Hyperactive Dogs - How to Calm a Hyper Dog or Hyper Puppy
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All dogs are created equal but certain dogs are created more hyper than others. I happen to have two hyperactive dogs, a Siberian Husky and a Shiba Inu; so I have had my fair share of hyper dog challenges.
Here are some important lessons I have learned on how to calm a hyper dog or a hyper puppy.
Hyperactive Dog Tip 1
The best medicine for a hyper dog is calm energy.
The most important thing to remember if you have a hyper dog, is that you must always remain calm.
If you lose your temper, get frustrated, or become angry, your dog will pick up on that energy and become even more hyper. To calm your dog down, you must remain calm and project calm energy to him.
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Hyperactive Dog Tip 2
Make your dog work for his food.
A great way to exercise your dog mentally is through the use of interactive food toys. Some good ones include the Buster Cube, Premier Busy Buddy Collection, and of course Kongs.
Frozen Kongs are great for when you have to leave your dog home alone. Just put some wet food into a classic Kong and freeze it. Your dog will have fun licking and chewing at it for a long time.
You can also figure out new ways to make your dog work for his food. For example. you can try putting his food on some paper and then bunch up the paper into a ball. Push the paper ball into a Holl-ee Roller ball. Your dog will have fun trying to get at that!
Another thing that works well is to get some Dr. Noy's toys. These toys have velcro openings to give you access to the squeakers inside the toy. Just open up the compartment, take out the squeaker, and put some food into the toy. My dogs have lots of fun trying to open up the toy.
It is best if you are around to supervise your dog when they are working on these toys to make sure that they do not swallow pieces of paper or pieces of the soft-toy.
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Hyperactive Dog Tip 3
Play fun games with your dog.
A game that my dog absolutely loves to play is the flirt pole.
A flirt pole is a simple pole/handle that is connected to a rope which has a toy at the end of it. You may create your own flirt pole or simply buy one.
I made my own flirt pole by attaching rope to a wooden drain plunger handle. I then attached the Premier Tennis Tail toy to the end of the rope. This Premier toy works well with the flirt pole because my dog loves chasing the fox like tail on the toy.
With the flirt pole, you may exercise your dog while not having to overly exert yourself. Other fun dog play games include soccer, catch, fetch, and tug-of-war.
Hyperactive Dog Tip 4
Do obedience training with your dog every day.
Enroll in a dog obedience training class or get a good positive reinforcement dog training book. Have short (10-15 minutes) obedience training sessions with your dog several times per day.
This will help establish you as a pack leader, improve your bond with your dog, exercise your dog's mind, and give you good tools to help control your dog in the house.
Hyperactive Dog Tip 5
Walk with your dog around the neighborhood or go on a fun hiking trip.
Neighborhood walks are a great way to exercise your dog and socialize him to people. Walking can also help with obedience and bonding.
You may walk your dog on a loose leash or in a heel position. I find it best to keep my dog on a loose leash for most of my walk. I only put him on the heel position when I need greater control, for example when I see another dog, cat, or squirrel; when young children are around; or when my dog starts to get reactive.
Dogs enjoy roaming around and smelling social markers (dog urine) left by other dogs, and they can easily do this on a loose leash. Being on a heel position all the time is probably more boring than death for a dog. For a fun walking experience for both you and your dog, keep him on a loose leash.
In addition to neighborhood walks, it can also be lots of fun to go hiking with your dog.
Note that different parks or different trails within a park may have different leash rules (on-leash or off-leash). You may need to try out several different parks and different trails within the park before finding one that suits you and your dog.
Hiking can also be a great, low stress way, to socialize your dog to both people and other dogs. Unlike enclosed dog parks, hiking parks are larger and have a lower density of people and dogs. In hiking parks, owners are usually close to their dogs and are better able to control them. Hiking trails also offer an interesting environment for your dog to explore.
If you are too busy, consider hiring a dog walker to exercise your dog. Many dog walkers offer group-walks where they will take a small group of dogs out to a nearby off-leash park. This is a fun activity for your dog, and a sure way to tire him out while you are away at work.
Would you take your dog to an enclosed dog park?
See results without votingHyperactive Dog Tip 6
Organize play sessions with another dog.
One of the best ways to drain energy from your hyper dog is to organize play sessions with other dogs. Invite social dogs over to your house to have one-on-one play sessions.
You may also try dog daycare centers or enclosed dogs parks. I prefer daycare centers because they tend to have more social dogs. In addition, the dog playgroups are well-supervised, and therefore much safer.
