How to Deal with an Over Excitable Dog

A dog with too much energy can be especially draining. When you're gone for a few hours a day and come home to a dog that quite literally cannot sit still, the first response is often anger.

But, for a dog with too much energy prone to excitement, anger is the last thing you want to exhibit.

Many people attempt to understand what it is that causes this level of excitement in their dogs. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where all the bouncy, barking excitement comes from at times, but in other instances it might be as simple as pure boredom.

Helping a Bored Dog

A bored dog needs one thing - attention. And that attention should come in the form of as much exercise as possible. Over 90% of the time, the biggest culprit here is that the dog is being allowed to sit around at home and not do much of anything.

That lack of action can quickly turn them into a lump that will only make it harder for them to relax and enjoy the rest of their day. But, how much exercise do they really need?

It depends on the breed. Certain breeds like herding dogs or working dogs (malamutes and huskies) will need a LOT of exercise. We're talking 2-3 hours a day of walking or running to stimulate their desire to work.

Smaller dogs may not need as much exercise, but keep in mind that some breeds like terriers are also bred for work and will seemingly never run out of energy.

Dealing with Separation Anxiety

Sometimes, the over excitement is a simple matter of anxiety related to you leaving and then coming back home. To start with, stop rewarding your dog for this behaviour when you return home. You'll only make it worse in the long run.

Instead of giving the dog extra attention when you come home, ignore them and don't allow them to jump on you. When you have more time, start teaching them to stop reacting so vehemently when you leave the house.

This can take a lot of time and patience. You'll basically be going out and in of the door for very short periods of time, trying to stretch out the amount of time they can last before you return each day. Combine this with a good toy and their own space when you leave.

 Calming a Rambunctious Dog

The easiest way to calm a dog that is too wound up, assuming they are getting enough exercise, is to train them. The amount of work that goes into thinking through your commands can be extensive, pushing your dog's mental capabilities to the limit. Do that and they will often slow quite a bit.

This starts with teaching your dog that you maintain the lead role in your household. From there, however, you'll need to teach your dog simple tricks like sit, wait, and be quiet.

The dog will focus so intently on remaining still that they will quickly forget the source of their excitement and reach a calm state that is much easier to control.

Not all dogs will calm down completely. Some breeds are just more excitable than others and will always be a little perkier. Some dogs get overly excited when guests arrive but this can be resolved with proper dog obedience training. But, whenever a dog gets so excited that it infringes upon your daily schedule and activities, the odds are that the dog needs some kind of special attention to help reduce that overabundance of energy.

Before I go, I thought I'd let you know about a new dog training guide that I recently discovered. It's called "The Dog Training Tutor".

Inside, it contains a cutting-edge training method for putting a stop to all major dog behavioral problems.

First of all you should know that it is NOT about:

   1. Hitting, scolding or yelling at your dog
   2. Punishing your dog at all

What it IS about is this:

   1. Communicating with your dog by understanding and playing on his natural canine instincts so that he WANTS to obey you and enjoys learning new things

   2. Having FUN with your dog!

To find out more about "The Dog Training Tutor" visit:

   http://gooddogtrainingadvice.com/dogtutor.html