All dogs are created equal, but certain dogs are created more hyper than others. I have three very energetic dogs, two Siberian Huskies and a Shiba Inu, so I have had my fair share of hyper dog challenges.
Here are some important lessons I learned, on how to calm a hyper dog or a hyper puppy.
1. Try to Remain Calm
One of the most important things to remember, if we have a hyper dog, is the best medicine for a hyper dog is calm energy.
If I lose my temper, get frustrated, or become angry, my dog will pick up on that energy and become even more hyper. When my dog is over-excited, I do my best to remain calm, and project calm energy to him.
2. Make Our Dog Work for His Food
I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs. This means that they have to do something for me first, before I give them something in return. NILIF is a great way to –
- Motivate my dogs to follow house-rules,
- Help them learn that people are the source of good stuff, and also
- Redirect their hyper energy into positive pursuits.
I use part of my dog’s daily food for good behaviors throughout the day, for being calm, for following commands, for walks, grooming, and more.
Whatever food is left over, I put in interactive food toys, so he has to work for that as well. Interactive food toys are a great way to exercise my dog mentally, and to keep him engaged in a positive activity. Some food toys that I use include the Buster Cube, Premier Busy Buddy Collection, and of course Kongs.
Frozen Kongs are great to keep my dog occupied when he is in his crate, or to help calm him down before bed-time. I put some wet food into a classic Kong and freeze it. My dog has fun licking and chewing at it, and has less time to get into trouble. š
Variety is the spice of life, therefore, I try to figure out new fun ways, to deploy my dog’s food. For example, I may put his food on some paper, bunch the paper up into a ball, and then push the paper ball into a Holl-ee Roller toy. Sephy has a fun time figuring out this food puzzle!
Another thing that works pretty well with my dog is the Egg Babies toy. These toys have openings to give us access to the squeaker balls within. I open up the compartment, take out the squeaker balls, and put some food into the toy. Sometimes I stuff a regular ball into it, to make the toy more challenging. The Egg Baby is a soft-toy though, so some dogs may try to chew or shred it.
It is important that we are around to supervise our dog when he is working on a toy. We want to make sure that he does not swallow pieces of paper, soft-toy fabric, or rubber.
If our dog likes swallowing paper or soft toy fabric, then *do not* give him such toys. With rubber toys, make sure he cannot tear chunks off, because they may become a choking hazard.
3. Play Fun Games with our Dog
A game that my dog absolutely loves to play is the flirt pole.
A flirt pole is a simple pole or handle that is connected to a rope, with a toy at the end. We may create our own flirt pole or simply buy one.
I made my own flirt pole by getting a drain-plunger and detaching its wooden handle. Then, I drilled some holes in the handle and tied some rope through it. Finally, I attached the other end of the rope to a Premier Tennis Tail Toy
. This Premier toy works well with my homemade flirt pole, because my dog loves chasing the fox-like tail on the toy.
However, it is only appropriate if we use regular rope, and not bungee or elastic cord. If we use an elastic cord, there is a high probability that the toy will bounce around a lot, and it may hit us, our dog, or others. As such, we should only use a very soft and light toy.
With this game, we may exercise our dog while not having to overly exert ourselves. Other fun dog play games include soccer, catch, fetch, and tug-of-war.
I always set up a consistent set of rules while playing with my dog. This helps to keep everyone safe, as well as helps my dog learn positive play behaviors and self-control.
4. Do Obedience Training Every Day
Enroll in a dog obedience training class or get a good positive reinforcement dog training book. Then, have short (10-15 minutes) training sessions with our dog, several times per day.
This will help establish us as pack leader, improve the bond with our dog, exercise our dog’s mind, and provide us with effective tools to control him in the house.
5. Daily Walks or Hiking Trips
Neighborhood walks are a great way to exercise our dog, and socialize him to people. Walking can also help with obedience and bonding.
We may walk our dog on a loose leash or in a heel position. Personally, I keep my dog on a loose leash most of the time. I only put him in a 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. They can easily do this on a loose leash. Being in a heel position all of the time, is probably more boring than death for a dog. Therefore, to provide a fun walking experience for everyone, relax, give our dog some freedom, and stop to smell the roses.
In addition to neighborhood walks, it can also be fun to go hiking on nature trails.
Note that different parks, or different trails within a park, may have different leash rules (on-leash or off-leash). We may have to try out a variety of parks and park-trails, before finding one that suits us and our dog.
