Wear them Out

A word of advice on using the "tire them out" on puppies.  I have had several opportunities to puppy-sit puppies I bred.  I have given lots of "grandma" advice to the owners and it was always interesting to see how the puppies were doing.  Many owners use the "long walks, and lots of playing with the ball" to get the puppy tired enough to where he would not act up in the house.  Although it does appear to produce results temporarily, the tire-them-out technique will only produce very physically fit puppies that become harder and harder to tire out.   Your walks will become longer, you will have to get up earlier each morning, and eventually, you will get to the point where physical activity alone will not work.  I am not a believer that ACDs need "room to run".  ACDs need mental stimulation.  Yes, lots of room to explore does help to mentally stimulate them.  As does lots of interesting things to look at.  But ACDs can be just as balanced of a dog in a downtown apartment as they can on a 1500 acre ranch.  Please don't take this as advice to not do ball play and long walks, just realize, this alone will never solve your problem.

From a early age, I like to teach puppies they get no rewards when they are hyper and jumping around, and lots of rewards when you are calm and chilling out.  If fact, if they are hyper and jumping around, I hold them by the collar and only pet them and talk to them when the stop wiggling.  If you wiggle, I ignore but continue to restrain them.  Positive reward for the desired behavior will result in more of that behavior. 

Richard Shrake who is a world known horse trainer and author of the series of videos on "Resistance Free Training" has a video that discusses this same principle as it relates to horses.  He talks about the horse you have to work for 30 minutes prior to going in the ring, that then turns to an hour work out before showing and before you know it, you are getting up at 4am to start lounging the horse.  The best thing to do is teach the desired behavior.

Do to ACDs As they Don't Want Done unto Them.

 In the biblical principles of ACDs, this is a big one.  ACDs generally HATE being restrained.  So restrain them is what we need to do.  This starts before they even open their eyes.  They are put on their back as puppies until they submit.  The more restraining the human (aka - alpha member of society) can do teach them to tolerate restrain, the better adjusted the dog will become.  Silly things like laying on your back until I tell you to get up, allowing me to open and look at all of your teeth and pulling your lips back to look at the front teeth, etc. without you even moving a muscle are all methods of restraining.  ACDs also really hate having their face held with their eyes covered.  This is sort of one of those trust circle things.