Loads of Energy at Night

[Tara]

It seems our 12 week old doodle has A LOT OF ENERGY between the hours of 9-11pm. We have tried walking him, playing with him, giving him toys, etc to get him to calm down and relax but it doesn't seem to work.  And since we are up with him at 5:30am, it would be nice to quiet him down later on in the evening.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

How much exercise is he getting during the day? 

[Tara]

I would say he gets a fair bit of exercise.  We don't have a fenced in yard but we do live in a development with lots of walking areas.  Right now I swear I have him out to go potty every 1/2 hr- 1hr and many times we take a decent walk with it.  Fencing in our yard is not an option because the properties in our development have no land.  Now he does take naps during the day, but maybe I need to control his nap time so he doesn't sleep "right after dinner."  Also too, we notice if he is crated (lets just say we went out to dinner instead) when we come back he is quite hyper.  At this point, he doesn't have all his shots, so doggie parks and social groups are out.

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

It sounds like you are already doing this but I would do everything I could to force him to shift his playful time to 6-8 or whatever time works for you. Evening is an energetic time for our puppy too (she is almost 12 weeks) and we try to keep things very active in that time period so that by the time we hit 8-8:30 she is naturally winding down. We put her in her crate by 9:30pm every night and she is ready to crash by then. 

Walking doesn't always expend that much energy with an active puppy. I find they really need to be running around to really burn some energy. Do you play tug with him? That's a good energy burn (provided he is able to play it appropriately and doesn't get too bitey). I'd throw a ball even in the house and get him running and chasing. Another alternative to tug is to tie a tug rope to the end of a leash (or rope) and swing it around low and high getting him to chase it. Our older dog loved that as a puppy. He would run after it, jump in the air to try and catch it, and when he'd catch it we'd let him play tug for a bit and then use a treat to get him to "drop' and start all over again. That really used to wear him out!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree. These dogs really do need to run every day to burn off that energy. Even chasing a ball indoors helps. 

[Ginny Nightingale]

This is normal and my happen even if you give him more exercise--don't fight it--at 9, let him run it off with an indoor activity and he will settle down a lot sooner than 11--by trying to get him to calm down is just putting off the inevitable in my opinion.

There is a game you can play--you can get him to sit and stay (or have someone hold him if he won't do that) and then hide treats or toys around the house and say "go find it!" --they will keep busy for a while finding all the stuff--and then repeat it a few times. Just a suggestion--

[Kristen Faro]

We have found the same thing.  Try giving your puppy a bully stick.  Mine will chew until he gets tired.  I have also found that too much exercise in the evening makes for a more hyper puppy.  Almost like a toddler where they get over tired.

[Joann Valerio]

What can I say... I just saw something on Facebook that might help...there was a video of a dog chasing a laser light.
Takes a lot of energy for that and you don't have to run after a ball if they don't get it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Really, really bad idea, and here are just a few of the articles explaining why: (hint: it winds them up, makes them crazy, and becomes an obsessive behavior):

https://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/the-dangers-of-playing-...

http://www.dogtrainingnation.com/dog-behavior-2/laser-pointer-games...

http://www.livescience.com/34093-dogs-laser-beams.html

http://www.dogingtonpost.com/laser-pointers-could-be-bad-for-your-dog/

http://barkpost.com/laser-pointer-dogs/

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea. Laser pointers are not a good way to play with your dog.