Does your dog know his or her limits?

Just a question I'm wondering after having just had Psyche out for a good game of chuckit. She was still going even when she was snorting at me, and her tongue was like a mile long. I had gone out with the intention of letting her decide when we were done, but I had to stop her because she was just too hot.

So does your dog know when to call it quits? I always thought Psyche was pretty good at knowing when enough was enough, but I guess not.

Chloe does...

when we play fetch or frisbee, when she has had enough, she will stop and go lay down somewhere lol

Nope. Tika once collapsed on me when I was 9-10 because I wasn't very good at reading her and I thought she would stop when she got tired. I've never managed to get the others to their limit although I very nearly did one day with Fudge but I obviously stopped then.

Psyche's STILL panting and acting all "goofy". Usually when she's done she'll go lay down, but I don't think she was paying attention to how hot it is today.

Depends on the day. Sometimes Morgan will tell me when he's done (just give the toy back and wander off to lie down), and sometimes he's a crazed maniac animal that JUST. CANNOT. STOP!!!

Most of the time Pit's pretty good at calling quits when he's done, except when it comes to water and swimming. I need to drag him out when he starts shaking uncontrollably. Skinny toller doesn't have much insulation!

Chloe is good at calling it quits. When we play fetch in the yard and she gets tired, she'll refuse to bring the toy back and just go lay down somewhere. She gives off signals before hand, too, so I can typically tell when she's reaching "that point" and we just end it before it gets to there.

I always LOL when I see people post things like "You've gotta make sure your dog rests and doesn't run himself to the point of exhaustion"
because that is totally unfathomable to me. Romeo will literally just lie down or head home when he has had enough of something lol sometimes he will even lie down half way to getting the ball.

My moms dog, if FORCED to walk even a little bit more than one lap around the park will plant his butt down, slip out of the collar, bark at the doorman and stand in front of the elevator like "HOME. NAO." lol

For Bates, that would be a resounding NO. That dog does NOT know when he's tired or hurt.
Breez is not quite as extreme but will still not stop unless really hurt. Once spent an afternoon romping around on a sliced up paw and I had no idea. Put her in the car to come home and it was a bloodbath in there and I STILL didn't know which dog was hurt because she wasn't limping. That evening though she brought on the drama big time LOL.

The other two are huge babies

Dogs, like children (or adults for that matter) don't always have perfect judgment when it comes to what's good for them. To test this theory, why not present your dog with a large chocolate cake and then leave the room for an hour, lol.

I've seen dogs over exhaust themselves in New York dog runs in the summer. Sometimes the body doesn't warn you until it's too late.

Yeah, Jackson is good at it. He loves to swim but after he dives about 10-20 times almost in a "row" he generally will stop, lay down for a good hour, and then he's back at it again. He always lets me know when he's done playing *anything* really. lol. Also walking -- if it's too hot, he will just stop. I know he needs a break then so we'll take a 3 minute water break and then back to it.

Depends on the dog, my malinois haven't a clue. My apbt never knew either and honestly it's concerning me lately how quickly Arnold quits at things.

Oh I didn't mean that those kinds of dogs don't exist, I certainly have seen driven dogs really tire themselves out
I'm saying I don't own one of those dogs! lol especially in the Miami heat, my guys tire out and head home pretty easily after a bit of exercise

On hot days paired with long walks, Cameron will drag me into someone's yard so that she can rest under a shady tree. It's embarrassing, so I kind of just smile. I've head a couple people come out of their homes and look at me, but they've never asked me what I'm doing 10+ feet into their yard.

So embarrassing!

On walks (on or offleash) Sam will keep going and going and going. He used to know when he needed a break, but not so much anymore. I can usually tell when he is getting too tired because he either nudges me a lot or comes for more frequent 'visits' (when he's off leash).

No, not at ALL.

Yup. She just stops and goes and does something else. On a walk, she'll slow down, and slow down some more, until she is barely moving. Which is when I sit down with her and take a break

With the heat, her fur, and coloring, and age, she has been tiring out a lot really quickly :/

Kes - nope, not at all in pretty much any activity. I have to watch for a drop in performance to determine when to make him stop. He will also run thru pain/discomfrt with nary a sign.

Ziva - yup! She's very good at "going flop" when she's tired.

Aeri - mixed. She will keep going and going until she's past tired, but she does tend to stop before overheating/exhausting herself completely. She does not, however, stop due to pain.

No. Juno would go until it killed her. When we're playing flirt pole, I know she is tired when she lays down and just wants to chew it, but if I kept swinging it around she'd keep chasing it. Sometimes when she's getting hot or tired, she'll quit what she was doing and start pacing and whining, so then I have to make her come inside and chill out.

Yes and no. Blaze can and will go till he drops. It really depends on how into it he is and the heat, stress, fun, etc all play a big part. But he does give warning signs, which is nice.

Generally when we're playing ball when he stops dropping the ball when he brings it back to you that means he's tired. He won't quite, but it's his sign that he's tired.

When we're training in obedience, he again won't quite, but when he stops taking commands promtly and with ease (or he's getting confused easily) that means he's about had all his brain will take. Usually about 30/45 or so minutes of steady training.

During swimming/jumping when his jumps go sour, that means he's over heated and exhausted. We practiced dock diving for a good straight 45 minutes last summer at a pool we rented and by the end of that 45-ish minutes he was TIRED. We took a two hour break and when he came back he was fully charged and ready to go.


Lizzie on the other hand has *ZERO* heat tolerance. When we were doing agility lessons with her it was a pain because she would only go 5/10 minutes then her brain would shut down because she was getting too hot. She definitely knows her limits and will tell you.