Guest Post: The Secret to High Energy Pups

Posted by Meghan Wolfgram on March 14, 2022

GUEST PUP PROFILE

Teddy The Shichon
High Energy Pup!
5 years old

FAVORITE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

SwiftPaws
Red Soccer Ball

FAVORITE INDOOR ACTIVITIES

SwiftPaws
Hide and Seek

MEET JOANNE

This week we met up with Teddy’s mom, Joanne, to learn the secret to caring for high energy pups like @TeddytheShichon. In this guest post, Joanne shares how to optimize time with your pup so that your best friend (almost) never gets bored!

HIGHLIGHTS

Don’t feel like you need to buy anything and try not to overthink it
Pups need to be both mentally and physically active
15 minutes of quality engagement is all that it takes
Mix up the activities but keep it on a schedule

There is nothing not to love about Teddy. He’s a sweet, happy dog. He’s very high energy but he’s very loving and cuddly and he just loves to spend time with his family. He’s quiet, he’s not a barker – he’s just a sweet little boy.

In most cases with most dogs, if they’re not physically or mentally stimulated they’ll keep looking for something to keep themselves busy. If you just leave Teddy alone with his toy box, that’s going to get really old really fast. Teddy may look for something to do, he may chew on something and — like most high energy dogs — he will get into trouble if he’s not active, engaged, and involved each day.

We learned pretty quickly that he has a lot of energy and we would need to get creative and learn how to communicate with him and meet his needs! Pups don’t necessarily need to have a toy or game to get the stimulation they need to be happy.

We’ve been learning from Teddy for the past five years! He’s taught us that it doesn’t have to be difficult, you don’t need to overthink it, and sometimes a 15-minute play session is enough.

Here are the secrets to strengthening the relationship with your high energy pup:

#1 KEEP A SCHEDULE

Keeping a schedule is key to success with your high energy pup because they know there is something to look forward to at a specific time of day. As an example, Teddy knows to go to his toy box when his dad and I sit down to dinner because he knows we’re not available at that time. Once the dishes are being cleaned, he bounds back into the room ready for play time. Pups are smart! Once they learn the schedule, they’ll understand when you’re available and when you’re not. Once your pup knows the schedule, then they won’t be constantly looking for attention because they know they’re not going to get it. They’ll learn ‘OK this is my personal time now’.

#2 MIX IT UP

It’s important for them to have a schedule but not a set activity, so, mix up the kinds of activities you’re going to do because they’re not always anticipating what’s next and you don’t want them to have expectations that you cannot accommodate.

#3 IT’S NOT ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF TIME, IT’S ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE ACTIVITY

It’s really the quality of the activity vs the amount of time that they’re engaged in that activity. Keeping them engaged is what’s most important as long as the dog is being mentally challenged or stimulated then they’ll be satisfied.

As a final note…yes! Teddy does sometimes still get bored! Obviously, we can’t keep him active every moment that he’d like to be and we believe he understands that as well we can’t be on all the time for him! The schedule, the creativity and diversity of activities are everything to him.

Looking for more doggo tips and tricks? Check out activities in our Facebook Community Group today! April is the launch of our Facebook Community and you’re invited to celebrate Canine Fitness Awareness Month by taking part in our Canine Cabin Fever Summit! Don’t miss out on your chance to go dog wild with like-minded pups around the world.

EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES THAT WILL MAKE THEM GO DOG WILD:

A great activity is just to have your pup sit or stay while he watches us hide treats around the room and leave them to sniff out the treats.
A snuffle mat is what a lot of Teddy’s friends use. It’s where you hide treats in a mat and the dog keeps sniffing up the treat and get their reward
Try out a treat tower. It has different separators and levels. Teddy loves that he has to pull out the separators to make the treats drop down the tower for him to get a reward.
Teddy loves the shell game. It takes three cups upside down and one treat. You show your pup the treat, shuffle the cups around and then your dog has to point out which cup the treat is under – you do that a few times and that’s enough.
I’ll take teddy for a ride around the neighborhood and he’s happy with that!
We actually set up the swift paws more in our house than we do outside and I think people are surprised to hear that. You don’t need a big yard to give your dog a stimulating game of chase!
You also don’t need to clear out all the furnishings from your room you can set up the course around your furniture – your pup already knows the way around the house so it’s not like he’s going to bang into anything.

HOW TO TELL WHEN YOUR PUP IS COMMUNICATING THEIR NEEDS:

He’ll run from us to the front door to let us know he wants to go for a walk.
If he wants a snack he’ll paw at his treat door for us to get him a snack
If he wants more than a snack, he has a treat tower and paw at that because he wants to do an activity and get a reward
He may want a swim in the pool but we’ll give him another activity to do in place of that to keep him occupied.
He will get a toy and keep himself occupied when he knows we’re not available for him

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