Hyperactivity or just plain nuts? At wits end!

[cprcheetah]

I love Shellie to death, but at 3 years old she is still very very hyperactive, and naughty. Today she peed/pooped in her crate while I was at work (this is the 2nd time this week), I let her out at 6:30am for about 30 min before I left for work, put her in her crate, hubby let her out about 1pm, for a good hour, then she went back in her crate until I got home at 6pm during which time she had peed/pooped in her crate at some point (hubby wasn't feeling well so was upstairs asleep for most of that time). She is usually EXTREMELY good about barking or 'touching' us to let us know she has to go outside. She is constantly searching for all types of naughtiness she can get into. We had a bag of leaves out in our backyard (granted partially my fault for leaving them out there, but they were in an exercise pen so I thought they'd be protected as I wasn't finished picking up the leaves) so she pushed the pen and destroyed the bag through the bars. So tonight when I let her outside, she IMMEDIATELY went to the expen and started eating the plastic....that was her focus, not focused on pottying at all. I went out with her and was out there with her having to keep pushing her away from the ex-pen for 30 minutes before I gave up and brought her back inside.

My dad watched her for a week a couple of weeks ago when I had my surgery as I was afraid the little monster would rip out my stitches as she's all feet and stomps on my feet daily and asked "Does she ever calm down?" I said nope, only when she's sleeping. She's go go go 24/7. If she doesn't have something constructive to do or something constructive to chew on she's destructive.

She usually gets 45min to 1 hour of a walk every day, in addition to whatever playtime she gets when we let her out of her crate (she is only in her crate when we are at work, and at bedtime as she CAN'T be trusted without someone supervising her). I have a dog sitter/walker who comes at lunch time when I am at work and walks/lets her out for 30 min to 45 min.

She has hypothyroidism, and is one of the RARE dogs whom it actually makes MORE active and MORE hyper, her only 'true' symptom is sparse hair coat. She also has Diabetes Insipidus (can't concentrate her urine without Desmopressin injections twice daily). But that doesn't affect her house training unless she doesn't get her injections (which hasn't happened). She eats raw, is non vacc for 1 year and 1/2 now, was treated for vaccinosis homeopathically, but she is still as my hubby puts it 'bat crap crazy'. I'm about at my wits end, I can't trust her to be out (never have been able to she shreds/eats EVERYTHING---she thinks Bitter Apple is dessert!). I've thought about trying to give her a job to do (I'm looking for a service dog for myself for anxiety/depression/panic attacks) and would LOVE to be able to train Shellie to do it, but again....she's super duper nuts and goes bezerk if she sees another person (something we've never been able to train her out of). I've tried calming touches etc, but that just seems to make her go more reactive and more obnoxious and hyper. I am going to have her checked for a bladder infection just in case. And have started going outside with her so I know she's not just 'messing' outside. I wonder if she has ADHD/OCD and literally FORGETS to go potty when she's outside, because she's so focused on everything else. Is that a possibility?

She has been through puppy and basic obedience training, and is a dog that will literally wait 5 minutes to eat her food if I tell her too. I think that I need to go back to NILF and make her work for things, and give her more tasks to do. What other ideas that I can do to help? My husband has about had it with her :( (he is NOT a big fan of big dogs....much to my dismay....I'm all about the Rotties, Danes, Standard Poodles....)

[DeekenDog]

Honestly, I would say she needs a lot more exercise. 45min-1 hour of walking is nothing for a young retriever. Deeks is the same age as Shellie, what I would consider low energy, and gets at least twice that daily. If you can't walk more, can you bike her/run her? Get her running and really working. I would also try to engage her brain. I track with Deeks and that tires him out more than any physical exercise. You could try that or agility or rally or something to get her thinking.

[Hadley]

It sounds like she needs more exercise to me as well. Maybe you could train her to run on a treadmill? That way if you have issues with mobility or if weather is a problem, you can just run her inside. Also, I would REALLY get into training with her. Like hardcore. Maybe get some agility equipment or join a class and get her training in that? Even rally-obedience will get her mind going. The more they think, the more tired they will be!

I think training her to be a service dog might be a good idea if she has the temperament. Have you ever had her evaluated by a behaviourist? Might be a good step in coming up with a management program, especially if you are at your wits end with her. It could give you an entirely new perspective.

For the reactivity, have you ever heard of Control Unleashed? If not I'd look into getting the book and trying the techniques. If she isn't an aggressive dog and is just reacting out of frustration..then she definitely has potential, she just needs to learn how to control her nerves.

But yeah, if at all possible I'd start with more exercise. Have you ever heard of a flirt pole? Could be an easy and quick way to add more exercise to her daily routine as well!

