Exercising your Doodle

[Valerie and Cody]

So, I'm wondering if anyone has any great advice about exercising doodles. Cody just seems to have an infinite amount of energy. I'll walk / run with him for about 45 minutes in the morning, again at night, and sometimes in the afternoon. He often gets to go to the park / dog park, and I try to take him as many places as possible. Plus, we do agility once or twice a week. Still, though, he has sooooo much energy. Maybe I'm asking for too much, but I really want to just see him pass out for a little while. He's only 2, so I'm sure it's still a lot of puppy energy, but he seems to have more energy now than he did a couple of months ago. Does anyone have any ideas as to some new, fun, and exciting things I might try with Cody? I love spending the time exercising with him, so I'm hoping to avoid doggie day care. Thanks to anyone who replies!

[Ann & Reggie]

I assumed they calm down by that age..yikes!! At 9 months I thought the end was in sight:)

[Elizabeth]

Sophie came into our home in Nov. and her sight was repaired in Dec. When Sophie got her sight back, she was a new dog! Lots of energy in endless amounts and wanting to explore like a puppy.
#1- I have found that sticking to a routine really helps. What I mean is that she can now anticipate walk time, play ball time and just hang out while I do chores time (or sit on the computer lol). This seems to calm down the hyperactivity between activities if you know what I mean- the constant nagging for playing and attention. (I love her but I need to get stuff done!)
#2 I take her to the dog park 3 times per week if I can- Still, she may tire out after 30 minutes of running hard and then after a 2 minute relaxation break she may start up running again- she doesn't want to miss anythign! I've been doing this since spring and now she will actually sleep on the way home and when we get home.
#3 (HUGE) I PRAISE HER for being CALM! I reward her calm behavior. If she acts too hyper I ignore her until she sits down and is calm, then I give her attention and praise her- I try to make a concious effort not to praise her hyper behaviors with petting or attention. Though it doesn't work in some circumstances, I have noticed this has helped!

Some of Sophies hyperness may have been related to seperation anxiety so I read up about that. I also watched a bunch of dog behavior videos to try to understand her.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Lots of good advice from others and I agree with many of them....the only thing that truly tires our doodle out is letting her play with other dogs. If she spends an afternoon with my parent's cairn terrier, she is spent the entire next day :) Yesterday was a big day for her and she was such a good, calm girl this morning before I left for work. Other dogs help them get their energy out.