Am I seriously not active enough?

[AnnVarg]

I've always been a restless person. I jog, I bike, I go for long walks regardless if it's freezing outside or raining. And I wanted a dog to accompany me on these trips so I got a husky.

When I am at work, which is from 730 am to 3 pm, my husky is at this dog-garden. Basically a kindergarten for dogs. I pay 350 usd every month for that.They make the dogs do mental activities, they walk them, they have this huge open field where they can run all day and play with other dogs. I drop him off 6 am and he is there till 3 pm.

When I go pick him up, we walk back home, which is 1 hr. Here he walks and runs freely since it's a wooded area. This makes 10 hrs of being outside and playing.  That same day he gets another 2 hrs of jogging/biking/walking PLUS being at the dog park with another husky which he plays with for 2-3 hrs. Guess what? When we come home, he refuses to go in. If I do get him inside, he naps for 15 min and is ready to go again, scratching the front door to try and get out.

If i don't get him inside, he stays outside for 15 min before he climbs over the fence, or he digs under the fence or he chews himself out somehow. Once he escapes, it's like he doesn't stop running. Like, what does he want from me? The odd thing is that he does get tired during the bike ride for example and slows down a lot, but give him a 15 min nap and he is ready again. 

He is 9 months old.  Like, what is the solution here? Longer bike rides? On weekends I spend almost half the day just being outside and trying to tire him, instead of enjoying the trips... It's exhausting being out and active for 4 hrs and come home, and still being nagged to go out again.

He is an Alaskan Husky and his parents run professionally. 

Any advice?

[petertmartin]

at 9 months he's probably doing too much actually.

" A good rule of thumb is a ratio of five minutes exercise per month of age (up to twice a day) until the puppy is fully grown, i.e. 15 minutes (up to twice a day) when three months old, 20 minutes when four months old etc. Once they are fully grown, they can go out for much longer. "

You can risk long term injury or issues with their growth if you over exercise at that age.

I think though what you have is pretty typical husky behaviour and you need to secure your yard. Mental stimulation is the key and target training which others on here can tell you more about.

 

 

[2Huskyfun]

Think of them like babies. They get overly stimulated and then they can’t settle down.

I have two that are 15 months now. I believe they went into their teenage stage starting around 9 months and I was about to lose my mind. (It’s fun LOL)

I feel teaching him how to self sooth would be best. It will take a lot of patience at first. 

I put mine on a strict schedule. They go Daycare three X a week (spread out) On none daycare days they are working obedience (heel, crate, place, leave it, and recall.) We just started duration training now that they are older and added multiple place spots. (Staying in place either setting or lying down for long periods of time). *this is the one that teaches them self soothing*

Keep in mind these guys are runners/pullers for long distance. At least what I have found with mine: Play time and running them do not tire them out. I have to be working them mentally. Just even training them to heel with stopping every few feet making the set automatically (on their own and make eye contact with me) for 15 minutes 3x a day makes mine sleep for a few hours. Then adding all the other commands, makes them really wiped out.

There are some great YouTube training videos. I personally like Jeff out of Maine SolidK9training. There are a few others I like too.

Just make sure you customize it to your dogs personality. 

Mentally challenging your pup will go a lot further then just play time.

Hope this helps, good luck.