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Almost 2 weeks ago, my mother adopted Grace, a 5 yr. old beagle/border collie mix from the shelter. We don't truly know anything for sure about her past, but she was left at the shelter when she was younger once before too.
We walk her 2-3 times a day for 20+ mins at a time. I think she could easily go for 5 walks a day. She isn't tired out easily, we're looking into getting her a backpack.
She is adjusting well with us aside from her reasonable restlessness. Her major problem though is the height of excitement she can get herself into when she thinks she's going for a walk, or even sees her leash at all. She's made herself hyperventilate once and I hate seeing her go through the frenzy, just because the leash triggers her so badly. Even us getting shoes on, putting our hair up, or putting a sweater on triggers her, without the leash around.
My mother and I have tried to come up with a solution to this. We have tried these things, let me know if they're effective at all:
1. When she was calm and laying down, I introduced the leash by putting it on the floor near her. Even this excited her, so I ignored her until she calmed down. Then I'd keep waiting, picking it up and putting it down a few times, eventually clipping the leash onto her, and waited until when I picked the leash up, she wouldn't start whimpering or seem excited. We had a very nice, calm walk after I accomplished this. It took, tops, 5-10 minutes.
~This worked extremely well but my mother doesn't bring the same energy into it when I've tried doing it in the room with her. She is a rushed person and doesn't have much patience, I couldn't get the same results with my mom in the room. I tried for 45 mins with no success this way.
2. My mother walks her in the mornings and doesn't have time to sit and do the exercise I do with her. She will ask her to sit, then clip the leash on her, and immediately Grace will start whining and being overexcited (wakes me up early every morning). My mother will then kneel with her, holding her and petting her and comfortingly tell her to calm down until she's relatively quiet.
~Though I've noticed as soon as she lets go of Grace, she goes right back into excitement.
3. More recently we've been desensitizing her to the leash, by walking around the house with it in our hands, then putting it down. Leaving it on the floor, etc. and ignoring her excited reaction. Today I clipped it onto her then ignored her excited state until she relaxed on the floor with it on, then we left for a walk. This seemed to help.
I think one reason she gets so excited is because she doesn't know how to entertain herself yet so it's her only outlet. She has zero interest in any toys but will occasionally chew on her bone. We've tried everything with every kind of toy. Hopefully she'll get better in time with this though.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, my goal is for Grace to be excited of course, but not get to the insane level she does. I want her to be calm, obedient, and respectful.
We walk her 2-3 times a day for 20+ mins at a time. I think she could easily go for 5 walks a day. She isn't tired out easily, we're looking into getting her a backpack.
She is adjusting well with us aside from her reasonable restlessness. Her major problem though is the height of excitement she can get herself into when she thinks she's going for a walk, or even sees her leash at all. She's made herself hyperventilate once and I hate seeing her go through the frenzy, just because the leash triggers her so badly. Even us getting shoes on, putting our hair up, or putting a sweater on triggers her, without the leash around.
My mother and I have tried to come up with a solution to this. We have tried these things, let me know if they're effective at all:
1. When she was calm and laying down, I introduced the leash by putting it on the floor near her. Even this excited her, so I ignored her until she calmed down. Then I'd keep waiting, picking it up and putting it down a few times, eventually clipping the leash onto her, and waited until when I picked the leash up, she wouldn't start whimpering or seem excited. We had a very nice, calm walk after I accomplished this. It took, tops, 5-10 minutes.
~This worked extremely well but my mother doesn't bring the same energy into it when I've tried doing it in the room with her. She is a rushed person and doesn't have much patience, I couldn't get the same results with my mom in the room. I tried for 45 mins with no success this way.
2. My mother walks her in the mornings and doesn't have time to sit and do the exercise I do with her. She will ask her to sit, then clip the leash on her, and immediately Grace will start whining and being overexcited (wakes me up early every morning). My mother will then kneel with her, holding her and petting her and comfortingly tell her to calm down until she's relatively quiet.
~Though I've noticed as soon as she lets go of Grace, she goes right back into excitement.
3. More recently we've been desensitizing her to the leash, by walking around the house with it in our hands, then putting it down. Leaving it on the floor, etc. and ignoring her excited reaction. Today I clipped it onto her then ignored her excited state until she relaxed on the floor with it on, then we left for a walk. This seemed to help.
I think one reason she gets so excited is because she doesn't know how to entertain herself yet so it's her only outlet. She has zero interest in any toys but will occasionally chew on her bone. We've tried everything with every kind of toy. Hopefully she'll get better in time with this though.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, my goal is for Grace to be excited of course, but not get to the insane level she does. I want her to be calm, obedient, and respectful.
