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Hi, I have a beautiful german shepherd girl, Sophie (18 weeks old today!) and she is just perfect in every way, but a little hyper, I don't think she is getting as much excersize as she needs. I walk her in the morning before my son and husband get up, but she literally could go around this block ten times, and I hate to say I don't have time for it.... but I don't. People told me not to walk her as a pup because it is forced excersize but it's more than obvious that she needs to release all this energy somewhere. I still believe that our walks together are a very important bonding experience.. but on top of that, my husband and I have decided to buy a treadmill for her within the next two weeks. I have watched many of Caesar Millan's Dog Whisperer shows where he explains the importance of excersize and fact is she needs more than she gets. I was wondering if anyone had tried this before.. he seems to have great success with it, and after a few days the dogs usually go to the treadmill and whine for you to turn it on for them! Any advice on this method would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I don't know anything about treadmills and dogs. I'll defer to those who do.

When raising my hyper shiba, we used a combination of physical exercise and mental stimulation (training) to keep her happy. An hour training class a week plus 3 or 4 small training sessions a day would really wear her out. It also made her a pleasure to be around and developed our communication system with her.

A GSD is a high drive dog that needs a job to do. They are bred to work and work hard. Trick training would be fun for all in the family to play with and entertain this active pup. You also might want to ask around for a herding facility in your area where your dog will be able to do what it was bred to do.

I personally love to train my dogs and work with them every single day. It's absolutely never a chore for me now that I've learned how to incorporate it into my busy schedule. We practice sit stays during commercials on TV shows and various other behaviors while cooking dinner or on walks.

Puppies don't have long attention spans, so these random training sessions throughout a day work well. Also, everyone in the family needs to work with the pet. Walking is good, but it's only part of what this dog needs in my humble opinion.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

>>Hi, I have a beautiful german shepherd girl, Sophie (18 weeks old today!) and she is just perfect in every way, but a little hyper, I don't think she is getting as much excersize as she needs. I walk her in the morning before my son and husband get up, but she literally could go around this block ten times, and I hate to say I don't have time for it.... but I don't. People told me not to walk her as a pup because it is forced excersize but it's more than obvious that she needs to release all this energy somewhere. I still believe that our walks together are a very important bonding experience.. but on top of that, my husband and I have decided to buy a treadmill for her within the next two weeks. I have watched many of Caesar Millan's Dog Whisperer shows where he explains the importance of excersize and fact is she needs more than she gets. I was wondering if anyone had tried this before.. he seems to have great success with it, and after a few days the dogs usually go to the treadmill and whine for you to turn it on for them! Any advice on this method would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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A puppy should have no forced exercise, for health reason, and a treadmill would be particularly bad. Don't follow the advice of the The Great Cesar Millan. Ask any veterinary behavior specialist why you should not.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47