How to Deal With A Hyperactive Dog
One of the great joys of dog ownership is the enthusiastic greeting your dog gives you when you arrive home. However, with some dogs this soon turns into a frenzy of barking, whining and jumping. In these cases the dog is most likely under-exercised or has anxiety or leadership issues.
I hope you’ve noticed the common thread here. All of these are things you control.
Helping A Bored Dog
In many cases where dogs become overexcited the cause is down to boredom – pure and simple. The dog receives little or no exercise and even less mental stimulation. He waits around all day in a state of anxiety, and when you return, releases like a wound up spring.
Tackling the problem is easy – exercise your dog. All dogs need it, and unfortunately too few get enough of it.
How much exercise does a dog need? Well that depends on the dog. Age, breed and health are all factors. Your little Peke will be quite happy with a stroll around the garden, but that’s just not going to cut it with a Lab, let alone a Border Collie.
Another Common Problem: Separation Anxiety
Anxiety and over excited behavior go hand in hand, and this is particularly true of dogs that are left on their own during the day. Separation anxiety can be a difficult problem to solve, but there are some steps that may lessen the dog’s distress.
*Stop Rewarding Your Dog – By this I mean stop giving attention, whether positive or negative, while the dog is running around, jumping up and barking. Once the dog has calmed down, give attention and maybe a treat to re-enforce the desired behavior.
*Vary Your Routine – Dogs are very tuned in to routines. Your dog will have noticed the ritual you go through every time you leave home. You probably don’t even know you have a “departure routine”, but your dog has noticed it, and it acts as a trigger for his anxiety. Deliberately varying your routine will break the trigger for his anxiety.
*Limit Access – Don’t give your dog the run of the house when you’re away, restrict him to a smaller area. You may even want to consider training your dog to stay in a dog crate when you’re not around.*Give him something to keep him occupied – A dog gets pretty bored hanging around for 10 to 12 hours with nothing to do. Keep him occupied with some chew toys, and a hidden treat or two to find.
Provide Leadership
A dog needs to know his place in the pack, and without this he is anxious and uncertain about how to behave. One of the best ways to help your dog understand his place in the “pecking order” is through obedience training.
Training provides discipline and mental stimulation. It also establishes your leadership. Once your dog accepts this, he’ll naturally calm down.
These three actions should have a calming effect on most dogs. Remember, though that some dogs are just naturally more excitable than others. Some will never calm down completely, regardless of what you do.
There’s lots more about dog training, dog care, facts about dogs and other useful dog advice at dogsanddogtraining.com
Tags: dog obedience training, dog training, dog training tips, dogs
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