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"She's had four homes and been returned four times," the kennel aide told me. "This is her last chance."

I looked down at the wiggly 11 month old Border collie who was trying to do everything in her power to get my attention. She didn't have to; I took her home. Welcome to the world of hyperactivity. All of our other dogs had been fairly calm. A long walk a day and a fetch game in the afternoon were plenty to keep them happy. Not Patches. She was on the go after the first initial shyness wore off maybe 30 minutes. At first we were so delighted with her playfulness that keeping her entertained was no problem but as the days wore on, I realized that we had to give her a job so she didn't decide to be self-employed.

Fortunately for us, we live on 10 acres. We have a wholesale nursery and my husband spends a lot of time in the field. It was apparent after a week that our busy girl wasn't going anywhere we termed her the Velcro dog because she stayed within eyesight of both of us when she could. So, even though we had a fenced area, she was given the freedom to accompany my husband on his chores. She loved to run alongside the tractor and to ride in the truck with him to deliver plants. I took her to obedience (she was bored), to agility (it wasn't her thing) and finally invented games she enjoyed like carrying messages in her mouth to my husband in the field. She also, with a little cautionary supervision from us, made it her job to keep our 6 cats in line. Border Collies would make good air traffic controllers. They like for things like other animals and people to be where they want them to be. Take her to the beach and have one of us walk the shoreline and another further up on the beach and she exhausted herself running back and forth between the two.

We were lucky as we had acreage and time. For those with limited schedules, entertaining a busy dog can be as simple as enrolling him in Fly Ball or other agility competitions. Sight hounds love coursing events. Every dog likes running and walking; many enjoy swimming. If you can train your dog to run beside your bike or horse, even better. Our children loved to play hide and seek in the house. So did Patches. Our children loved to go on treasure hunts where we hid a favorite item. So did Patches. She learned the names of various items in the house and whenever she seemed bored in the evening, I would send her on a quest to find "my slippers, purple bunny, or wooly lamb." She would race up the stairs and charge back with the requested item, ready for the next challenge.

Energetic dogs are dogs with a work ethic. They like to pull the covers off of you in the morning and get you going. If you let them do it as part of their job, they'll love you for it and believe it or not, you'll be better for the early start. Energetic dogs make for healthy owners. A lady down the street adopted an energetic Samoyed after she retired. She's lost 15 lbs. we see her go sailing past our house every morning and they both look happy.

If you adopt an energetic rescue dog, you need to be creative to channel its energy in useful ways. Patches' first four owners had not and had returned her to the shelter each time saying she was too hard to live with. Fortunately for us, the dog personality evaluators saw her potential and we got her. She died of cancer over a year ago, and we're seriously thinking of getting another energetic companion. I wouldn't have any other kind.

Learn more about this author, Cynthia Wall.
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