# Mentally Exhausting



## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

So.... last night we met with a dog trainer. He has much more education and experience than anyone we've worked with as of yet. He is expensive, but has experience with crazy V's and lots of certifications behind his name. 

So, as we took in information in our home for TWO hours last night, he tells me for the time being, no more dog parks and no off leash. So, I'm starting to get antsy, how in the world is Oso going to get his exercise in? On leash just doesn't cut it for him. At the end of the session, I ask my gazillion dollar question, how in the world is this practical?

He tells me Oso will be mentally exhausted. He thinks in two weeks time, we'll be ready and he'll be ready for distractions and to go back into the "real world." I have doubts, but I was ready to give it a try. He told me to train Oso for 10-15 minute on the hour every hour (I'll be home the next couple weeks and can do so).

Well, it's 2:00pm, we've been training on the hour, every hour and Oso is completely exhausted. More so than from any hikes (even our 12 miler) Interesting. Just wanted to share, as I honestly didn't think was going to work. Oso and I normally do two hours off leash in the morning and then go an a training walk every afternoon for about a half hour. Mental stimulation/work is no joke.


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## Crazy Kian (Aug 10, 2009)

Brain work is very exhausting for these guys.
My GF will take Kian to her obedience class every monday night and that's all they do.
Before they leave he is bouncing off the walls, she gets home and he pretty much is wiped out.

Exercising the brain is just as important as exercising the muscles.

You will notice a difference.

Good luck.


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

It definitely does work - if you can stay home all day! We played "find the bird" in our backyard over the weekend. Hid some frozen chukars all around the yard multiple times for Riley to find. She was absolutely wiped out within about 2 hours.


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

luv2laugh, thanks for posting. 

Care to share any tips on what you're doing for training?

I feel like I continue to go back to the the "easy wins" - the things they already know but can always work on. But, I'd love to come with some new types of mental stimulation for my dogs to challenge them more. 

Thanks in advance


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## OttosMama (Oct 27, 2011)

These past couple months, with the exception of our vacation in the cape - Otto has had very little off leash time. . Otto is a mad man by nature, but has adapted to the infrequent off leash excursions. In fact, he is across from me, unable to keep his eyes open on the sofa at this moment - we walked on leash (in a new neighborhood - new smells, more foot traffic, more dogs walking by etc) for about an hour and around our neighborhood for, I don't know, a half hour? I make sure he behaves on our walks - its not a free for all - he gets opportunities to sniff and explore a bit but he has to control himself the rest of the time. I think this exhausts him. 

With the heat and the bugs, it's become pretty difficult to get him out off leash. We don't have any beaches in this are that welcome dogs off leash this time of year. The only spot we have available requires us to walk through some trails early in the AM or late in the evening - when the Mosquitos/nats are always out and ready for him. The closest place to take him to off leash trails is about 25 minutes away and the last time we went we left within 5 minutes of walking because poor Otto was being eaten alive! He definitely wasn't enjoying it. So this means on leash walks, always with water or family or a friend nearby where I can hose him down if he seems hot.

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WINDED RESPONSE! I just don't want anyone to get the impression that we're neglecting his needs. I LOVE the summer but cannot wait for the fall to get back to our trips outdoors. 

My point - _finally_ - is that although these dogs are bred to endure intense physical activities - I have found it's not absolutely imperative every single day. I believe that dogs are conditioned - just as athletes condition for events or people condition @ the gym. 

Otto is exhausted after we meet with the trainer for an hour or so. I definitely believe the added training at home will take its toll on Oso and drain some energy! Not to mention, it's like a child - do all your homework, then you can go out and play! Eat you're dinner and if you still have room, then you can eat dessert! I know they're are times to be lenient, but it's not a bad rule of thumb, IMO. 

