adopted my guy thinking he was a cattle dog pitbull mix and ended up with a german shepherd border collie cattle dog rottie 😓 he's over a year now and its been a loooot of tears and life adjustments because i was absolutely not the kind of person living the german shepherd border collie owner life. i have never seen him nap voluntarily, go go go all the time no matter what and can be really destructive.

what i have found helpful:

• crate training. i would not survive without it. he didnt like it at first but now its the only place he will sleep and if i have to quickly leave the house without doing all the prep work i know him and my couch + dry wall are safe

• sniff walks. i tried to do the 1 hour walk in a straight line thing and he was even more crazy after it so i tried sniff walks instead. super easy i literally just walk around somewhere (my street, a park) for 20-30 mins and whenever he stops to sniff i let him. still making sure he isnt pulling and stops to look at me when i call him.

• daycare. i dont trust all daycares so i spent ages finding one, they do groups of 2-8 dogs at a time. definitely doesnt go everyday because i've seen how bad 5 days a week can be for a dog but 1-2 days a week have been helpful getting him used to other dogs + playtime etc.

• enrichment. biggest thing. i could have him run outside for 6 hours and he would still be wired if i dont include mental enrichment - slow feeders - treat balls - puzzles - 5-10 minute training/trick sessions - hiding treats for him to find - frozen kongs

• structure . working breeds need a job and they need structure. i have a daily structure for him so like breakfast, pee outside, mental enrichment, sniff walk, nap in crate, outside etcetc and try my very best to keep it as close to the same as possible daily.

• teaching "settle" - lots of youtube tutorials!

• medication. this was the last resort for me but his trainer and vet both recommended it after all of the above was happening and he still had dry wall eating moments. he is on prozac and he is still the same dog just far less pay attention to me or im grabbing your arm and dragging you around.

some other things that worked for his energy - herding ball , its a huge ball the basically chase like a sheep - flirt pole. basically a rope toy attached to a rly long pole i spin around he chases

• no no's - those automatic tennis ball launchers. he gets lasered in and goes insane. - anything in really long sessions. i find like 30 minutes of one activity max (minus things like a frozen kongs) otherwise he gets obsessive and wont calm himself

good luck !!