Lazy Pup or Hyper Pup?

I would choose a middle of the road pup, not too active, not too lazy.

That being said, I have two fairly hyper ones and I love them to pieces! :D
 
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matta2k said:
My Duncan is pretty apathetic about everything that is not food. At the dog park, people reach out to pet him, and he just walks away. He's not shy, but he doesn't engage.

Tennis balls and other toys hold no interest for him. I might take him to a park with some agility equipment because he *is* smart so maybe he will learn to enjoy that.

Mostly, he sleeps on the floor near me and follows me around the house.

The only exception: We do have a game called "run around the kitchen" in which he chases me and I hide. He goes crazy for that. He won't chase balls, but he will chase me.



To answer your question: I'd prefer a calmer dog to something wild and potentially aggressive. I can leave Duncan at home for a few hours knowing that he won't go on a tear while I'm gone.

You may want to consider your work/social calendar and make a decision based on that. The more hyper the dog, the more attention it will require.
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I just got my rescue sheltie 3 weeks ago. He is just like your Duncan. I have always heard that shelties were very high strung so I was worried about him enough to bring him to the vet to get checked out. My husband wants him to play so bad, but the only playing he does so far is chasing me around the yard, and he will try and pounce on your hands on the floor, but I have to get him worked up to get him to. I do enjoy how calm he is, I was just worried about it at first. He doesn't bark at all either, unless I get him worked up and chasing me outside. :)
 
"A laid back, sleeps all the time dog sounds nice at first, but as someone once told me, hyping up a disinterested dog is harder than calming a hyper dog."


For Some reason this just jumped out at me from the page, my Beau is a very calm laid back dog, and may explain my reason for not not wanting to hype a dog. To me when someone says they want to hype a dog that implies teasing. Could be I'm just sensitive to this because my neighbors kids have been trying to do this to my dog all summer. But, that's for you to decide if that's what your doing, not me.

That being said, when I went to ASPCA and got Beau I made it a point of walking ALOT of different dogs and I knew I much prefer Beau' laid back personality. I like knowing I can leave Beau out of his crate and he's not going to go crazy chewing or getting into stuff he's not suppose to. In fact, I know for a fact that when I'm gone he pretty much stays in either crate with the gate open, or the "dog cave" How do I know this, One day I came back from food shopping and I found a workman on my front stoop. He said," Mam do you live in apt 2" when I answered yes, he said," I just changed the filter in your furnace for you," I asked him about BEAU, and he said he didn't see any dog in the apartment. I ran upstairs and got to my baby and he was right in his crate. Completely fine. I was a wreck, but, he was fine. I don't think you can count on that happening with a hyper dog
 
Just wanted to add, Beau doesn't even like Hyper dogs being around him. A hyper puppy came up to us this morning and he went a little nuts, I had to pull him back and tell the owner of the pup not to come up. And yet, he had his friends a Greyhound named Misty and a Burmese Mountain dog named Dova (pretty calm dogs) come over and play for a bit
 
I would say that Skyla is in between. She isnt overly hyper, and she takes her naps when she's worn out. I picked her out of the 5 girl puppies, but she really picked me too. She was the only one that perked up and came to me when I said "puppy puppy puppy" and tried to crawl into my lap. I knew then that she was definitely my girl. She loves to chase her ball or toy when I throw it and she is learning "can I have it" (equivalent to drop it). She is super hyper around her "aunt maggie" (large black lab mix) and my cat Fritz and barks if she doesnt get her way (when I tell her to quiet she loudly objects lol). But then she can be super relaxed and as long as she has a toy in her mouth to chew, she'll let me rub on her belly. Then again she IS 12 weeks old and a total puppy as far as barking and chewing. Im just glad she loves to play fetch and is super easy to train (when she's in the mood haha). She is super stubborn but also so very sweet when she wants to be.
 
Wow, this is a blast from the past. I saw the thread title and was like "what have I been writing?"

In the end I think I got the 'laid-back, but loves to work' pup. Yes Merlin can be excitable, but he is very much 'in-control' of himself and rather sensible. He never goes OTT, but he works like a dream, concentrates well and is a real star at agility.

I have no need to hype him up for agility, though I do lots of 'watch me' just before we run to get him concentrated, and I talk excitedly to him 'are we going to run now? are you going to run well?' But not too much because then he messes up.

So I think I ended up with the best of both worlds, and now, a little older/wiser I am thinking it is better to pick that dog that suits you, even if that means they are a little laid-back.

Though in future I will be picking the quiet, placid labrador pup in the litter!!!!
 
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