Hyperactive Dogs - How to Calm a Hyper Dog or Hyper Puppy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.