Enclosed dog parks are open to all, so there may be aggressive and anti-social dogs. In addition, owners may not supervise their dogs well because they are socializing with the other people there.
In my experience, it is difficult to find a good enclosed dog park. There is always an element of danger when you take your dogs to an enclosed dog park because all it takes is one irresponsible dog owner for a dog fight to occur.
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Comments
Hello Prajesh,
Hyper is most often due to too much energy and not enough activity to release that energy. How old is your dog? What activity does he do every day?
Does he pull on the walk? When does he pull - all the time or just when he sees something interesting? Does he bite the leash?
For pulling - a good short-term solution is to use the Gentle Leader head-halti. It allows you to control large dogs with very little force. This will allow you to take your dog on longer walks for energy release. However, you still want to keep up with some regular leash training with a flat collar.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog-Walking-Leash-Training
Some of the things I do with my dogs every day -
1. Walks.
2. Obedience training.
3. They work for all of their food.
4. Play games (For a retriever - Fetch would be a great game to play with your dog)
Thanks for such a useful hub. I'm trying to train our puppy how to play fetch.
Thanks Tiger,
Oh she will so love to play Fetch :) What is her name btw?
I wish my dogs liked playing Fetch more. Usually they will Fetch once - and then they just look at me as if to say - "I got it the first time, you get it the second time" - lol
We have a spastic and energetic red merle Australian Shepherd who is always happy to see everyone. I'm pretty sure the tongue she whips everyone with (even in a passing hello lick) is linked to her hyperactive compulsion. If you snap your finger to tell her to stop doing something, she licks herself on the side or leg once or twice for comfort before darting off. She can't stop wiggling or licking or running. It never ends! Lol.
I think all of these tips you give will be very useful for her! Thank you for the hub.
Hello Sunny,
I love the look of Australian Shepherds. And red merle is such a unique coat. I have seen blue merle Shepherds, but never a red merle one.
And yeah Autralian Shepherds are very high energy - although someone told me that the Border Collie is even higher than that. I just can't imagine - lol.
Do you have any pictures of your girl in your hubs? Would love to see her.
Let me know how it goes :)
That's a great idea. I hadn't thought of that. I'll put together a hub all about my Aussie girls. Thank you! :)
I have a black lab, and i take her on walks, but I'm getting a tad bit bored of daily walks, and "play with the stick" or my dog getting very muddy in our stream/cattails. I wish i had a simple way to exercise my dog, that doesnt bore me or my dog.
Hello Anonymous,
Sounds like you and your dog will really enjoy getting involved with a dog sport. You can also compete in most of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dog_sports
There are a great variety so I am sure you will be able to find something that you and your dog will enjoy.
I have a 9 week old Springer spaniel and she is always hyper for about 3 hours non stop, is there anyway to calm her down? also, do you have any tips on how to get her to respect the older dog in the house? im also getting an 8 week old springer tomorrow, do you think she will react? Thank you :D
Hello Roisin,
Hope things are going well with your two puppies.
My Shiba was really hyper too when I first got him. Some things that really helped -
1. Making him work of all of this food.
2. Plenty of exercise - off-leash play-time with other puppies really tired him out. Walks are also important after they get fully immunized.
3. Puppy class - training was fun for me and really good mental exercise for my dog.
As for the older dog, make sure you give him as much alone time as he wants. He should have a safe area, e.g. kitchen or crate where he gets to rest away from the young'uns :)
Share some pictures of your puppies with us. Would love to see them.
my friend has a very hyper rottwieler she takes it for walks every day but its hard o socialize because everybody things the dog is mean because its a rottwieler its annoying when you walk ur dog and if a kid comes up to pet her the parents rush over and say dont touch that dog its mean
Hello Clair,
I know what you mean. I have a Siberian Husky, and some people think she is a wolf hybrid and are afraid of her. It is best to just move on with a smile :) Some people are also just afraid of dogs in general because they may have had bad experiences before.
The best way to socialize a dog is to first introduce him to all your friends, and acquaintances. People you know will more likely to listen to your instructions on the right way to meet a dog. Sometimes strangers will do crazy, unexpected things. One time I met a lady who tried to pick up my dog without asking and without any warning.
Doing obedience commands when people are around can also be very helpful. When people see my Sibe sitting and being calm, they are more likely to approach.
Hope this helps.
Once again a well laid out article on dogs.
