Our new Lab/Springer question

[waxworm09]

Well, we finally found our new dog. Our Lab died back in February and we finally started looking for a young female Lab to add to the family. We ended up finding a Lab/Springer mix that someone was giving away in the local paper. The dad is a purebred Springer and the mom a purebred Lab and both parents hunt. She turns 2 next month, she is 55 pounds, and she has already hunted last year and loves water and fetching. I had the gun out Saturday when we picked her up and she gets very excited by the sight of the gun, we are very happy with her except for one thing we are worried about, and that is her energy level. We live on 5 acres and she runs for hours during the day, we bring her inside in the evening because she will be a house dog, but she never tires out. My question is, how old is the average age when a Lab or Springer settle down a little bit? I have always heard 2, and she is almost there. We just arent used to this much energy from a dog, our other Lab and our current 7 year old Springer mix were always so calm, our Springer mix loves to play with other dogs, but he acts almost scared of her because she has so much energy and he doesnt want to be near her. We are very happy with her like I said, but just wondering about the energy level, we want to make sure her and our other dog become good friends, and so far he isnt too excited about her. Thanks for any answers you may have

[randallt]

What type of food are you feeding? Check the protein level and cut that in half (by changing food, not volume). I have a springer I was feeding level 4 Native, someone gave me that advice, so I cut to Level 2 and saw a very noticable difference. Good luck, sounds like you should have a hunting machine on your hands.

[UMC]

I've always heard they settle down around 3, but I wouldn't expect a huge transformation. Some dogs are just more hyper than others - just like people. Not sure if they make ritalin for dogs like they do for people though

[Tom7227]

I had a lab and for the first 10 years the dog had to run a lot. I used to take him out to a dirt road and run him behind the truck for 4-5 miles at 20+ mph, and then back again. If I didn't do that twice a week he was just very hard to handle. It takes a long run to get those dogs unwound and I doubt that it gets enough around the yard. Trainers hook the dogs up to a 4 wheeler and let the dogs pull them around on a road for a long time. You maybe should consider some longer distances. One word of caution - be very careful if you try to do it on a bike. I did and once the dog decided to take a sharp right. I hit it, went over the handlebars and raised my IQ 10 points. The broken wrist was worse than the concussion.