11/04/2025
How much energy is too much energy? Why won’t your cockerpoo, collie, cockerspaniel, etc working breed dog settle?
The line between a dog being active because of their breed and being too much is a fine line.
🐾 So what's normal, and what isn’t?
Border collies will be your ride or die 24/7. In the middle of the night, if you ask, they’ll work. It doesn’t take much to get them going. They’ll go out in rain, snow, wind. They’ll keep working, sometimes to the point of heat exhaustion, and still try to go again.
As a Trusted Leader, your job is to give them a rich life full of exercise and enrichment. That can be frustrating in the average home, because their baseline for what they need is often much higher than yours. When they say, “It’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle,” they mean it.
To put it into perspective, an active day would look like:
🐕 ideally your collies are active for a few hours a day (3+).
🐕 Depending on the weather, you might head into the woods or river/ocean or stay home and play.
🐕 for example Stormi ran 20 km most days alongside her owner’s bike. At almost 8, she’s still covering more ground than anyone else.
🐕 Mitch used to do 8 km a day running beside a quad. He’s 8.5 now and in great shape. Griff has been clocked at 40 km/hr. In just 15 minutes, he can easily cover 3 km.
I often hear from people who say their dog just won’t settle. They’re usually feeling frustrated and tired, unsure if this is just what life with a herding dog is like or if something else is going on.
So, what’s typical? And what might be worth looking at more closely?
Even though working dogs can do a lot, they should settle after a reasonable amount of exercise and enrichment. It’ll vary by dog, but if you take your dog on an hour-long hike, give them a frozen Kong for half an hour, and do a little training (as a bare minimum), I’d expect a behaviourally sound dog to rest afterward.
Sure, teenagers might need some help winding down, but generally, you should be seeing naps and relaxation after that kind of day.
Your dog will find it easier to settle if their needs are met - if they are behaviourally sound.
🐕 Pepper is a German Shepherd. She found it difficult to settle - it was not a product of a lack of basic exercise and enrichment needs. It was because she was afraid, which prevented her from relaxing.
✨ If your dog needs constant input, chews, toys, training, running, flirt pole sessions, and still barks at you when you finally sit down at 7 pm, that might need a closer look.
✅ The good news! If, for some reason, bad weather, illness, or just a packed day, you don’t get out much, they might seem bored. They’ll sigh, shift around, maybe stare at you hopefully. But they cope. They wait it out. They rest, even if they’re a little underwhelmed by the day.
That’s different from a dog who’s struggling.
👋 If a dog isn't coping, it often doesn’t just look like boredom. It looks frantic.
👋 These dogs might pant heavily even at rest, pace the house endlessly, or drool despite not being hot or excited about food.
👋Some start nipping at sleeves or clothes. Others bark repeatedly or grab at toys or furniture, unable to self-regulate.
These aren’t just signs of a high-energy dog. These might be signs of distress.
✅ Sometimes, it’s about teaching a skill. Some dogs just don’t know how to relax. They want to be where the action is. If you get up to p*e, they’re with you. Head to the kitchen? They’re right there.
All that is normal. You can teach a dog to stay on their mat as you go about your day.
✅ The Trusted Leader Program teaches you and your dog to have an off-switch.
👋 But what if your dog won’t settle, despite your best efforts? You’ve trained. You’ve exercised. You’ve given them puzzles and chews and filled their day with activity. And yet, at the end of the day, they’re still pacing, panting, and unable to nap?
That’s when we need to look deeper.
Some dogs are in pain. Some are fearful. Some are anxious. Some are living with compulsive behaviour or sensory issues like sound sensitivity. We often think the answer is more activity, but that won’t help if the root issue is medical or behavioural.
If your dog isn’t settling because of pain, more exercise won’t fix it. If your dog is anxious, four Kongs a day won’t take that anxiety away.
If you feel missing just one day of keeping your dog constantly occupied will cause the whole house of cards to fall apart, or if you can’t get a moment of peace despite doing all the right things, it’s time to talk to your vet.
It might be that they aren't getting their needs met as much as we might think. But the vet is a good starting point to make sure we're on the right track with the rest of the plan.
As a trainer, I can help you with these issues but can't diagnose them. No trainer can.
In a nutshell:
The average dog needs more than you might want to do in a day, but they will relax when their needs are met.
Pacing, panting, nipping, barking, being "hyper-vigilant," responding to small noises, and being unable to relax despite a reasonable attempt to meet their needs, could be signs of bigger issues.
To find out more about your herder or working breed dog, check out the Trusted Leader Program©️
All the best
Ann-Marie Purvis
☎️ Call or message me WhatsApp 07377977083 to find out more.
For help with Dog Training or your Dog’s Behaviour problems 👍
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✅ Combining dog psychology and positive training
✅20+ yrs experience
✅ Internationally Certified
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