strange behaviour?

jsabina

Hi,
here again with questions about Jago :P
Now he is 9 months old.. high energy dog really.
So in the last 2 weeks he has been more in the garden with the good weather and started a "weird" behaviour.
He start running around zig zag, sniffing, like looking for something.. take the ball.. put down.. run zig zag and take it again etc etc... like if looking for something.
I thought he was bored, but he is doing the same also if we go out and he is off leash (he did that for 30 minutes in marlay park last week :P).
What I don't like is that he play less with other dogs / me and he doesn't really listen to me when he is in "this mood".

Now every time that I leave him off leash after a while of normal playing he starts like that..
Don't know I've never seen this behaviour before?
Also yesterday after he has been in day care for all day!!!
Ideas?

falabo

What breed is he ? I have Cocker Spaniels who would litteraly be sniffing ALL DAY. When they are outside that's all the do. Same circles, same pattern, over and over. Also when we go to a friends house that has land, they just run and run and run. I timed it one day, 5 hours at full speed only coming back for very quick sips of water.

Forgot to mention the tails going very fast too, the are now known as HELICOCKERS.

Hope that helps.

tk123

I would say it's 100% normal because he's part setter - my friend's setter does that all day long!! He can be aloof as well - like he'll be off on his own chasing flies etc or playing with a ball for ages and then remembers he's on a walk with us and comes over :rolleyes:

orchidsrpretty

I have two boxers that do the same, they would be walking normally and then just go crazy,running really fast all over the place, stopping for a second and the taking off again. I just put it doen to getting rid of bursts of energy.

aonb

Given the power of a dogs sense of smell, your dog is having a ball JSabina! My husband has a game he plays with 1 of our dogs: 'draws' a dog-choc on the floor making a pattern all around the room. Then the dog comes in, and follows that pattern smelling where the dog-choc has been - incredible! He gets the treat at the end!

I love this extract from "Understanding your dog for Dummies":

"A dog's nose not only dominates her face, but her brain, as well. In fact, a dog relies on her sense of smell to interpret her world, in much the same way as people depend on their sight. Although this contrasting world view may be hard to imagine, know that your dog interprets as much information as you do. However, she does much of this by smelling an object or animal, not by staring at it. "

Read some more about dogs sense of smell on
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-a-dogs-sense-of-smell.html

jsabina

Oh thanks for all the answers!!
I was a bit concerned :P
My previous dog never did that and I've never noticed this behaviour before in other dogs :P
So if it's normal doesn't bother me... maybe I need to work a bit better on recall as he doesn't listen to me when busy with this running-sniffing-wagging tail..
Aaaah the changes of Jago adolescent :P :P
I will read the link thanks!