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Permalink Reply by Ross on May 22, 2009 at 2:38am

Sounds like you have a female version of Atlas, when he was a puppy he would pretty much only sleep in his crate, when he was out of his crate he always wanted to play. Invest in some antler chews or a beef bone, after some vigorous exercise Atlas will usually chill out and chew the bone on my lap.
We actually ended up getting a second dog by the time Atlas was about 11 months old and it was the best thing we ever did. I grew up with two dogs and I really feel if you have the time and resources, dogs really like having another canine companion. I emphasize the time and resources part.
Maggie is in that ripe "terror" stage, there's a reason why there are so many dogs aged 6 months to 2 years at shelters. You are giving her lots of exercise which is great, make sure you are getting her exercise every day, and as far as corgis go, walks are great for establishing dominance/respect but are pretty lousy at tiring a young corgi. I trained Atlas to run up and down the stairs, so when the weather was lousy he would still have an activity to tire him out.
My best advice is keep up with the exercise, get some longer lasting chews, and buckle down and weather the corgi storm, she's going to be like this for a while, and if I didn't say it before, give her exercise.

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Permalink Reply by breanna bellefontaine on May 22, 2009 at 10:01am

thanks for the tips. We want to get another dog, but we just can't right now. We live in a really nice trailer park...my boyfriends mom got married and her and her husband built a house, so instead of selling, she just gave my boyfriend the trailer. It has plently of space for maggie. However, he is layed off right now, and I am still in school. it wouldn't be fair if we invested in another animal. We want to make sure they have the best...and maggie does right now! Maybe in the future we can though. But boy, wouldn't she looove to have a play mate! Ill have to scope the pet shops around here for more intense bones that last. Thanks though! Glad I am not the only one. too bad maggie didn't live near Atlas! haha

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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on May 22, 2009 at 10:54am

Ohhhh... I raised that puppy once! My Aussie is exactly like you just described. I got him while still living in an apartment thinking walking him for an hour once a day would be enough. I couldn't have been more wrong! I remember by the time he was 6-7 months old I was ready to give him away on an almost daily basis! Always running or chewing. Never sleeping or cuddling! =)

To keep me sanity with Sky, I tried to give him as many outlets as possible for his energy. We found a Doggie Daycare near us and I tried to take him 1-2 times a week, depending on the budget that week. Doggie Daycare can be expensive, but is worth it. It would be the only time when I could come home from a long day at work, and all he would want to do was sleep. I also found a dog park near our house and took him there 4-5 times a week, pretty much anytime the weather allowed. Playing with other dogs really released his energy. At home, he would chew to let out pent up energy. I found a couple of good toys that could handle it, my favorite being the Nylabone Dental Dino. Also, I would do several little 10-15 min training sessions with him. The mental exercise seemed to help. I just made up random commands for him to learn so he would have something to do. Because of that he can now "pray" and army crawl across the floor!

Ultimately, I've discovered that wearing my dog out often wears me out too, but I love him enough that I'm willing to do it. Sky is a year old now and he is a great dog. He is still hyper, just the nature of his breed, but he is starting to calm down some. Good luck and I promise, it does get better!

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Permalink Reply by Christine on May 22, 2009 at 11:40am

Maggie sounds like Bandit too!! My little dude is 9 months old and does not get worn out at all. Like Sky, we do an hour walk a day, a couple of 15-mins training sessions, playing and chasing after each other for about an hour or so. That adds up to 2 - 3 hours of mental and physical exercises. He doesn't get tired BUT he does quiet down and just does things on his own or chill. We used to face the same problem you did, but we were lucky enough to find several ways to help calm him down.