Ps. Thanks flynnandlunas mom! I'm curious as to what type of training he has you doing as well! (I'm not trying to leach off your training sessions - we actually have an evaluation with an obedience trainer on Tuesday! Just curious if your trainer has you reinforcing the basics and extending sit/stays, stuff like that - or is it more like tricks and new commands)


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

threefsh- I have a few weeks where I'm working almost entirely from home and my trainer is completely taking advantage of it. We had a two hour session with the trainer last night and I was mentally fatigued as well. I am happy for the guidance though. 

flynnandlunasmom - honestly, we are just revamping what we already did, just holding Oso to a higher level of accountability and making sure he is aware of the verbal commands. This trainer is huge on the dogs actually knowing the verbal commands instead of following gestural commands. His reasoning is that unless your dog is going to be on film where they can't talk, he/she won't be able to respond to your prompt unless he/she can see you if it's gestural. Dogs understand body language better than verbal language and when you do the two commands simultaneously often don't respond to the verbal command in isolation. He wants the dog to respond to your voice every single time, every where within 2 seconds. If he's playing, if your back is toward him/he can't see your face, etc. Also, if you say sit. He wants your dog to stay in sit until you release, no matter what. 

He was really surprised that Oso actually knew the verbal commands. I was too, to be honest. I never thought he understood English that well and had a hunch he relied on the gestural cues more than anything. I guess I was wrong because Oso skipped phase 1 the learning phase and went straight into corrections. Now, we've never done corrections with him before now. But, now we have the slip leash and we are using the N-O word in a very systematic controlled manner. Give command, if yes - click and treat, then release and praise. If no, say no and give a light correction. You only do corrections, in his way of training, once the dog has demonstrated automaticity. 

Also, when Oso comes up to us for attention, we have him sit - then we click, reward and release before we can praise him. A big thing we want to work on with Oso is him not going up to say hi to strangers until we say its ok. Oso is used to coming over to us and rubbing his body on us for a pet. If someone comes down to his level, he thinks it's an invitation to give kisses. Although this is good for dog lovers, I had my scare with a woman scared of dogs a few weeks ago (I posted on the board, she threatened to sue) and it's really important to me that he'll listen to me no matter where we are and never approach/break a command or go see someone without permission.

I think A) It's tiring for Oso that he's having to learn a new place in the pack. We are demanding things of him all the time and not allowing him to demand anything of us. Pretty big twist. Also, he has to perfect his moves. If he changes position while we get the treat, he gets a correction. If he doesn't respond within two seconds, correction. And every 45-50 minutes, we get up and drill him again, demanding perfection (again, only on stuff he knows). Also, he only has to focus on our voice now which is more difficult than hand signals. 

We do try to make it fun and the trainer emphasized multiple times that he would never ever ever start someone off at corrections unless the dog was ready. He actually thought Oso was really good. We've been working with him since we got him, so I was glad to hear that. I think people normally shell out the big bucks for a trainer when their dog is aggressive not when he is a tad too friendly. 

For us, it makes us feel safer and more confident in him to know that he will listen ASAP. Oso is getting the hang of it very quickly. He will listen when we aren't looking at him or facing him and is holding it (without a stay command) for several seconds. With a stay command, he can do a long time, but now there is no more stay. Every sit/down is a stay. 

Ok, I wrote quite a bit.  The next two weeks our job is to refine name recognition, come, sit and down in a controlled environment, plus a little leash walking w/ few distractions. Sit/down we are doing repetition and duration too. We changed the word for come because my husband and I were doing it differently.

Overall, very educational. Don't know if you could glean anything from that. The boy is still out, so I haven't woken him up the last couple times my "hourly" training alarm went off. I'm tired with the new training too, at first it seemed a lot harsher than what we are doing, but I kind of understand how you can add fun into it now. 

Oh and OttosMama, we know your a good owner!!  And I do ridiculously long posts as well.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Your dog is a very lucky pooch.  Your devotion to avoiding any further issues and minimising his risk are admirable.  As for the mentally exhausting bit........ yeah...me too, I'm tired after each training session. Just did a short one then and am ready for bed now


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