Thanks healthgoji :)
What do you suggest for a super hyper dog (when it comes to inside the house or the backyard), totally anti-social dog (when it comes to just about anywhere that's not inside the house or the backyard), and completly agressive dog (when it comes to strangers in the house or the backyard). Thanks.
Hello hiditi,
My Shiba is also somewhat dog reactive so I understand some of the difficulties that you are going through. Some things that helped me with my Shiba include -
1. Desensitization exercises - slowly desensitize your dog to people first and then to other dogs. In general you want to help your dog re-associate people and other dogs with positive experiences. This article has more on desensitizing a dog to other dogs.
http://hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Deal-With-Dog
The process is similar wrt. a human. Just make sure you keep things safe. Always have your dog on a lead and and not within bite range of the human. With desensitization to people, you can also have the person toss your dog some good food from a distance. This will help him associate new people with yummy food.
2. Obedience exercises - Do obedience exercises with your dog for several short sessions every day. This will help you drain some of his energy and help you with control inside and outside the house.
3. Make him work for all of his food.
4. Take him out for shorter walks just around the house, but take him out more frequently. This will allow you to bring him home quickly and do a time-out if he acts out (e.g. leash bites etc) during the walk. However, he can still get his much needed exercise.
The more you can drain his energy, the more receptive he will be to the desensitization and obedience exercises.
I also highly recommend getting some help from a positive reinforcement professional trainer. A trainer will be able to observe your dog's behavior in real time, and come up with a training plan that is suited to your dog's needs.
Thank you for all your wonderful advice. I will have to try some of these ideas with Russell.
Thanks catwoman. Drop by and let us know which techniques work best for you and Russell.
I have a staffy who is nearly one years old now he is very hyper when people visit the home and alsovery hyper outside on walks i cannot let him off the lead and he pulls almost all the time. ive tryed almost everything i can think of to stop this behaviour as i have owned dogs before but he is the most differecult one i have owned so far he also crys alot in the home and seeks constant attention he is the same when outside with people always jumping up and generally doesnt listen to anything i say. Please help!!!
I have raised quite a few dogs in my life, including a wolf-hybrid (wolf-dog, depending what your view is), but I have never had as much trouble that I do now with my one year old male lab mix.
From the time he was seven weeks old, he ran and pulled, jumped from high heights, and ran and ran. I would give him two walks per day, two hours long each as often as I could.
During the winter months as he grew older this was quite dangerous as there was much ice and he would pull and pull. Nothing I did worked. Not the heel command. Not wearing him out by playing with him prior to the walk.
I would let my wolf hybrid play with him, and eventually she would even get exhausted from him. I would spend time playing with him, and I would provide him with activities, such as the Kong ball, fetch, jump for it. I've trained him to sit, lay down, stay, and come. But it takes me three times of repeating the command to get him to listen. Yes, I've used treats and rewards for praising. This was how I trained my wolf hybrid, and all of my other dogs. So, I know how to train a dog. In fact, my previous retriever mix was so well trained even the city police were impressed with him. But the one I have now is more than a handful.
I had him neutered at three months based on the Vet's recommendation. We believed it would calm him down, but even after a year old, he is still as hyper. I had to get a head halter to walk him on an easier method, but he still manages to pull and jerk. I've tried tips and advice from people just like you. I've tried the alpha command recommended to me (That was how I actually trained my wolf hybrid, but she was much different of course). I've tried the sit and stay, which works a little bit, but not for long.
It got to the point where the vet prescribed him medicine to calm him down. It worked for a while, but it soon became apparent one pill wasn't enough, not even combined with long walks, wrestling, training, playing, etc. But I cannot keep giving my dog medicine. He is on a high protein diet, as he eats the same food as my wolf-hybrid, and he has been on this diet since he was given to me as a gift after my retriever mixed passed away last year.
This really baffles me as to his behavior. The vet asked me what his breed was. He is part black Lab, part Poodle, and part Golden Retriever. I was then told these breeds were the worst to breed together at the same time, because it caused deep behavioral problems.
Now my question is this. What advice can you give to me that will tire my dog out and keep him behaving on his walks and in the home? Because I've tried every advice I've been given.
Although tonight I did try something new. I filled his Kong with some dog food, and stuck peanut butter on the top with some more dog food stuck to the kibble.
He was busy for about ten minutes with it, then busily bouncing and chewing the Kong around the large room, and now he's just rolling it around while he licks at it. But there must be more I can do. I may have to try out that fishing lure game with him and see if that works.
