Extreme Hyperness? HELP

iEpiQ

My 4 month, almost 5 month old Australian Terrier is just non-tiring sometimes. Is this normal? I give him TONS of excercise, it's almost unbelievable. Yet, he can't take a break. I sit down at my computer. And he wont rest. He'll chew up something in my room. If I lock him out, he starts whimpering like mad. Is there a way to fix this? HELP

Willowy

Sounds normal for a terrier, LOL. But what does he eat? I've seen some dogs go hyper from eating a food with sugar in it (kibbles 'n' bits and similar semi-moist foods are very high in sugar). Mental exercise helps, too.

iEpiQ

Thanks! BTW, do you know any links on how to do Mental Exercise or anything like that? Thanks!

Willowy

Oh, some clicker training will give him something to think about: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/167

But most of the time I just play games with my dogs that require some thought. Like making them "stay", then hiding their favorite toy so they have to sniff it out. Things like that.

mle

The other thing I would suggest (relating to food) is to make sure it's not that he has an upset stomach.

My dog is VERY active as well, but I found that part of her "hyperactivity" was actually because the food she was on at the time was too rich, and was causing her to have stomachaches. Once I realized that she wasn't actually hyper but restless and agitated because of a tummy ache, I switched her food and the difference was like night & day.

If you notice he's gassy and/or has loose or pudding-like stools with any sort of frequency, this might be something to try. If not, then he's probably just super active and I second the training. You can also find toys that are like puzzles, where the dog needs to figure out how to get the food out - keeps 'em busy for awhile.

winniec777

Could be totally normal for a puppy that age. What do you mean by "tons" of exercise? Maybe he needs more? For our dog, 4-5 hours a day wasn't enough so we took her to doggie daycare a few days a week. Still, she would come home after 8 hours of running around at daycare and still want to go for an hour walk on the beach or around the neighborhood to see friends. She would sleep a couple of hours after that and then 11:00 pm was play time again. She was at it again at 5-6 in the morning. Like with a baby, we learned to nap when she napped and accepted that we weren't going to get much more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night. It passes.

The chewing will pass, too, but you need to redirect him with things you encourage him to chew on/play with like stuffed kongs or a buster cube - any toy that's designed to hold treats or kibble that he likes will keep him occupied and hopefully away from your stuff.

iEpiQ

Thank you guys so much! All this information will help, thank you!