Hiking can also be a relaxing way to socialize our 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 more engaged with their dogs, and are better able to control them. Hiking trails also offer an interesting environment for a dog to explore.
If we are too busy, consider hiring a dog walker to exercise our dog. Many dog walkers offer group-walks, where they will take a small group of dogs to a nearby off-leash park. This is a fun activity, and a good way to tire-out our furry friend while we are away at work.
6. Organize Play Sessions with Another Dog
One of the best ways to drain energy from a hyper dog, is to organize play sessions with other dogs. I invite social dogs over to my house, to have one-on-one play sessions.
Other possibilities include dog daycare centers or enclosed dogs parks. I prefer daycare centers because they usually screen a dog before admission, therefore, they usually have more social dogs. In addition, a good daycare will have dog playgroups that are well-supervised, as well as structured by size and energy, which makes things a lot 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 busy socializing with the other people at the park.
In my experience, it is difficult to find a good enclosed dog park. In addition, there is always an element of danger, because all it takes is one irresponsible dog owner, for a dog fight to occur. More on my enclosed dog park experiences.
While Dog Parks can be fun, they also bring plenty of NEGATIVE interactions by forcing your pet to come up against dogs that might be overly stimulated, short-tempered, outwardly aggressive or otherwise badly managed. Smart Socializing means keeping your friend dog-tolerant, and that involves AVOIDING dicey situations where conflict can spark.
~~[Smart Socializing]
I have a lab/golden retriever mix. He is extremely hyper and will not stop barking, day or night. He will sit still long enough for you to pet him, but the second you go to walk away he is trying to jump on you and snapping at your hand. He is starting to get very large and frankly, scares me at times. He is so strong and so hyper that it is hard for me to take him on a walk and Iām scared to out of fear that if we see another animal he will go crazy and I wonāt be able to control him. My neighbor has already started mentioning him barking so much and Iām worried that they will start complaining before long. My husband wants to get rid of him, but I donāt. I would like to keep him and figure out a solution to make it better. Any tips?
Hello Melissa,
Yeah both Labs and Goldens are working dogs so they are very energetic. The good news is that they are also highly trainable because they are bred to work together with people.
In terms of the biting, having rules and structure is very important. My first dog, a Shiba Inu was very mouthy and I instituted a lot of house rules and also a very fixed routine for him. Here are some of puppy biting tips I use with my own dogs.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting
In terms of leash training, here are some possibilities –
http://shibashake.com/dog/leash-training-your-dog
In terms of barking, here are some possibilities –
http://shibashake.com/dog/woof-woof-stop-dog-barking
Okay, it is now 11:47 PM at night & my wild mixed=breed dog is up & about & not ready to calm down. She’s been going strong since 8:30 AM this morning. She’s chewed just about everything in the house, destroyed expensive cell phones, a large air-cleaning machine, carpet, kitchen tiles, even the flagstone patio which she loves to eat. She’s eaten a chunck out of the leather seat in my old 1985 Jag, chewed up the drain pipes in my back yard, working on my window blinds as I speak, & chases every small animal that comes to my backyard from the woods. She chews off her leash & takes off to parts unknown, thru the woods, running like a gazelle over every neighbor’s yard & can’t catch her. Thought about having her vet get her on medication to calm her down, but hate to have a druggie dog. Yes, I’ve spent a fortune on personal dog training that didn’t work & yes, we take her to the dog park everyday & still, she doesn’t calm down. It’s never ending & driving me crazy. Any suggestions from any of you out there who may have experienced a dog (from the shelter) who acts like this. I’d welcome anything you could offer. Don’t want to take her back to a shelter as I know that was why she was in the shelter to start with, but…………
Hmmmm,
Engaging her in a dog sport may help because that would exercise her both physically and mentally, as well as get her focused on doing a common task with you. What dog sport works best would depend on her temperament and natural instincts.
Agility is always fun because there are a variety of different obstacles which makes things more interesting. The only issue I had with agility was that some of the better quality equipment can be pretty expensive to buy.
You may want to try taking her out with other dogs and go on long walks that will get her tired. Huskies don’t do well alone and need another dog to work out the energy. We have 2 huskies and they go non stop but don’t damage anything other than their toys. If you can do it I would go on a hike for the day and let her pull you up the hills, by the way you will need a harnes if you don’t have one. One more thing, try not to yell at her. Huskies pick up on voice tone and will go into overdrive so remain calm and you will see a better response. If you have to give her up then try to send her to a Huskie shelter. Good luck.
