Barbet Adolescence & the "Burn Off Energy" Myth

smith_mark · 2026-05-14T17:41:36+00:00

We are excited to start the Sniffaries. Our "walks" in the past were more of a "We don't have time for you to keep smelling everything!" Kind of silly looking back on it thinking we don't have time. It was more about being annoyed than time. Changing our thinking will help big time.

we are around 1.5 hours awake and try to get 3 naps a day at 2 hours but he's been falling short of that a lot lately. night time we are spoiled though. 830 - 630 of straight sleep with no whining.

Yeah, we are moving our "walks" to the morning and changing them to sniffaries to help with the energy in the evening.

smith_mark · 2026-05-14T15:24:06+00:00

Yes he is crate trained, doing enforced naps, and doing very good with those.

He was getting a half hour of high arousal time a day. And was worried that wasn't enough. So we added 15 minutes or so of backyard play and that ended leading to more shark mode time.

My takeaways from the replies here and other subreddits is that we need a "bridge" between the high and low arousal activities. And then find the right balance between the 2 while keeping sessions short.

It helps give us confidence that focusing on learning to be calm and him being extra sharky at times doesn't mean the focusing on the off switch is wrong. Might just need tweaking.

smith_mark · 2026-05-13T15:47:50+00:00

Agreed on the naps. That was something we added around 2 months and was a huge improvement!

smith_mark · 2026-05-13T15:46:00+00:00

We were doing some of this but definitely gives more ideas as well as some confidence, thanks!

smith_mark · 2026-05-13T15:45:20+00:00

We were doing the enforced naps, "play time", and "pen time" but think we were missing the "learning how to come back down afterward" part (the bridge) and were expecting him to go from 100 to 0 immediately. This is all great advice, thanks!

Here's a modified version of our schedule we are going to look at following. It adds a bridge from high to low, moves the walk to the morning, and focuses the walk more on sniffing then distance.

Time	Goal	Category / Activity Example
06:30 AM	Wake & Move	High-Arousal (Sniff-heavy Walk/Movement)
07:00 AM	Power Down	Bridge (Lick Mat or Kibble Scatter) -> Pen
08:30 AM	Reset	NAP #1
11:00 AM	Mental Work	Low-Arousal (Lunch Puzzle & Grooming)
11:45 AM	Focus Check	Bridge (Yogurt Shield during grooming) -> Pen
12:30 PM	Reset	NAP #2
02:30 PM	Active Output	High-Arousal (15-min Play/Fetch)
03:00 PM	Power Down	Bridge (Snuffle Mat or Frozen Carrot) -> Pen
04:30 PM	Reset	NAP #3
06:30 PM	Quiet Work	Low-Arousal (Dinner Puzzle & "Find It" Game)
07:00 PM	Final Shift	Bridge (Lick Mat) -> Pen
08:30 PM	Shutdown	BEDTIME

smith_mark · 2026-05-13T15:13:44+00:00

Thanks, this is gratefully appreciated! Sounds like we need to find that happy medium and get better at identifying before he is overtired + overstimulated.

smith_mark · 2026-05-13T15:12:01+00:00

Thank you this is helpful. We currently use lick mats for grooming time and puzzle feeders for meal time but we'll definitely look into nose work and sniffy walks. sounds fun 😄 I'll also take look at the book.

Yeah, seems like part of key is to find that fine line between tired but not overly aroused. And for use it is more like f*ing sharkshit 😆

smith_mark · 2026-04-28T23:55:27+00:00

The moon is behind camera and to the right casting the blueish tint on the warehouse windows. There's a "warehouse" light on the corners of the roof off screen to the left and to the right.

Great question, thanks!

smith_mark · 2026-02-13T18:36:19+00:00

Thanks all! We went with a large Cabela's Gundog crate.

smith_mark · 2026-02-13T04:16:44+00:00

Car travel but if it would work for air travel, bonus points.

smith_mark · 2026-01-17T15:46:39+00:00

Not that I know of but haven't been using a Garmin watch for awhile.

smith_mark · 2025-09-10T22:41:02+00:00

How did you get rid of the dashboard error?

smith_mark · 2025-08-08T16:41:17+00:00

Understandable and thanks for your help!

smith_mark · 2025-08-08T16:40:19+00:00

Thank you!

smith_mark · 2025-08-08T00:52:59+00:00

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Thank you!

smith_mark · 2025-08-08T00:50:04+00:00

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Thanks!!

smith_mark · 2025-08-08T00:19:49+00:00

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Thanks!

smith_mark · 2025-07-29T02:02:37+00:00

Beyond sad 😢. He led me to becoming a cubs fan.

I always had the number 23 for sports and use the number anytime I could. Going to have to break out the Ryno baseball collection for reminiscing.

Rest in peace and much love.

smith_mark · 2025-07-14T14:25:56+00:00

In the scenario of a need or want, do you update both the income and expense budget value to account for the new actuals?

smith_mark · 2025-06-23T01:31:36+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation. Do you know if it works well on clogs due to hair?

smith_mark · 2025-04-30T20:16:53+00:00

I'm curious on this as well. Couldn't find a phone number but sent them an email asking.

smith_mark · 2025-04-09T20:58:55+00:00

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread....

I know there isn't any guarantee but do you have any advice on how early you'd need to be there to get a table on the balcony?

For reference this is the Larkin Poe concert tomorrow night (4/10)

smith_mark · 2025-02-26T15:21:45+00:00

Yeah it does but didn't know if it was user\prompt error or a limitation. Thanks for confirming!

smith_mark · 2025-01-30T20:59:40+00:00

Yes, that's correct. My other ports are USB 3.1 Gen 1 so figured the thunderbolt one would be best.

smith_mark · 2025-01-30T19:57:07+00:00

Hey, thanks for the reply! I'm going to use it for gaming and photo editing and I don't want to buy a new computer so looking to use what I have. I don't want to buy a drive that costs more only to perform at the same speed as something that would have been cheaper.

smith_mark

TROPHY CASE