That is every German Shorthair Pointer that I’ve ever known. I think it’s favorite option would be to hunt with it— a lot!! Do you have an option for swimming? Despite the webbed feet, mine didn’t like water so was strictly upland.
But the thing is you really don't want to be drugging your dog. It'd be like giving Ritalin to a child. Another holistic idea is chamomile tea. Open the bag and add to wet dog food.
But again, drugging is only a partial remedy. Best idea is lots and lots of exercise, Frisbee, balls, make the dog run itself silly. Finally, always check with your vet before trying anything off the internet.
Anyone got the recipe for Doggie Downers?
The dog is still a puppy.
LOTS of walks on leash to remind it who the pack leader is: YOU.
Lots of ball throwing and attention to work that energy off.
I have a border collie who wants to herd alpacas, people, birds and pine cones. We excersize him with ball throwing and games every day.
She needs exercise.
Short of finding 5 or 6 energetic boys in the 8 to 10 age range to play with her and exhaust her, as I once did when a friend of mine and I turned his two energetic sons loose on my very energetic Lab/Irish Setter puppy, leaving the poor puppy exhausted for a whole day, I suggest getting an additional, equally energetic large breed puppy and turning the two loose on each other. You’ll have no end of comedy. My two dogs are a 10 year old 85 lb. Pitador and a 5 yr. old 110 lb. Great Dane. Worked great with both of them.
Zen.
Have her contemplate a Zen Koan.
You could use one of the old favorites like,
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
Or
“Does a dog have a Buddha nature?”
I would come up with a more pertinent one like,
“What is the sound of a dog clapping?”
It will calm her down or she will attain true enlightenment. Either way, you win.
Years ago I had a very energetic Weimariner. She needed to run A LOT but I couldn’t keep up with her due to her long stride and I just didn’t have the energy anyway.
The solution was Dog Tennis.
I would stand in one place, and whack a tennis ball—with a racket—and she would have to run a goodly distance to get it.
She’d bring it back to me, and I’d whack it again.
She got her exercise and I got some, too, but without wearing me out in the process.
I have two GSPs, both female; one is 10, the other 1-1/2 years. First, they are awesome dogs...so fun, smart and sweet! Up until they are 3-4 they are bundles of energy. You must find a place for her to run, run, run.
I used to take the older one to public hunting grounds because running through the tall grass wore her out more quickly:) Also, they both took very quickly to playing frisbie...great exercise.
Teach it to fetch and you can wear them out fairly quick.... They are working dogs so this should be easy...
For the really lazy you get a tennis ball launcher....
Plus...like a baby, keep a set schedule for walks meals etc...
Last is age....until the dog is 2, lack of focus and excess energy is normal....
Like a 3-4 year old boy..... :^)
pop the dog a valium....I had a dog that had seizure’s, valium after he came out of the seizure help him to walk etc.his muscles were tense after the seizure.
SNL had a show once, doggie downers lol.
I’ve had 2 GSP’s complete polar opposites but both unbelievable athletes when it game to hunting birds. One was a calm as a could be and was that way when I picked her from the litter and the other was high powered.
It is all about the training you need to do now. I always ignore my dogs when they come bounding up to me and only recognize them when I want their attention. From that they figure out that not every motion or movement when people are around them is meant as a command to come running up on you.
But then they were active field dogs and I had them professionally trained. The calm one , Lucy, was trained on lead rope and by the time I got Sadie she was trained on shock collar. But out in the field they both responded to whistle commands. Sadie wore the shock collar only in case she decided to bolt off on a half mile run!
Both have since passed along with my love for bird hunting. Don’t get me wrong, they were my best friends and I loved them as much as anything and they brought me and my hunting buddies, and my daughter and wife, years of pleasure and companionship.
Recently we had high winds and a ten foot branch broke off. It's about 3 inches thick on one end. I have her grab that end and drag the long branch throughout the yard. She loves doing that and it also tires her out :) Next I'm going to teach her how to place branches in a pile.
She will be going to a training school in the spring.
In a few years, the dog will be old and lazy. Wait. Be patient.
Yes, we own a GSP and he was quite nutty in his younger days. He is 14 now and settled down quite a bit.
As others said, GSPs need lots of exercise. That is the best way to calm her down. Also, training is vital. They have to be taught to contain their exuberance. I don’t necessarily agree with all that the Dog Whisperer says about dogs and packs, etc., but he does have some good pointers (pun intended) on how to calm a dog down and make them better pets.
I love GSPs. They are so beautiful and graceful and don’t have a mean bone in their bodies. We recently had to put our beautiful, sweet black Lab to sleep and I still cry about it. I am dreading the time when our old gentleman GSP has to go.