# Hyperactivity / Not Settling



## beckymnd (Oct 17, 2017)

Hello! We've had our Dexter for a week and a half now and he's brilliant. He's 10 weeks old on Thursday.

We're just struggling a little with hyper activity. He gets the zoomies, and frantically digs at our other dogs bed after 10-15 mins of play. He doesn't seem to settle himself down for a nap, ever. The only way we can calm him is to crate him ourselves for a timeout, he doesn't seem to ever want to nap on his own accord, or crate himself.
When he is crated and napping, he is hyper vigilant. Any movement from us, and he's up ready for play again. 

Is this normal!? Our older cockapoo settled himself down for naps quite often as a pup and wasn't anywhere near this hyper! (our older is an American x, Dexter is a working x, not sure if it's just characteristic of the cross!)


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## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

Lucky is a working cross. Most of the time he’s pretty chilled. He loves being outdoors, getting wet and muddy. He has his zoomie moments. That 3-5 months age he had an hour a day where he needed to play and was hyper. But not more than that. 

I suspect we are “lucky” with Lucky. However there are a couple of things I’ve done. He has a very low carb (and sugars) diet, lots of protein and fats, no grains, potatoes, etc. I’d read that some dogs don’t handle carbs and their energy levels well. Maybe consider different food? 

The other thing I do is that I try to consciously manage his energy levels and give him a routine. He knows walk times, food times, certain times I will play, etc. As I work from home, he also knows the sleep under the desk times. We’ve done this from 10 weeks. At 8 months he’s not perfect with it all, but he mostly knows the score. So I used walks, play, feeding, kongs, chews all strategically with him and a schedule. I think this has helped him have hyper times, and sleep times.


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## beckymnd (Oct 17, 2017)

Ah interesting  Perhaps it's not just the working cocker part of him! 

We have Dexter on Millies Wolfheart Countryside Mix, which is low carb, no grains etc so I think we have the food nailed! He had his second vacc yesterday, so he'll be able to come out with us as of next Thursday, so i'm hoping that'll expend some energy in different ways for him.

I do have a routine with Dexter, as I work from home also  & oh gosh we know all about the 8pm Zoomies! 

The main problem we find is that he won't just decide for himself 'right, i'm tired now, i'm going to have a nap' - he has his crate, and a separate bed beneath where I work, but he is constantly moving around & not settling. If he could play / train all day I'm fairly certain he'd be happy to go without a nap! 

Interestingly, my partner took him to his office with him on Wednesday & the little mite slept through the whole day! 
He's fab during the night, and is sleeping through 10:30pm - 6am at just 10 weeks, just doesn't seem to want to settle during the day unless I manually crate him for a 'timeout' when I can tell he's getting over-tired and irritable (biting at everything & hyperactive)


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## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

This all sounds good. I’ve just switched a Lucky to Millie’s (hunter mix) as he was in need of variety. 

Given what you’ve said, if he slept all day, may it’s you? Lucky is often a bit hyper with my partner but much more chilled with me. But she won’t leave him alone, constantly pays him attention. I have my times and routines and he does chill out with me. 

When he was so young, I had him in a pen in my office. He’d sometimes play or chew on his own in there, but often sleep quite quickly and I paid him no attention. Fortunately he wasn’t a pup that made much noise. As he grew and I could trust him more, he’s had more access to the house and freedom. 

If you just leave him, what does he do? And for how long?

Most pups and adult dogs do sleep a lot.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Normal. All normal. Ah I miss those puppy days. And then again I don’t miss the extreme tiredness from keeping up with my two. I have littermates and Beemer would always put himself to bed for a nap. I would settle Lexi down after seeing Beemer. Some just need a little assistance. 


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## beckymnd (Oct 17, 2017)

Ahhh I'm glad to hear it's normal 

I am quite a lot more energetic than my partner, I'm always up to something, whereas he can quite happily sit still with his headphones on and nod off! So perhaps Dexter is just feeding off my energy!

We're still experimenting a little bit, we've discovered he is very responsive to training, I've got him doing a 'sit', 'lie down', touch targeting, 'drop' & settle on a mat already at just 10 weeks, and he's sleeping through the night 

I think I just need to focus on our victories a little more in the puppy days  training starts on Wednesday too so we have that to tire him out a little more, than he's allowed out and about next Thursday onwards!


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## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

That all sounds fantastic. Try to look at if your energy and action is something he is picking up on. 

If you look on YouTube for Kikopup she has some go to bed and settling training. If he’s picking up how to learn well you may try something like this. I’ve got Lucky going to bed but not settling, he goes but is stimulated as he’s in “training mode”

You’ll be surprised how quickly this all changes. Enjoy the little puppy stage, it’s gone before you know it.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

beckymnd said:


> Ahhh I'm glad to hear it's normal
> 
> I am quite a lot more energetic than my partner, I'm always up to something, whereas he can quite happily sit still with his headphones on and nod off! So perhaps Dexter is just feeding off my energy!
> 
> ...




Brilliant Dexter! Once he can be in the outside world it’ll be so much better. Remember to limit his walks or other repetitive games like fetch - general rule is 5 minutes per month. But get together with other dogs, especially others his age, and they will play for hours. That was what worked best for my two. 


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

It will get better. We have beds in the kitchen and when the dogs were pups they got shut in the kitchen and ignored for quiet time - and eventually they did learn that was sleeping time. At the moment Dexter is still in 'everything is new' mode.... I am sure that you will find it much easier when he is able to go out for little walks. I suspect your older dog suffers more than you do!!!


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