Another hyeractive dog... a bit devastated

[Doggingit]

My last dog was extremely highly strung and hyperactive. I had him for 13 crazy years. I believe this was partly down to his breed. I waited 5 years for another dog and did my homework on the type of dog to have. My friend also has this breed of dog and she's extremely laid back.

So, I went to a breeder, chose the pup who basically chose me and brought her home 3 weeks ago. So far, life has been upside down since she came. She's in a great routine but she's relentless. She barely sleeps unless I put her in her crate. My evenings are absolutely awful. She runs me ragged. I have limited her space so that she's not into absolutely everything and I am tiring her out but she's relentless. My friend keeps commenting that her dog was never like this. I am putting her in her crate to nap every hour or so.

I took her to the vets yesterday for her second vaccination and the vet commented "she's a bit extra." I asked what she meant and she said "hyperactive, she's crazy."

I won't lie. I cried a bit on the way home. I really didn't want another hyperactive dog. I have enrolled her into puppy classes and I'm training her myself also but I'm exhausted by her. I find myself putting her in her crate just to have a break. She won't even sit on my lap and settle. She's just constantly on the go. I had such a stressful time with my last dog who clearly had a lot of behavioural issues, maybe doggy ADHD even and now I have another hyper dog.

Can anyone ease my stress/worry/upset? Can I make her calmer in any way? Has anyone ever had a crazy pup whose turned out to be an amazing dog once matured? I don't want to let her go as the children will be heartbroken. I wish the vet hadn't said anything 😕.

Not a breed then, a cross.
No judgement from me on getting a cross but you can’t really predict its temperament or anything else really.

OP- I have a two year old cavapoo. I got her at 9 weeks old and she was the most beautiful puppy I had ever seen. She was CRAZY though- even the vet told me she was a "drama queen", she screamed for 2 minutes after getting every shot, couldnt sit still, ran after cars, bicycles, and birds, couldnt concentrate on anything for more than 30 seconds. Constantly hyper aroused. Like you, I thought, Fck what have I done? I set about establishing a predictable routine for her, socialised her well, trained her etc

2 years later she is one of the calmest dogs Ive ever met. People even comment on how chilled she is. We'll go for a run together in the morning and then the rest of the day all she wants to do is sleep, cuddle, or laze around. Please dont give up- sometimes it really is just age and immaturity of the dog. Stick to firm routines, give them a good food, and seek advice from a trainer. A hyper puppy does NOT necessarily mean a hyper adult dog.

I actually thought all puppies were insanely hyper till the age of 2 (or 3 in our case) so would always expect this tbh regardless of breed. In our case it’s always been 3 years of hard work and a lot of fun too before they suddenly calm down and spend a lot more time chilling out.

People think mumsnet has a downer on crossbreeds, but it’s for exactly this reason.

lots of people meet a poodledoo in the park and think it’s a wonderful “breed” that meets their needs exactly. Except it’s a cross so even littermates can be very different in physical and mental character.

that’s before you even get into the puppy farm aspect.

Yes, that's very true about cross breeds. Mine is a cocker/springer cross, but he's 22kg, his build, face and character all springer, but he's just one colour (chocolate, no white at all) and that's all he got from his cocker dad. My friend has his litter mate, and he's completely different in looks and temperament, much more cocker. Ours is a perfect fit for our family and we all adore him, but it's complete luck with a cross. And, to go back to the op, he was completely bonkers as a puppy but is lovely and chilled now.

lots of people meet a poodledoo in the park and think it’s a wonderful “breed” that meets their needs exactly. Except it’s a cross so even littermates can be very different in physical and mental character.

Exactly. I've used this example before under an old name but I walk three "cockapoos" and if you lined them up together you wouldn't guess they were the same mix of breeds.

They're all completely different in terms of size, shape, colour, temperament and personality. Don't get me wrong, they're all nice enough dogs and very cute, but if you bought a cockapoo based on Dog A, you'd probably be pretty upset to find out you got dog C.

The Poodle crosses can be a real mix of behaviours. We've only realised after we got our Cavapoo from the same breeder as friends. Their dog is relaxed, friendly and easy going. Ours...ahem...not so much. She's very very high strung and it's taken a lot of training to calm her down a bit, and we will continue to work on it. We have found a calming collar helped take the edge off the worst of it.