difference between him now, and at Sydney's age, is that when I was sick with a horrible cold/flu and stayed in bed for 3 days a couple weeks ago, he was content to sleep with me, and chew his bones. He knew I was sick and didn't feel good. They day I felt better though I woke up with a tennis ball on my face and a poodle smiling over me lol.


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## oceanrose

Double post.


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