I see so many posts on FB daily with people struggling with behavior and other issues so I just wanted to share my own bit of wisdom.
The main advice I see is "you need more exercise" and "aussies are bred to work all day".
First, I want to say I live on a working goat farm in addition to having a full time day job and even on a working farm, most aussies don't work all day. They work for a few minutes a day bringing stock in and out and that is is. Mine don't even do that because I don't have any fully trained herding dogs right now. Farmers absolutely do NOT let the dogs move their stock around all day. This is a huge myth. The only place this happens is on commercial feedlots and I rarely see aussies there. They usually use ACDs which are a whole 'nother story. Most herding dogs work 20 minutes a day.
So here is my advice: It is not QUANTITY of exercise that keeps a dog too tired to be destructive. It's QUALITY and TRAINING. Mental stimulation will wear them out far quicker than walking 2 hours a day or running their feet off.
I see so many people who say "I walk my dog 2hrs a day and he still destroys the house!"
No amount of exercise will substitute for supervision and training. Puppies chew. We fix this by utilizing crate training and close supervision so they never get a habit of chewing things up in the first place. My pups are always crated when I can't watch them and when they are not crated, they are within eyesight (generally on leash tied to my side the first 4 months of so).
I currently own two aussies, ages 10 months and 6 months. (I also have 3 senior dogs. Different breeds).My aussies are crated 6-8hrs a day while I work. I do not take them on walks or to parks. I start them in a small xpen with a crate attached when they are little. Then I utilize large 4ftx6ft kennels once potty training is established and I watch them on cameras all day from work. "But that's too long! That will make your dogs bored and destructive." No. My dogs sleep all day. Literally all day. They rarely move from the bed in the corner of the kennel to even play with their toys.
"Well you must exercise them a ton when you get home!" No, not really. They get 5 minutes of training in the morning before work and it's not of an athletic nature. It's sits, downs, stays, etc. When my husband gets up a few hours later, he lets them out to potty again and they get about 10 minutes of fetch in the back yard.
In the evenings, we have 2 different schedules depending on what day it is. 2 days a week we go to obedience class. These are not athletic classes. Think long sits and the like. When we get home, we play another 10 minutes of fetch.
On non-class days, we play 10 minutes of fetch. Then we do 10 minutes obedience training, 10 minutes agility handling training (no jumps at their age, just handling through the uprights and tunnels), then sometimes 5 minutes of stock work with the goats. They then come down to the horse barn where they lay on their tie outs while I ride because I don't trust them off-leash with horses at this point. This is also not athletic. They usually get one more 10min fetch session before my husband goes to bed at midnight.
On the weekends, we do more. We have dog shows, horse shows, more time spent at the horse barn, etc. I've just started talking the oldest for short hikes.
So on class days my dogs get maybe a total of 20 minutes actual exercise. On non-class days, it's more like 30. The weekends they might get a whole hour.
Yes, I said my dogs live in kennels 8 hrs a day, don't go on walks and get 30min of exercise a day. And you know what? My dogs sleep loose in my bedroom at night starting at 6 months and don't tear up ANYTHING. They've never been given a chance to develop a chewing habit as puppies. They don't nip or chase. They don't dig under fences. They don't destroy shoes or sofas. My 10 month old has 2 rally obedience titles.
The key is not to just wear them out. They key is TRAINING and mental stimulation. Please stop listening to people who claim you can fix your problems by running the feet off your dog.
Next time you want to wear your dog out, do 10 minutes of restrained retrieval. Put them on a leash, put them in a stay, throw ball, make them wait 30 seconds before being released. I promise you that pup will be more worn out afterwards than from a 45 minute walk.
If you are struggling with your dog, please just work on the quality of your training and I promise you it will get better!
