Puppies and "Normal" Energy levels...

[Beatrice]

:confused:

Our puppy Beatrice is about 5 1/2 months now. She's really quite a character. She LOVES meeting people (going up to them, giving kisses, etc) and is always trying to play "pounce" with most of all the dogs she meets. When we went to puppy traing classes, she is easily distractable...when go somewhere new she seems to bouncing off the wall so much so that after she finished, she's panting really hard and we're concerned that she overexerted herself.

Beatrice goes to sleep at about 9 pm and wakes up at about 6:30 am. Most of the time, we go for early morning walks (about 15-30 minutes) and sometimes walks in the evening as well. I know puppies sleep a lot (and she DOES!) and when they wake up, they're a bundle full of energy.

The question for me is when is it regular puppy energy and when is it something that I should be concerned about?

Thanks,

Liz, J and Beatrice

[Hudson]

Just for comparison, Tank is very similar to your dog; he loves to meet people and other dogs (even one either don't like puppies or just like to eat small animals). He will play hard and then suddenly shift to super-toughguy-dog until someone moves towards the kitchen and then he is a tracking dog.

He will calm down pretty quick if you move onto the sofa, are wearing shorts and let him nestle between your legs.

Our breeder told us our puppy had a laidback personality, so yours sounds pretty normal to me.

[Borgan]

When we brought Luna home, all she did was sleep for the first few days, with intervals of eating, pouncing on toys, and pooping all over our house.
It's normal!!! Whatever their age, as long as they are eating, drinking, having normal bodily functions and playing/being active for a few 15 -20 minutes intervals throughout the day, there is nothing to be concerned about (except weird lumps).

[piper's~mom]

Beatrice

What you're describing sounds like what's happening at my house.

Piper alternates between sleeping, eating, peeing/pooping and playing!

He'll wake up, play like he's possessed and 20 minutes later pass out like he's climbed Everest. The other night he punished his birdie for its multiple sins. He was so exhausted he fell asleep in a sitting position with his head smushed into the pillow (hard to describe, but it looked hillarious and very uncomfortable).

Sounds like you have a normal, happy puppy.

[frenchielove]

Piper alternates between sleeping, eating, peeing/pooping and playing! He'll wake up, play like he's possessed and 20 minutes later pass out like he's climbed Everest. The other night he punished his birdie for its multiple sins.
piper's~mom I have to laugh at that :lol: :lol: :lol:

Our girl sounds just like that. She loves to pounce and go after the other dogs. She shakes them up and when they go to retaliate she runs under the recliner to hide... then all of a sudden you see a little cream bullet dodge across the living room straight towards the couch and bounces off the side of it. She's too small to jump on it... thank god the couch is soft where she's bouncing off. Who knew a French Bulldog could run so fast... Then back she goes to bother the bigger older dogs or play with all the toys and stuff.... Thank God I have one boy who enjoys the crap out of her and they play, play and play, he tires her out a lot. After about 30 minutes she starts looking for her water so we put her up in her expen, she drinks, plays a little by herself and takes a nap. An hour later she's ready to go again. She has too much energy for her own good and is always ready to go. I don't feel there's anything wrong with her, she's just far from being a lazy or laid back type of dog... My 8yr old is like that, she's not a Frenchie, but nonetheless, you would think by 8ys old she'd be calmer and she's not... but yet I have a 10yr old Am Staff boy who sleeps all day and has never touched a toy in his life, super, super lazy dog ever since he was a puppy. Every dog is different.

Your dog sounds like a normal 5½ month old :)

[Beatrice]

Great!!! We do have a happy, healthy, and affectionate puppy! WOO HOO!!! Now all we have to do is train her to behave when around company.

We have a young nephew (3 yo) who would love to play we her, but the problem is she gets so excited, she tries to jump at him. Most of them time it's fine, but sometimes he gets scared of her. The same thing happened when we were out walking yesterday. Some girls wanted to pet her, and Beatrice got excited. It was ok at first, ears when down signalling "pet me...PET ME :p !!!", but after a while, she started jumping up at them. They were older, so they didn't mind, but still...

Any ideas on how to get her from jumping up at people?

[gmacleod]

The best way to stop jumping (which is a perfectly natural behaviour for a pup - they all do it) is to teach an alternative behaviour instead. Sitting is ideal - that's exactly what you'd prefer the pup to do when people pet her.

Thing is, it takes a bit of time and practice to convince the puppy that that's a more effective way of getting attention ;)

The best way to teach it is to start with yourself and family members. Ask your pup to sit before she ever gets any attention from you. If you consistently ignore her (walk away, if necessary) when she's jumping or pushing, and only ever give her attention when she sits for it, then she will start to realise that sitting is a more effective way of getting attention. Once she's ready to offer that behaviour rather than jumping, it's time to start practising with other people. Thing is, that means that the other people have to cooperate - they must ignore the dog too, unless it's sitting. And there's always some annoying person who "doesn't mind" and manages to undo all your good training (LOL) - so you have to be firm with them!

It is very helpful if you can get a friends or family members who don't live with you to come over and "practice" greeting your pup. They can come over and "arrive" a dozen times or so. Put your pup on a leash and make her sit for each arrival (stand on her leash to stop her jumping up, if necessary). If she gets up and tries to jump, the "guest" must ignore the dog. No speaking to her, no eye contact even - she doesn't exist unless that butt is on the floor. And when she sits nicely, she can be greeted and petted. Of course, initially she'll try to jump up to receive the attention - but if you've got your foot on her leash, and the "guest" always turns away and ignores her when she does that, then the pup will learn that jumping isn't the most effective way to get attention - sitting nicely is :)

From there, you can move on to children and your young nephew. Same techniques, and lots of practice is what's required. But your pup will eventually get it. You just need to be very consistent, and quite strict with the people (especially the ones who "don't mind" the jumping). She can be taught an alternative behaviour to the natural one of jumping up, but only if she consistently gets no joy from jumping but plenty of attention for sitting instead.

Here's a short article on puppy jumping that might help you out a bit: http://www.boxerworld.com/puppy/jumping/