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Exercise Ideas

LiveLolBrd

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I have a 7 month old mini bernedoodle puppy and she has SO much energy! My yard isn't fenced so I can't just let her outside.
I play with her often through the day but I would like a few ideas on ways to keep her occupied in her crate.
She chews on bones but will get bored of that, tears up cardboard boxes but those make to much mess for me at times.
Ideas?
Thank you
 

Sparkles99

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How long is she crated in a 24-hour period? Is it for housebreaking or something else?

Personally, I’d not encourage cardboard destruction - that’s for birds, not dogs. One day she may eat it.

Be very careful about bones. According to the vet I’m very lucky my girl has no broken or worn teeth due to chews.

I didn’t know & eventually went through then discarded beef rib bones (she used to just clean them, then one day started chomping), stuffed bones, meaty bones, yak cheese chews, dental chews (she’ll vomit pieces up days later - I don’t trust their digestibility), elk antlers, deer antlers (thank God she never liked antlers), no hides (almost choked to death on pieces of these more than once), etc.

She’s under 15 lbs, so your job will be tough! I let her have a bully stick every so often under supervision - these are high in protein & some dogs can bite off pieces & choke. I’ve found stuffed kongs to be safest for mine. She’s never left alone with any chew.

Look into private, rentable dog parks like on Sniff Spot. Read the reviews! I’ve seen some unsafe ones. There are also other private dog parks & indoor gyms where I am.

Don’t resort to a random dog park. They’re terrible places filled with ignorant, arrogant people & their aggressive or outright vicious dogs, many of which are breeds bred for inherited territoriality or inherited drive to fight other dogs. You don’t need your puppy killed or attacked so she becomes dog reactive.
 

LiveLolBrd

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How long is she crated in a 24-hour period? Is it for housebreaking or something else?

Personally, I’d not encourage cardboard destruction - that’s for birds, not dogs. One day she may eat it.

Be very careful about bones. According to the vet I’m very lucky my girl has no broken or worn teeth due to chews.

I didn’t know & eventually went through then discarded beef rib bones (she used to just clean them, then one day started chomping), stuffed bones, meaty bones, yak cheese chews, dental chews (she’ll vomit pieces up days later - I don’t trust their digestibility), elk antlers, deer antlers (thank God she never liked antlers), no hides (almost choked to death on pieces of these more than once), etc.

She’s under 15 lbs, so your job will be tough! I let her have a bully stick every so often under supervision - these are high in protein & some dogs can bite off pieces & choke. I’ve found stuffed kongs to be safest for mine. She’s never left alone with any chew.

Look into private, rentable dog parks like on Sniff Spot. Read the reviews! I’ve seen some unsafe ones. There are also other private dog parks & indoor gyms where I am.

Don’t resort to a random dog park. They’re terrible places filled with ignorant, arrogant people & their aggressive or outright vicious dogs, many of which are breeds bred for inherited territoriality or inherited drive to fight other dogs. You don’t need your puppy killed or attacked so she becomes dog reactive.
She is crated about 4 hours maybe 5 a day. and she sleeps in it at night. Most of the time during the day it is just while she sleeps but because she likes to run around the house chewing everything up she has to be supervised and I am a pretty busy person and she cannot be out all day.
She loves antlers and she chews them when supervised. So far so good, no vomiting pieces or any of that!
Bristol (that is her name) is 30 lb at 7 months despite us being told that full grown she would be 23 lb
Yeah, I don't like dog parks at all.
Thank you! I will try the kong!
 

Sparkles99

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Rather than crating during the day, consider tethering Bristol to yourself with a leash & a back clip harness. This greatly improved my adolescent dog’s manners. It passively teaches them to watch your body language, so they get up when you do, etc.

Antlers are notorious for breaking teeth, split or not, elk or deer. Kongs can be frozen stuffed to make them last longer.
 

LiveLolBrd

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Rather than crating during the day, consider tethering Bristol to yourself with a leash & a back clip harness. This greatly improved my adolescent dog’s manners. It passively teaches them to watch your body language, so they get up when you do, etc.

Antlers are notorious for breaking teeth, split or not, elk or deer. Kongs can be frozen stuffed to make them last longer.
I am trying that as of right now! She likes it better than the crate for sure. Why a back clip harness rather than a collar?
Now I have to go buy a kong :roflmao:
 

Zilga

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I am trying that as of right now! She likes it better than the crate for sure. Why a back clip harness rather than a collar?
Now I have to go buy a kong :roflmao:

I'm glad! Just to chime in, this technique of keeping the dog leashed to one of us worked really well for us with our dogs also.
 

Sparkles99

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The back clip harness is more gentle. If either of you is startled her neck isn’t jolted.

Edited to add that you need the right size Kong! It should be shaped like soft serve ice cream & made in the USA. Red for regular chewers; black for power chewers. Pink & blue are for young puppy teeth only.
 

LiveLolBrd

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The back clip harness is more gentle. If either of you is startled her neck isn’t jolted.

Edited to add that you need the right size Kong! It should be shaped like soft serve ice cream & made in the USA. Red for regular chewers; black for power chewers. Pink & blue are for young puppy teeth only.
Okay, that makes sense.
I got her the 30-65 lb red KONG brand because she is a pretty aggressive chewer and the puppy kongs seemed too soft.
She seems quite happy with licking treats out of it!!
 

Sparkles99

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At 7 months, she’s got permanent teeth.
 

SunnySandi

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You can get a long line to let her run in the yard, they make 50ft leashes for training recall. If she’s not a fetcher, you could also use a flirt pole (basically a dog size cat toy)

Unrelated, but please keep an eye on her cardiac health with your vet, if you can get her embarked that would be good as well to check for genetic problems since Bernese Mountain Dogs are prone to cardiac issues and someone breeding doodles likely isn’t screening for cardiac problems in their Berners.
 

Sparkles99

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Love the long line suggestion! I use a 30’ one made by Mendota in the USA. It’s bright orange & technically for teaching hunting dogs to quarter a field. I also have the 50’, but find it a bit unwieldy to manage. Very high quality!

Don’t get a retractable leash. All they do is teach your dog to ignore you & adopt bad leash manners. They can also apparently injure people & dogs, sometimes seriously. Oh, & they snap - bye-bye, puppy!

Be careful using a flirt pole with any dog under 2 years (small dogs) or 3 years (big dogs). They aren’t kittens & you can permanently injure their growing joints. Gentle, slow movements & no sharp turns.
 

SunnySandi

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Don’t get a retractable leash. All they do is teach your dog to ignore you & adopt bad leash manners. They can also apparently injure people & dogs, sometimes seriously. Oh, & they snap - bye-bye, puppy!
They can indeed injure people! I know this from experience! Rope burn that cuts into your flesh is not fun!
 

Sparkles99

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Terrible! So sorry you experienced this! I heard they can snap small dog’s legs if they get wrapped around them too. :(
 
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