Tiring out a puppy!

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

So on Monday at our puppy class our trainer was talking about how to tire a dog out. She said a common misconception is to just run run run your dog until he is physically exhausted. However, dogs energy replenishes way faster than humans because essentially they are made to run and play, so that doesn't always wear a dog down. She began telling us that it's more about wearing out their brain, which makes a lot of scenes. Unfortunately we got off topic before she could explain exactly how to wear down their brains. I was wondering if anyone has heard this advice or have any experience with this method of training.
Right now yeti is wanting to go go go and unfortunately it just always isn't in the cards. It's been extremely hot here and I don't believe yeti does well in the heat. I try to entertain him in the house but running from room to room doesn't wear him out like it used to. Im perry much down to try anything at this point.

[Wasseem Sidhom]

frozen kongs filled with anything, feeding using Kong Wabbler

[Mark]

Yes, I've observed this in my dogs. I do things such as intermixing training (sit,  lie down, stay, come) with playing with toys. Review known commands, and add something new. Just be inventive and have fun. I absolutely notice how much more each of them  (three dogs) sleep on days I do this with them. Of course, they still need physical exercise, especially puppies. 

[Sue]

Lots of training at different times during the day....or a favorite game if you have someone with you is the ....Find me game.....I would have one of my kids put the dog in the sit stay and then i would have another hide somewhere on the same floor.....At go....Lexee would have to go and find the person....The person would be saying 'Lexee I am here, lexee over here....Once Lexee found her ....we gave her a treat and lots of praise......We would repeat 2-3 times and that would definitely tire her out mentally looking for us....

[Gail and Bailey]

I do this with treats instead of people. I put Bailey in a down/stay and go to another room, hide a treat, then call her and say "find it". She comes to the room I am in and sniffs around until she finds the treat. I praise her like crazy and put her in down/stay again while I move to another room and repeat. Start with easy "hiding places" so your pup has instant success and then gradually make it more difficult.
I love watching and listening to her sniff around until she finds the treat! It is amazing to see them zero in on the smell and find it! She loves the game and it really does make them concentrate!

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

These are all great ideas thank you so so much!!

[Laura and Angus]

Definitely was the case for our crazy puppy! We bought him lots of puzzles, made a couple puzzles, and would play the "find me" game too. We did daily training activities and played a "find the treat" game where we hid smelly treats around and Angus had to search them out.

Another fab way we tire Angus out I'd by play "fetch." Check out videos by Zak George on YouTube. He talks about teaching fetch to wear out energy for hyper pups and he's super positive and fabulous!

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Do you know exactly what kind of puzzles you used? I'd love to start puzzles with yeti but I've looked at our local pet store and haven't really seen much

[SK & Hudson]

Our Hudson loves the Nina Ottosson board games, especially DogBrick. I personally like her games that are plastic, because they are easier to wash and let air dry. I also closely monitor but Hudson when she plays with the games that have small piece/pegs, because Hudson likes to run off with them and inspect/chew them. We also love playing hide and seek with treats, people, and now toys (so she can learn her toy names).

[Kamela & Beckett]

We have an Aussiedoodle- super smart and energy to spare, so we know what this is like! My husband and I both work full time, so it can be a struggle to tire Beckett out mentally and physically. One way we do that is to feed him only using food puzzles. We have 7-8 different ones that we rotate. Go to Amazon and search dog food puzzles, they have a ton and they aren't all super expensive (Nina Ottoson ones are great, but pricey). We also make Beckett obey a command (do a "trick") before giving him his meals, opening doors to let him out, etc. If it's rainy and we are desperate, we've taken him on car rides, through drive throughs to run errands, to Petsmart, etc. Something novel to occupy his attention.