I road walk Lola for 20 minute off leash in the morning (6am).  20 minute on the lead at lunch, then a further off lead run with Douglas (running, playing, chasing each other, balls etc) for around half an hour, sometimes a little more. When we get home she has a mad half hour, running full pelt up and down the garden. Is this normal? (Douglas just comes home and sleeps). She is now 14 weeks old (Rotti x Huskey)

 

She should only be walked 5 mins per month age of life till adult so you need to cut down the walking times and do more exercise in the garden.

Some dogs get so wound up they find it hard to chill out.

Have you tried bringing her in after her walk and sending her to her bed to have a rest?

A mad half hour is normal for a pup of this age but it's often triggered by over tiredness and precedes a heavy sleep.

You are exercising her too much though - are you trying to fit it around working? Dougas, as an adult dog, can cope fine with this but Lola needs her activities broken down much further.  5 and 10 minute training sessions in the garden will work well but she won't want or need very long sleeping periods in between.  How long are you leaving her?

Ideally you'd want to be following her timetable for a while longer and I suspect that naturally she won't sleep much more than an hour at a time during the day at her age.  Puppies need most things little and often :)

You walk your dog off the lead next to a road??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why?
Apart from this animals at this age do not need formal exercise, what they DO need is socialisation and habituation which does not involve a lot of walking.  I certainly would not be doing pavement pounding at this age nor for so long.

I would never walk a dog off lead next to the road no mater how well trained....

Sorry to cut off there Lola was emptying the washing machine. Credit to her it was in the direction of the tumble dryer.

The reason I am out alot with Lola is I don't like sitting indoors, I like to be outdoors. Wether its sitting watching the world go by, or listening to the birds in the woods. The time we are out is not just walking its sitting taking the world in, meeting passers by. Seeing things change, season by season, how our wildlife make little changes whilst we sleep. I don't like just sitting infront of the TV being absorbed watching mindless rubbish (yes I have done this and gained 2 stone).

I am very lucking that I have this outside my back gate.

Maybe I didnt explain very well at the beginning. I am unable to strut down the road at the moment I have damaged the metatarsals in my feet. We walk down the road to a bench and sit on a bench, to get used to cars, other dog walkers and people on bikes. A friend then comes round for Douglas at lunch as I can't walk him through the wood and onto the fields, so we part, he goes onwards and me and Lola sit ( well I sit she sniffs and we do a little training). In the evening the OH is about were Douglas and Lola have a run together again I cannot go onto the field due to the incline. 

Again, sorry if the post was confussing and seemed like I was walking the pup into the ground. 

x

> I road walk Lola for 20 minute off leash

You can see why alarm bells started ringing!!

The important thing at this stage is that her needs must come first - you may prefer to be outside but if it's difficult to keep her loony moments under control, or too easy to over exercise her, then it's TV for you my girl!!

Actually the TV or radio is handy to punctuate the day if you're managing a puppy - a short training session whilst the news is on, snooze through Neighbours, practise recall during Countdown, sit on a bench with Steve Wright etc.  Just remember not to ask too much of her or ask her to do anything for too long and do watch the exercise: it's so easy to over do it and very damaging for your pup.

Today I have taken your advise. I have bought some wool and some needles and have started a jumper. The radio is on, my feet are also up (helping with the swelling) and I am in all honesty having a top day. During my tea breaks we nip outside and have a little training session followed by a play. The advise to send her to her bed, is the best advise. She struggles to relax.. and so it seems so do I.

Excellent! Thank you we are both relaxing me with my knitting her with her bone

> She struggles to relax.. and so it seems so do I.
>
>

This might have something to do with it if she is senseing your unsettled then she will react in the same way.

I too struggle not to over-walk my girl when I'm at home.  The adults can enjoy 2-3 hours a day but they live with my mum and I only have an 8 month old pup off our 4 and a half year old and I really really struggle not to take her out for nice long walks to pretty country parks.  I enjoy just getting lost and wondering round until i find my way back to the car.

Glad you've found a way to entertain yourselves.  I've taken to giving my girl a cows ear a day and 2 kong toys.  She's been shredding teddies and has become an expert at squeaky toy fetch