Glad to hear that your not frustrated more than you are enjoying her puppyhood. Pups take a huge time commitment, as I said many people don't realize how much so until they are already in with both feet. The higher the drive dog the greater the challenge to keep them busy mentally & physically. Dogs also have to have to adjust to the warmer temps & humidity that we get as summer progresses. Many are still carrying some of their winter coats. I know that mine still have some in spite of the undercoat rake & furmilator being used daily. I have been working my dogs a bit less especially at the lunch time run with the lunch time run due to the higher temps. They are just getting tired more quickly. The am runs & later day ones have stayed about the same. You don't want you dog to ovderheat. She will build up more tollerance & conditioning as time goes by. Spend some of the rest of the time doing some mentally stimulatinhg things to do. Hang in there & embrase all that puppyhood has to ofter. It is way to short as far as I am concerned.

 Quote: doug alcorn

I don't think either of these walks were particularly stressful. Our pace was moderate and we took breaks. Today we were down by the river which gave her plenty of opportunity to drink and explore. Most of the walk is off pavement and shaded. I think the main thing is the time. We usually only walk about 30 minutes or so. Stepping that up I think is the difference that burns off the extra energy to give me a calm dog.

Doug,
As you know I also have an Australian Shepherd pup who is just about the same age as Suzzie. I noticed that the question of whether you're exercising her too much continues to come up so I figured I'd put in my two cents. I think you were exactly right when you said "the main thing is the time." - Every morning, Keiko and I take a brisk 30 minute to an hour walk with breaks along the way to play with the ball-on-the-string or to sniff around. It's definitely obvious to me when I've only taken her for 30 minutes in the morning because she is still rambunctious when we return home and much more vocal about being in the kennel. The additional 30 minutes makes a HUGE difference in how much she settles down in the morning. Even going from a walk that is 30 minutes long to 40 minutes long makes a difference. I think you would really see a difference in how Suzzie settles down if you could spend a little extra time out on the walk in the morning. The advice my Vet gave is that as long as she's still going (not hanging around behind me, taking every chance to lay down, etc) then we're OK on exercise.

Either way, by noon, Keiko is rearing to go again. She is a tad more calm if we've taken a full hour's walk in the morning. It is hot here but I have to get her used to the heat. We don't spend too much time outside but we do go out and play in the backyard for a few minutes, then I break out the kiddie pool and we splash around in that. Then again in the evening we walk for ~ another hour, depending on where we go. Either we walk around on campus for an hour (stopping occasionally to play or watch the people go by) or we walk around the neighborhood and then take a trip to the feed store or pet supply store.

Of course in between all of that we do really short marker training sessions to keep her mind stimulated and (when I remember to freeze it) she gets a filled kong to keep her occupied when I leave in the morning.

Anyway, that was my longwinded way of saying that I agree with the comment you made - adding a bit more time to your walks will really help Suzzie be able to settle down for you.

I think I'm realizing that Suzzie is a little older and can do a little more. I had been doing 30 minute walks morning and evening. I think that's just not enough any more. The past few days I've been doing an hour in the morning and evening. It's made a pretty big difference in her daytime behavior and how content she is to sit around or sleep.

Yipee! It is amazing how much difference burning off some of that puppy energy makes, isn't it? She really is a cute, cute dog.