We found these long bully sticks at Costco for cheap! I don't know if you have a Costco in your area, but a bag of 12 12-inch bully sticks is only $20 or something. Besides bully sticks, he has some full hooves, beef knuckle bones, busy buddy toys, and carrots to chew on. It usually keep him busy for a couple of hours once he starts chewing. We stopped going to the dog park because there are some mean dogs there and Bandit can't handle the pressure and gets barky and bitey sometimes, so he's doing obediance and agility classes to socialize and exercise instead. He started with an obediance class, and now he's doing agility. Because he's using his brain and muscle so much to get over obstacles or to learn to listen to my commands, he usually chills when we get home. Our trainer told us that dogs need to learn to just sit by us and chill too, so we are working on that. And since it is a challenge for him to keep himself in one place, he gets pretty tired from it. And finally, we are lucky that my cat is brave enough to challenge him .When i just can't move anymore, the cat always steps in and plays hide and seek and chase with him =).

I agree with the previous posts about keeping up with exercises. it helps when you change it up to so your doggie gets mentally stimulated with new situations and experiences. Good luck!!

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Permalink Reply by Amanda & Tuck on May 22, 2009 at 2:19pm

Doggy play dates or a long trip to the dog park tire Tucker out completely. He loooves to run - probably trying to heard the other dogs. Luckily there are 2 great dog parks within 2 miles of my house. If other dogs aren't around he will do more sniffing than running when outside. Walking doesn't really tire him out - even our long walks and he gets bored with fetch after a short while. I am considering getting one of those attachemtns for my bike because I think he would enjoy the faster pace compared to our walks.

Good luck wtih little Maggie!

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Permalink Reply by Christie & Mauricio on May 22, 2009 at 3:00pm

I would also maybe try arranging a play date - we put a posting on craiglist to try to find a puppy play date to meet up with in the neighborhood. so far we haven't gotten any good responses, but it's worth a try! the best thing to tire harry out usually is to walk him to the big park near our house, where there are always lots of dogs so he can play. we also take him to puppy kindergarten, and that has been a great outlet for his energy. A lot of cities (and I bet portland too) might have a dog store or something that organizes puppy play hours. I did some internet searching and found a couple in dc. good luck!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on May 22, 2009 at 3:44pm

Got ball?

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Permalink Reply by Sam on May 22, 2009 at 3:52pm

All I can say is good luck lol. Ein wouldn't settle down until he was just about 2 and that is only when I'm the only one home. If anyone else is there he is a constant attention and fetch machine. The only time I have ever seen him tired is when he spent the entire day on a college campus walking around and getting excited to meet everyone. He does get worn out after rigorous excercise but that only lasts for 5-10 minutes.... Like I said, good luck lol.

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Permalink Reply by The John Family on May 22, 2009 at 6:09pm

I was going to recommend getting a second dog, but then I realized that others have recommended that to you and that isnt an option for you. Do you have friends that have dogs that you could maybe have doggie play dates? Kyuubi is the same way with energy. We take him to my fiances dads house and Kyuubi plays with his dads puppy. They play NON-STOP all day! Its hillarious! I havent seen so much energy before. When we take him there, at the end of the day he is pretty tired, at least enough to kind of chill... he will lay down for a bit... He still wants to play, but it isnt like when he cant go play with the other puppy. Sometimes he will actually get in his kennal to let us know he is ready for bed. haha. Maybe if you have a friend with a dog that can play with your puppy, you guys can take turns with like doggie play date day care type of thing, if that makes sense.

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Permalink Reply by breanna bellefontaine on May 23, 2009 at 12:19pm

yeah, i do have a friend that has a dog, we are going to try it, but we are not sure if he is going to be okay with a dog as hyper as maggie. he is a boxer. we are going to try it at some point though.

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Permalink Reply by Rosie on May 23, 2009 at 2:00am

We use a laser pen to run her around the house, Rosie loves it. Also, she likes to run along with.. the bike, goes really well if my wife or one of kids to ride up front so she can chase.

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Permalink Reply by Cam on May 23, 2009 at 11:13am

Be careful with that idea. It could possibly bring out some bad habits, like obsessive compulsive disorders, in your dog.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Laser-Pointers-Safe-for-Your-Puppy-Do...

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