French Brittany pup hyper and wild

[Novice123]

I took ownership of an 8 month old French Brittany that has been kept in an outside kennel with many other French Brittanys. He has not had much exposure to people, but the breeder did bring him inside for a couple of weeks before I picked him up. I have him outside in a large fenced in backyard with a heated dog house during the day. I take him into our basement in a kennel cage at night. I walk him about one hour every morning and at least one-half hour each evening. About 8 p.m. I have him with me on a leash in our family room for about 2 hours just to hang out with his bone or toys. Altogether I give him attention about 3-4 hours each day with me. He is just wild and is spinning around when I come into the backyard. I have signed up for professional dog obedience lesson for an 8 week course starting Jan. 6. My question is whether other owners of Brittany pups have hyper dogs that are just wild? I pet him in the evening in our family room and he is not grabbing/mouthing my hand nearly as much as he was last week. He is getting calmer when in the family room with me, but is still just totally beside himself with intensity and excitement/spinning in circles when I come into the backyard. I hold him and pet him when this happens and make him calm down. Do I have a problem dog or is this to be expected for a dog that is new to our household and is young? Any encouragement, especially from Brittany owners that have had a similar experience would really help my morale. Also, he is eating his stools even though he is in a large yard. Any advice on that score.

[shags]

In my experience with long tails, at 8 months pups are boiling over with energy, so your pup's behavior doesn't sound aberrant to me. It should calm down in a year or so. That being said, some dogs have off switches and some don't. The ones without can wear ya down.

I hope you don't have the notion that dogs alone in a yard all day spend their time running and playing and burning off steam. They might zoom around for a few minutes, but otherwise they either sleep or get into trouble (chewing siding, barking, etc).
If dogs have a buddy, they do better with staying active throughout the day.

Also, you mention that your pup spins with excitement when you get home, so you hold and pet him until he calms down. Do you realize you're rewarding the behavior you wish to quell? He spins and carries on and gets attention for doing it - that's a score for him. Instead, when you get home pick up the poop scooper, enter the yard and clean up without looking at, talking to, or touching the pup. When he's calm -after you've been in the yard for 2 minutes or 30 - that is when you should reward him with attention. Pet him quietly. Then throw a ball or something for him so he can expend some energy before your walk.

Winter with the short daylight is difficult, but as the days lengthen you'll be able to get in more exercise time with the pup. Try to look on the bright side. Your pup wants to bond and play with you; much better than having an aloof dog who thinks your only purpose is to serve him dinner and clean his kennel.

[Sharon]

A young gun dog needs so much more than a big back yard and 2 walks a day. Find a place where he can safely run , run, run!

"He is eating his stools even though he is in a large yard. Any advice on that score?"

That's totally common for dogs of any age. Why waste that good food?

[oregon woodsmoke]

Isn't that the typical energy level of all bird dogs at 8 months? (and at one year, two years, three years?)

Your dog needs lots and lots of exercise and your dog needs a job to do.

Only reward for calm behavior, but you aren't going to get calm behavior until you find a way for your dog to burn off some gasoline. Bird dogs are bred to be high powered and to work hard for several hours without quitting.

Job can be simple. My dogs are trained to bring me their supper dish and place it in my hand after they finish their meal. That's a job that gives them a purpose. The hard-charging Australian shepherd has assigned himself the job of keeping crows out of the yard. Many bird dogs will play fetch, or learn to bring you items by name.

Teach your dog to sit if he wants to be petted. Then, by golly, if the dog comes to you and sits, don't ignore him, give him his reward.

We just laugh at our happy, bouncing, spinning, enthusiastic, leaping, 3 year old bird dog. Then take her outside and let her run a few more laps at 40 mph to burn off some energy. She gets obedience training every day. She gets several hard runs every day. Her manners are excellent, but she still vibrates with energy. A bit like driving a car with a 450 engine: it'll sit still at a stop light, but it rumbles while it does it.

[Featherfinder]

Just work on developing your dog's social skills. Sounds like he hasn't had much in this regard. No big issue really. Develop a plan/process - deliver the process.

[Warrior372]

I have a male French Brit who is 3.5 y/o. From the age of 5 months through about 12 months I would hike 5-7 miles in the foothills behind my house 5 or more days a week. He would do 2-3x my distance. Around 12 months he settled down quite a bit. Around the same time we got him neutered. Not sure if he settled with age, neutering or a little of both. He still needs a similar hike to the one mentioned above 1-2x a week an expansive area to run off leash for 30-45 minutes most other days of the week. Sweet as can be once he has exercised though.

[Featherfinder]

I'd hold off neutering until he matures a bit. I'd consider it at 20 months or so.

[Novice123]

Everyone, thanks for the comments. I haven't had a dog for 45 years, so your advice is really valuable to me. I live in town, so I can't always let him run like I would like. There are Wildlife Management Areas within 30 minutes of town and I have relatives within an hour that farm. However, when we only had one foot of snow cover, it was a bit hard for him to negotiate that depth of snow. Now we have 2 feet of snow, so I think the run outside will have to wait until some of that melts? We have had a blizzard the last 3 days and I haven't even been able to take him for a walk on a lease because I couldn't even walk down the sidewalk myself. I stopped petting him when he gets wild. I wait until he sits down before I take him on a walk or feed him. I think spending time with him has really helped. When we hang out in the family room during the day or in the evening, he is much calmer now that he knows our rules of not jumping on us or mouthing my hand. What had been really bothering me at first was the aggressive way he was mouthing my hand. Not biting, but grabbing my hand. I had to convince him that was a bad idea using a water spray bottle and some smacks on the mouth. Not proud of hitting my dog, but he stopped being aggressive with me. Now he loves hanging out with me in the family room and he mostly chews his beef bone or rope toy and occasionally comes to me for petting, but he is meek when he comes to me for petting now and not aggressive. Regarding a job for him, I like your idea. When I take the first obedience class on Monday, Jan. 6 then I can work him on obedience all week. He is somewhat retrieving his ball for me.