Hello Lass,
Some things to try -
1. Train him to give polite greetings. When he jumps on people, instruct them to turn away from him (don't move away- just turn) and totally ignore him (no talk, no touch, no eye-contact). You can also non-mark him (No, ack-ack), and move him away from the people as soon as he jumps. When he calms down and gives you a Sit - move him back to the person and let him try meeting again. If you keep repeating this exercise he will learn that jumping means don't get to greet people, but paws on the ground means affection and attention.
2. In terms on pulling check out -
http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog-Walking-Leash-Training
Draining some of his energy before the walk will also help. Some of the things Firestorm mentioned above may also be helpful for draining energy. Also check out my answer to Firestorm below.
Hello Firestorm,
You seem to have done a lot of research in this area already. Some other things that may help -
1. Finding him a good daycare and putting him there once or twice a week. This will give you a break and if you find a good daycare, they will tire him out by providing him with many play sessions with other dogs.
2. Picking up the pace during walks. You could try jogging with him, doing roller-blading, or cycling with him. Only do this under the direction of a professional trainer so that you keep things safe for you and your dog.
3. Let him carry his own water during walks. Give him a dog backpack during walks and let him work by carrying his own water, and your water. Only do this if he is totally healthy and does not have any joint issues. Make sure not to overload him.
4. Make him work for *all* of his food. Use more challenging interactive food toys. The Buster Cube is good as well as the Omega Ball.
http://www.shibashake.com/dog-supplies/best-dog-to
5. Maybe enroll him in an agility class. An agility course is great because it gives both mental and physical stimulation.
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.
Thank you for this article! It's very helpful!
I have a 7 month old extremely hyper border collie/golden retriever mix. I've had him for about 3 weeks now. He lives in the backyard because my mother is allergic to animals, but I'm out there working/playing with him several times for several minutes a day.
When I try to transfer him off the chain to the leash to walk him, he starts to take off running extremely fast. When he's on the leash, he'll start jumping up and nipping at my arms and hands. He does this at the beginning of every walk, and it makes it hard for me to walk him. If he sees another dog or person during the walk, he'll get excited and start jumping on them or on me again.
He weighs about 45 pounds now and is too big and too strong to be nipping and jumping. It seems like his previous owners didn't train him at all.
He learns very quickly, and after ten minutes he already understands "sit", but when he's hyper and jumping up, it's like he doesn't hear the command and completely ignores it. I'm planning on taking him to a friend's house soon to let him run around freely and play with their dog (they have a huge yard that's not fenced in), but I'm afraid he's going to run off so fast that I'll never find him.
I'm getting him fixed next month in hopes it will calm him down some and not make him run too far away from me. Do you have any suggestions for letting him loose at my friends' house? Anything else to make him calm down?
My Shiba used to do leash biting as well. This usually happens when he gets overly excited, and then redirects his excitement or frustration onto the leash.
More exercise, both mental and physical, helped a lot. I started doing short but frequent obedience sessions with my Shiba every day. Make sure to do an obedience session right before the walk so that you get him used to listening and focusing on you, then take him out.
Here are some of the things I tried with my Shiba for leash-biting -
http://hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Stop-Your-Dog
As for playing with your friend's dog, that sounds like a good idea. Introduce them slowly and make sure to always keep things safe. Some dogs may get protective over their home territory, so that is something to look out for.
Also, you may want to keep your dog on a really long lead at first to make sure he doesn't run off. They have 30 foot or even longer leads that people use to train their dogs on recall and such. Make sure to only use a flat collar and *NOT* a training collar.
Well I Have a Male australian shepeard and he really has a biting problem and also he is overly hyper and we dont know what top do with him at nights
Hello Gloria,
Australian Shepherds are wicked smart and they can do really well with obedience. They do have a tendency to nip though, being a herding dog.
Here are some things that may help with the nipping -
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-stop-your-dog-from-
Being a work dog, he also needs a lot of exercise during the day. Make him work for all of his food, walk him at least once every day, and do multiple short obedience sessions with him. Follow the NILIF program so that obedience becomes a way of life.
Very soon, he will be a model citizen. Good luck!
