It is starting to seem like Saphire (4 months old) needs more exercise. We walk twice a day (morning and evening for about 45 min each walk), play, (tug of war, fetch, etc.), and train (working on sit and stay right now) in the evening. In addition, she has full run of a large back yard as much as possible. Until recently she has been extremely well behaved. However, in the last week or so I have noticed that she seems more hyper than usual. I am wondering if she needs more activity or possibly mental exercise as she grows. Any suggestions on what to add. Its probably important to note that she is crate trained and spends the night and part of the week days in the crate.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Dena and Saphire

Mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise, especially for breeds as intelligent as Huskies. Keep working on the training, and try adding in new things like lay down and leave it. Also, things like treat balls and treat puzzles are awesome because it makes the dogs have to think to get the treats out. Are you guys doing a formal training class with Saphire? Also, she's probably a little on the young side but we take Ghost to doggy day care a couple days a week so she's not constantly crated. Might be something to look into, especially as she gets a little older.

Thanks for the suggestion. We are planning on doing formal training but the only place that offers that locally requires the dogs to be at least 6 months old so we have to wait a little bit for that yet. Also the vet has recommended avoiding the dog park until then also, which sucks because she loves playing and interacting with other animals. I will go check out the treat puzzles though. That might be just the thing, since I caught her trying to open the cabinets yesterday. HA HA. She is so curious.

The big thing with dog parks is staying out of them until puppies are fully immunized. All the parks I've ever been to do have a minimum age as well, usually 4 months. I have been to one that had a 6 month minimum though. Do you guys have a Petsmart near you? They start puppy classes at 10 weeks, and we've had an excellent experience with ours.

Good luck with the opening of cabinets too. I had to childproof cabinets because one of my cats could open them and get into things

No Petsmart here. Unfortunately we are little too rural for that. However, the vet and the breeder had great suggestions for training and so well they are working perfectly. As for the cabinets, my cats stay out of them, however I may have problems with the dog. Oh well its just pots and pans down there.

dbingham12 wrote:

No Petsmart here. Unfortunately we are little too rural for that. However, the vet and the breeder had great suggestions for training and so well they are working perfectly. As for the cabinets, my cats stay out of them, however I may have problems with the dog. Oh well its just pots and pans down there.

I get the rural thing, I live in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully we finally got a Petsmart not too long ago, so we have choices other than Walmart for everything. That's great that your vet and breeder have been really supportive, and there are a lot of good training tips here as well.

I never know what to expect with my fast-growing puppy. For now, she is sleeping a lot, but that's only these past 2 days. I'll wake up and think to myself, 'holy moly, she's grown again??' At least, now, I know what to expect when she's 4 months old, and what to do to keep her happy.

My kids used to play the "hide a treat under one of three dixie cups" game. They would shuffle them all around and then have Sabaka guess which cup had the treat. It's a fun, interactive game... and basically FREE!! They also play "hide the treat" by hiding a treat in one room while making the dog sit and wait in a separate room. Also good training for "wait" and "come"!

I second the formal school. I think you are getting to the time where she will enjoy some more mental stimulation.

Saphire is adorable!!

I'm loving this thread.
Saphire is beautiful btw. Seeing her name brought a tear to my eye as my late Kitty was a Saphire too, she unfortunatelly passed away just 5 weeks after we got her.

I love the idea of Hide and go Treat. Thats so clever! I saw on a programme once about hiding treats under and in things and the dogs have to master how to get them out - I suppose it would be similar to the Kong, but with an aray of different objects.

Thanks for all the tips and compliments. We bought a few new toys and tried some of the "free" games and everything is going well. She has settled down quite a bit with the new activity. Also since its summer now we tried swimming and while she loves to play in her water dish and the sprinklers she does NOT like to swim. HA HA so funny. But thanks again for all the tips. BTW the training is progressing perfectly and we went ahead and pre-registered for a training class for mid-august when Saphire will finally be old enough!!

We did hide the treat with Dalton when he was that age. We would use paper egg cartons with one or two treats inside, he loved trying to figure out how to get them. Although, he did end up just chewing the carton to pieces eventually! Good Luck, what a cutie!