Hi we have a 6 year old Labrador retriever bitch Who is very hyper she is well exercised plays ball gets long walks but in the house is in your face all the time and is terrible round food,we got her a special food bowl because she would make her self sick with eating too quick,she is well trained. Ut can hardly stay at peace for long we have 3 other dogs who are all well enough behaved 2 Border Collies and a collie Cross
Some things that helped with my hyper Sibe pup –
1. Making her work for her food. She also just inhales her kibble. To control eating speed, she gets her food as frozen Kongs, in Kibble balls and other interactive toys, as part of a Find-It game in the backyard, or as rewards for doing obedience commands.
2. Follow the NILIF program – I only give her something (food, access to backyard, affection, scratches, etc.) after she does something for me first (Sit, Down, etc.).
3. She has rules in the house, when she is walking, when she is in the backyard, etc. If she gets in my face, I usually turn away and get her to do a Down. If she is good and does a Down, then I reward her with some kibble and affection. If she continues, then she gets tethered in the kitchen. If she starts to whine, then she goes to timeout.
In this way, she learns that to get affection, she should do a Down. If she does not do that, and continues to harass people, then she loses her access to people.
i have a rhodesian ridgeback/labrador retriever/beagle mix and even though he is a puppy almost an adult he jumps bites barkes chews scratches sprints and snaps at everything
What helped with my dogs is to communicate clearly and consistently to them as to what are desirable behaviors and what are undesirable behaviors.
I use a mark (Good Boy) for good behaviors and a no-mark (Ack-ack) for bad behaviors. A mark is usually followed up by giving them a reward, and a no-mark is usually followed up by taking something away from them.
Usually when dogs jump, bite, and bark, they get more attention from us. This is a reward for them, which causes them to jump, bite, and bark even more.
Here is an article on why dogs jump and some of the things I tried to discourage jumping.
Here are a couple of articles on mouthing –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting
I have an 11 month old fiest/terrier mix who is hyper 24/7. Even if we are running around all day he is still bouncing around at bed time. Any advice on how to calm this ball of energy?
Hello Miranda,
Some things that really helped with my current Sibe puppy –
1. Frozen Kongs –
I just put some wet food in a Bubble Kong and freeze them in the refrigerator. In the beginning, it took about 1 hour for puppy to finish which was pretty awesome. Now she finishes it in 15 minutes, but I tether her while she is working on it and after that she is happy to take a nap for a couple of hours.
Another Food game that is great is “Find-It”. I throw kibble all over the backyard and puppy loves going around looking for buried kibble. š
2. Puppy Play Groups –
After a play-group session puppy Lara is pretty conked out for the rest of the day. We go to supervised playgroups in a dog daycare place nearby which organizes them for free. Another possibility is to invite friendly neighborhood dogs over for one-on-one play sessions.
3. Hiking at the Park –
Hiking at the park also drains a lot of energy from puppy. I think it is because there are so many scents, so many people, dogs, a new environment, squirrels, and much more.
4. Keep things calm before sleep –
Puppy Lara has a few high energy play sessions with my other dogs in the evening. However, at least an hour before sleep-time I make sure she is in a quiet place and resting.This ensures that she is calm and ready for bed when the time comes. In the beginning I played with her before bed thinking that this would get her more tired, but it usually got her so excited that she couldn’t settle down. Now I give her some time to settle down before bed.
hi, i have a 3 year old bosten terrer named kc. he loves people ,but sometims he hurts them on accedent. He is really hyper. i’m not sure what to do about it. I just want to make him calm around peolpe and animals.
Hello Kathrine,
What has worked well with my Siberian is to keep greetings as low key as possible. Get your guests to follow the no talk, no touch, no eye-contact rule. No eye-contact is especially important because dogs often take that as an invitation to interact.
When my Sibe was a puppy I also kept a leash on her when people were visiting (only with a flat collar). If she got too hyper, I would use the leash and remove her from the room where the people are. This teaches her that –
Hyper behavior = Don’t get to be with people.
Calm behavior = Get rewarded with people affection and interaction.
Here is an article on how to stop a dog from jumping on people. It has a lot of relevant information on how to make greetings more low-key.
