Energy Has to Go Somewhere

A dog with pent-up energy will spend it one way or another. Craters in the lawn and bodies launching off the couch are not defiance — they are pressure valves. Your dog is doing the only job it can find.

Breed is the part most owners skip. Terriers were bred to dig out badgers and rats. Herding dogs were bred to run all day. Retrievers were built to carry game for hours. Give a Border Collie two short potty walks and you have a working athlete sitting on a job it never gets. The yard becomes its timecard.