I have a lab mix that is just full of energy. due to my husband recent allergies to hime, the dog has to stay outside. I have a very large yard but no fence, so Sam has to stay on a chain, because he likes to run away. When people come to my house, they avoid getting near him because, he jumps, scratches, and mouths a lot. And it's dangerous, for small children, because he will nock them down, and get scratched by him tryinng to play with the kids. I try everyday ( though I have not had him long) to go outside and give him some attention, and try to pet and play with him, and come back with bleeding scratches, and ripped shirts from him tugging on the bottom of my shirt or pant leg. I also try to relieve him of some of his energy by walking him. But he pulls so hard it's nearly impossible for a woman my size to walk him. I just don't have the strenth. He is not aggressive, but people are scared of him. I have been told to put him in obedience classes, but I live in a house that is about 30 mins. away, from the city. What should I do?
I definitely second the obedience class suggestion. That will help to teach Sam what are good behaviors and what are undesirable behaviors. It will also give you the tools to control him inside and outside the house.
The chaining is also not ideal as he doesn't get any exercise and has a very small space to explore. It would be great to fence up the backyard so that he can have free rein. That will allow him to run, and help him get rid of some of his energy.
Also try out some of the activities above. It is boring to stay in a single place all day with nothing to do. Make him work for his food, and get him some high quality interactive toys and good chew toys. Make sure the chew toys are safe and durable - i.e. he can't hurt his teeth chewing them and he can't swallow large pieces of them.
You can also start training him at home. First you want to establish a consistent mark (e.g. Good) and a non-mark (No or Ack-ack). When he jumps, non-mark him (ack-ack) fold up your arms, and turn away from him. If he continues, then just walk away from him (this assumes that he is on-leash and can't follow you - get a friend's help if necessary). As soon as he is calm and not jumping, say Good, and start walking towards him. As soon as he starts jumping, non-mark again and and turn away. Then just keep repeating. This will teach him that not-jumping gets him your attention, and jumping gets no-attention. Do this many times every day and he will quickly learn not to jump.
Walking him every day will also help. Consider using a head-halti. It is great for keeping large dogs from pulling with very little force.
Also start to teach him the "sit" command. Sit will be useful because when he jumps, you can just give him an alternate command, i.e. Sit. Once he does it, you can praise him and treat him. This refocuses the undesirable behavior into something positive. I would combine teaching obedience commands with treats and bite-inhibition exercises.
Since he is a mouthy dog, bite inhibition will be important. To teach bite inhibition you want to hand feed him his food. Hold the food in a fist and feed him little bits slowly, if he grabs too hard, yelp 'Ouch' and stop feeding him temporarily. Then try again. If he uses a soft mouth, praise him and keep feeding him. You can also start by using a metal spoon to feed him if he bites too hard on your hand. It is uncomfortable to bite hard on a metal spoon so that can help to teach him to reduce the force of his bite. Once he starts to learn, you can switch to hand-feeding.
Sam sounds like a really sweet dog who just needs to learn what are our human rules, e.g. when meeting people, etc. There are many more things that they will teach in obedience class, and it will help with control and bonding. Plus it will be fun for both you and Sam.
Labs are work dogs so they are highly trainable.
Hey
i have a 91/2 week old male bichon frise
he has about a 3 hour hyper phase which usually starts at 5.30am!
in addition to chewing wires/cables, and getting friendly with my brothers leg!! and barking!
any advice?
he isnt lead trained yet, so walks are out of the question as he doesnt move! he starts training classes nect sunday but this only hafl an hour evry sunday.
thanks
Hi Charlotte,
I would definitely stop the leg-humping. When he does that, non-mark him (Ack-ack), and move him off. It may be easier to do using a drag lead with a flat collar.
Then, engage him in doing something else -obedience commands is usually a good exercise. If he goes back to humping, then put him in a brief time-out. Just be consistent and repeat doing this and he will quickly learn that humping will get him into a boring room with nothing to do.
For chewing, get him some safe chew toys. When he chews on something he should not, non-mark him (ack ack) and redirect him onto a sanctioned chew toy. If he starts playing with the chew toy, then praise him and play with him. You can also put a bit of food on the chew toy to attract his interest.
In general, you want to give him some structure, and teach him what are acceptable behaviors and what are not acceptable behaviors.
Here are some things that helped me when my Shiba was a puppy -
http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-train-a-puppy-train
Also make him work for all of his food. This will help him expend some physical and mental energy -
http://www.shibashake.com/dog-supplies/best-dog-to
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.
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Prajesh says:
4 months ago
I have a golden retriever and he never stops being hyper, i tried kong but he still is hyper and he gives up after. It is almost impossible to take him for a walk, what should i do?