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Simon is half border collie, and when we got him from the rescue, all he did was pace. I think that is just part of the breed. He also paces when he is nervous. Since we don't crate, what we did was get him a nice bed and put it under my desk. It is nice and dark there and he feels comfortable. For many years, he slept with us, but now he sleeps under the desk. When we travel, we have a soft bed/crate that has a top so he still feels secure. During the summer, he sleeps outside all day under the bushes, so I think most dogs have a comfort level with having an enclosure.
I'll just keep trying and see if more exercise durng the day helps. I haven't taken him for a long walk in a while--only short ones.
Young dogs need a LOT of exercise. If he's pacing, it's probably because he is bored and restless. I'm taking care of a young dog for a friend, and the dog walks several miles a day. Every other day I take her on a long walk/run through the woods and on trails and we do about 4-5 miles. She is 5 months old, and believe me, this dog could easily do 10 miles a day. Her legs are short and she zig-zags and run circles around me. Dogs are made to run. A good dog is a tired one!
the cute white house dog, also does that, 10pm, or later, puppy is full of engery, playing ball,
and all is meant to be lights out! I once did babysit an older shelter dog, when we were sleeping, or
trying, it was up down, so glad to see the owners. Maybe the dog has engery, and needs to!
They also have, this calm the dog scent, it did not a thing for this dog. Maybe talk to the vet, when
your dog goes. The white house dog, and all puppys, and dogs! OK we had are nap, did eat, now lets go!
Last edited by maggiekate; 04-30-2009 at 07:00 PM..
The puppy is bored! It has a large fenced in yard but nobody to play with in it so it lays..in the house it paces waiting for someone to throw a ball...or something..anything. It's a puppy it needs interaction. It can't go from laying outdoors and expect to lay indoors too.
We have a Border Collie and this is what we have realized, (and it totally fixed that "walking and walking" you are referring to). Our Lucy considers herself a part of our family. That is her nature. Once I put a blanket or dog bed in the room we were all "hanging out" in, she would join us. Maybe not lay and rest but definitely a safe place to be. Similar her crate. What I specifically did was I made her her own blanket that folds into a bed. She knows she is NOT allowed on the furniture but when her blanket is there, she knows she has permission and can sit with her family and watch TV for instance. I hope this helps you. We had the same problem and this fixed it for us. Good luck.
Breed makes a difference, for any new reader with the same problem. My son had a field bred springer spaniel and the dog had so much energy that he couldn't sit still. He'd circle around and around all day. We just ignored his restlessness. It was who he was.
Wyatt McRiot was worse. His circling involved running at high speed, sliding across floors and crashing into walls. It's his breed and you can't change a dog's basic nature. Fortunately, he has settled a bit with age. Now he does a high speed circuit through the house, out the dog door and back once an hour or so. Then occasionally he sleeps, but mostly he sits with his attention focused on me, hoping I will do something interesting. Unfortunately, his breed has no reluctance about staring, so I get the "obey me livestock" hard stare, which I ignore. If I were a cow, though, I'd be moving where he wanted me.
Also for any new readers of this old thread, walking is not exercise for high energy dogs. For such dogs walking is pretty much akin to sleeping. And merely letting them outside is also akin to sleeping unless they are devoted diggers which you prolly don't want in your back yard. Wandering around outside sniffing here and there is nothing. They need real and engaged exercise for both body and mind...running, agility, fetching, herding, running, hunting, fetching, trick training, running, fetching and so on and so forth...for several separate periods of up to one hour each every single day. That's right. No lie.
Imagine a dog with all sorts of energy rumbling around inside his body just itching for an outlet. Pacing? Walking around continually looking for something to do? You betcha. And you're darn fortunate if walking around looking for something to do is all the dog does in an effort to rid himself of that pent up energy. Oh yeah.
The OP has a great dog IMO. Very considerate.
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This is what we did...