ETA: With a dog like this, I probably would never stop NILIF. At the very least it's just another way to exercise her brain more by getting her to perform more tasks.

[cprcheetah]

Honestly she could go for about 3-4 hours before tiring, even then she is still hyper and active once she has like a 15 minute break, and there is just NO physical way for me to do that, and she has hip dysplasia so I can't push her too much. I have arthritis in my knees, so about an hour is my limit on what I can do. She can't do agility as she has hip dysplasia, so I do have to limit her exercise. Which makes things hard. I may consider a treadmill. There are no behaviourists in my state, so she hasn't been evaluated by one. She has gone through training and I do try to keep up on things. I do have puzzle toys, and she has kongs etc, she just eats them LOL literally. It's like she has an OCD about chewing/eating things. She thinks Bitter Apple is dessert, she eats the bottles lol. I have never seen anything like it, I've owned retrievers (labs) in the past and none were as energetic as Shellie, I've had trainers tell me she's too hyperactive for the breed, and she's stumped a lot of people with how she never settles down. Even had a golden retriever breeder tell me she was wacky and not norm for the breed.

My husband thinks I am being too lax with her and she thinks she's the pack leader as she will push me right out of the way to get to her crate (at dinner time) and pushes past me when coming in the house. I will work on refreshing some things. I mainly needed to vent frustrations.

[cprcheetah]

She isn't aggressive, although did attack Ziva this week over something in the backyard, and put a hole in her ear. :( Which concerns me as she's never had a problem unless food was involved. She just 'over reacts' to people/situations basically everything. I can't even begin to fathom taking her somewhere public like Petco/Petsmart, as she totally wigs out, doesn't remember a thing I've taught her. She was 'removed' from a group training class because she literally was freaking out too much (not aggressively) but more so hyper and trying to get to all the other dogs, jumping around, barking. She wants to play all the time.

ETA: I guess she does 'settle' down as long as she has something to do, like a kong/bone etc, but keeping her busy is a task in and of itself as she chews through things so quickly.

[werecatrising]

At work we always joke that goldens are puppies until about 8 or 9 years of age. It sounds to me like she needs more exercise.
Quinn is very high energy. I also have limitations such as severe asthma and bad knees. I play games wiht Quinn that allow him to burn of energy while I can stay somewhat in one place. We sort of play fetch. I have two toys. I throw one, he runs around like a maniac then trades it for the next.The flirt pole is also an excellent tool. He gets about 45 minutes to an hour of hard exercise twice a day. We go on walks and on my good days we go hiking. He also needs mental stimulation. We are in an obedience class and a tracking class and do lots of training at home.

[CorgiPaws]

Not to sound like a broken record, but it sounds like she needs more exercise and more companionship. I know this time of year can be totally nuts, my dogs are lucky they can come to work with me or I would be in the same boat.
Essentially, she is crated from 6am-6pm with two potty breaks, and then whatever time you're asleep, which pretty much puts her in a crate for 18 hours a day, assuming you only sleep 6 hours. Dogs, but Goldens particularly, are companion animals, and even if you can't be focused on her and exercising her, she should be spending less time isolated in a crate all day. I think this contributes to a lot of the overreacting: she is not stimulated on a regular basis, which makes the normal small stuff a really big deal.
I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend looking into doggy daycare, even if it's only a couple hours a day, so she has an outlet for that energy, is getting more companionship, less isolation, and is therefore less demanding when you come home from a hard day's work.

[MollyWoppy]

Ha, not making light of it as I can totally understand your frustration, but I'd love a dog like her. I love that type of energy.
You don't know anyone with a heated pool? Swimmings excellent for dogs with hip problems. How about something like scent training, just an idea, not too much physical exercise, but very taxing on the brain. Lola the one year old pug had a hip replacement 5 months ago, but she is getting 3 miles (at least) walk a day without any problems, plus swimming, otherwise she is hell on wheels.

[Jacksons Mom]

I second the exercise and doggy daycare recommendation. I dogsit a Lab who is just shy over one year old and honestly, my 30 minute walks do nothing for him. It just gets him out of the house for a stretch during the day. For a while, she started bringing him to doggy daycare (but had to take a break, the guy who ran the place moved out of state, etc) and she said it was amazing. He would come home and just pass out, LOL. I will say even though he's not been in daycare every day (I've been there for about a month now) he's such a better dog because of the daycare. He's sooo much better behaved! I think he learned a lot of dog manners, I still take him to the dog park twice a week and that really wears him out. But yeah, even an hour walk won't do much for him. He needs to really just RUN and wrestle to get worn out.

[werecatrising]

I'm with Molly. Sounds like my kind of dog.