Feeling frustrated and out of ideas

[Carbuncula]

I'm an experienced dog owner and we've had our border terrier just short of two years, from a puppy. He's a joyous little dog, happy and friendly and very easy - mostly.

Historically he's had some digestive issues and been poorly and lethargic, but we have found his ideal medication regime and now he's fighting fit, full of energy and absorbing his (hydrolysed, non-meat protein) food properly.

Since he's been feeling well though...he's been driving us INSANE. If he's not being fed, walked or played with, he whines incessantly. We're really practiced at studiously ignoring the whining, capturing moments of calm and being careful not to reinforce the behaviour, but OMG he's persistent and has been getting worse over the last couple of weeks.

DH says he "just wants attention" but he doesn't get it when he demands it - yet he doesn't give up. I just don't understand what he wants?

Today he had an hours walk off lead with us first thing, followed by a midday run around with another dog for 30 mins with the dog walker, a game of chase and tug with me for 10 mins when I finished work, a clicker game after his dinner (he pratted around for most of that) and another 20 minute village walk after our dinner.

Yet when we sat down at 7.30pm, he started whining and squawking and cartwheeling around and only stopped 10 minutes ago (so over an hour and he whinnied all the way through Eastenders) - we haven't engaged with him at all until he settles and is quiet.

He must be exhausted, he only really rests at night. When we ignore him he heads out to the garden for a good bark, which is just great, he never used to do that. Where are we going wrong - is he over or under stimulated??!

I would say overstimulated. How much has he slept in the day today?

I have a working Cocker who is mega energetic, and I can relate. He used to be an absolute nightmare, but he's now doing really well and has learnt to settle at specific times during the day.

When you say you capture calm, do you mean you're following the Relaxation Protocol? That's basically what worked for my dog. I don't really believe in forcing dogs to settle on a mat excessively. But in terms of teaching him what "settle down" means, it's been absolutely brilliant. This, coupled with a routine of enforced naps (using a pen). I would put him in his pen in the late morning until lunch time, then again around 7-8pm. So, now he automatically settles at those times, without having to be put in his pen, because it's become a routine. If that makes sense? I don't know if you have a similar option, or how your dog would respond to a pen / separate room?

I will say that my dog gets about half of the activity your doggo gets (except for weekends, when we generally give him longer walks/hikes). He gets about an hour of activity daily. That's a 30min (off lead) morning walk, a few on-lead pee breaks (we don't have a garden), then some play / training / puzzles throughout the day. No high-energy games in the evenings - only puzzles, calm training, etc.

Could you try reducing his morning walk to around half an hour (if he's also going with a dog walker for half an hour at lunch)? And skipping the evening walk altogether? As this might be overstimulating him too late in the evening.

And then maybe something to help him relax in the evenings? Not sure what he can eat with his health, but bones or kongs or natural chews / horns / etc. if he can have them?

He probably just doesn't know what to do with all of his excess energy now that he's no longer feeling so poorly, bless him.

The other thing I'd say is that I know with my dog, if he has a doggy playdate and runs around with another dog for any length of time, he's mega edgy and wired for the rest of the evening. Same thing with any boisterous games, like throwing balls/sticks, etc. We still let him do these things, but we just either know he'll be boisterous as a result, or we do it in the morning only, never in the afternoon or evening.

I hope this helps!

You can soak the hydrolyzed food and use it to stuff kongs with - if that will help him chill a bit. It is hard when the chews he can have are so limited.

If he only rests at night he'll be hugely overtired and over stimulated.

What do you do to keep him calm and settled in the day? Enforcing regular naps and giving him chew toys will help - you can just soak his regular dog food with pop in a Kong to freeze, or spread it on a lick-e-mat etc.

Thanks for the replies. Every day is different really - the dog walker only comes twice a week, so today he's had a 30 minute sniffy on-lead walk already, he's got the garden for truffling around and peeing in during the day but we won't go out for another 30 minute walk until around 6-7pm.

DH is refurbing the house and I WFH full time in a little office space outside - we have a dog flap in the back door and the office door, so the dog comes and goes as he pleases. After breakfast he'll wander around hopefully with a toy (getting ignored), but will eventually take up his spot on the windowsill where he watches the world go by and wags his tail at stuff until about 12.30. I come in for lunch, pooch gets a (vegan!) chew stick, then we all go back to our respective spots - the dog might come and join me in the office and curl up in his bed, but although he'll sleep on and off he's ready for my slightest move. If I go to make a cuppa, he's leaping around tackling me with a toy.

But he is less aggy during the day when we're busy. It's the evenings when we're both indoors and relaxing that he starts!

I have kongs but he gets through them quickly - if I make it harder by freezing he just abandons it. Had a lickimat but he sucked off the good stuff and left the rest. He can have antlers and horns though and has 4 - he has been known to give up whining for 5 mins to chew them but rarely for long.

I was wondering if now his intestines aren't so sore, he's hungry - when he was sick it was a struggle to get him to eat his quota so he was having 3-4 small meals. It occurred to me that he's still on a modest serving of food over 2 meals, to account for his various training treats, biscuits and dental chews etc. I gave him a bigger breakfast this morning, I'll see if he's more satisfied with that - maybe he's not getting enough food.

We gave his pen away last year, he's hasn't been confined to a separate space since he was 10-11 months or so. He doesn't get left much as one of us is always here, or he comes with us. But DH has gone to to town and I'm out in the office, he's happy by himself in the front room for hours so I don't think he's overly clingy?