Hi, I have a 2 yr old Aussie, we adopted her about 5 months ago. I knew what I was getting when I adopted her, I just never expected her to be this hyper! I walk her daily, and then let her out on a lead 5 or 6 times a day. She has been to a trainer and does very well with obediance training, and we practice it with her everyday. She has a Kong ball, and another one of those balls you can put food in, we have given her bones, and she will be interested in them for maybe and hour or so, and then she is no longer interested. She is constantly on the go! 24/7 she never stops! Her trainer mentioned agility training, but she is over an hour away from where we live and we wouldn’t have the time to take her as much as she would need to go for that exercise. We are really at our wits ends, we don’t know what to do with her anymore! Our trainer has no more ideas. We do have 2 other dogs, including a Pug, which stays in the house with us also, and a Husky, but he stays outside (he prefers it that way, not my choice). She does very well with both of them, her and my Pug play constantly. But it still isn’t enough. Help!
Hi Chelsey,
One of my trainers at the SPCA has an Aussie and a B.Collie- she says that she spends all her time at home throwing tennis balls for them š
I don’t know what more I can add – you already know a lot about dogs and are already doing all the right things.
If you have a large backyard you could get some agility equipment and train her at home. I am sure she will love it. I was thinking of getting some agility stuff for my Shiba at one time, but they can get to be very expensive.
Another possibility is dog sports. Disc dog comes to mind. It can be a lot of fun and an Aussie would be great at it.
Flyball could also be fun, and it is something that can be combined with an agility course.
Biking is another possibility.
My Husky is the same way! She comes in occasionally for food and attention but loves being outside the rest of the time – even in the rain. We have voles in the backyard so she has a lot of fun digging and hunting for them.
Please keep us updated – would definitely like to hear which activities work best.
Yes, she plays with tennis balls, we don’t even have to throw them she does it herself. ha ha She’s a nut. š I did look at some of the agility equpiment, and you are right it’s pretty expensive. I will try some of your suggestions, it’s just like she still needs some other kind of stimulation, but we’re just not sure what that is. It’s funny you mentioned that about your Husky, ours is 4 and we tried to keep him in for about the first 7 months and he hated it! I guess it’s just that Husky attitude he has, ‘it’s my way or the highway’! I’m sure you know what I mean. We live in KY, and during the winter is the only time he even cares about being in the house, during the day he loves playing in the snow, but as soon as it gets dark he’s at the steps begging to get in, but as soon as it becomes light out he’s begging to get back out in it! They are hilarious dogs, and such a joy! Thanks for your input, I will let you know how it works out.
Awesome suggestions! I have a hyperactive dog, Levi. Levi is almost 10 months and he is a mix between a German Shorthaired pointer and a rat terrier! He loves every person, dog, cat, you name it that we come in contact with, which makes it hard to walk but with practice he has gotten a lot better.
Question, Levi loves to fetch inside but I can’t get him to fetch inside. Any suggestions on teaching him how to fetch outside as well.
Something that has worked for Levi is that I have a friend come over and she stands at the top of the stairs and I stand at the bottom and we have him run back and forth between us. Not only does he enjoy it and release a ton of energy but he is learning to come when someone calls his name. Sometimes I even run them with him and he really likes that!
I live in a really small town so I had to get creative! š
Thanks ChrisandLevi.
That is a great suggestion with the back-and-forth recall. I will often do the same thing with my Siberian! My Shiba is a lazy bum and often will just look at me as if to say – no thanks – lol.
Hmmm, what does Levi do when you do fetch outside? Does he just ignore the toy? Run to it but not come back? Get the toy and run around with it?
Dogs don’t usually generalize commands over different locations, so I try starting from the beginning as if I were teaching him fetch for the first time. Start by throwing just a short distance away and encouraging him to get the toy. Sometimes, I put a bit of peanut butter on it – to get my dogs interested. š
Another possibility is to run with the toy a certain distance. When my dog comes to me, I give him the toy, walk a couple of steps away, and call him to me.
Levi is a lucky boy! Creative dog owners are totally awesome because their dogs are always learning new things and exploring new things.
Hugs to Levi!
my puppy is 6 months and extra hyper. we take him on walk 15 30 min and play but he still seems to have so much energy. i like the energy but its when he bites and tugs because he wants to play more. he rips tons of clothes and furniture and my parents are thinking of finding a different home for him. BTW hes a lab collie mix
Hello gsidhu,
Labs and collies are both work dogs so a mix of the two will be pretty high energy. These breeds are usually happiest when they have a job and are mentally engaged.
After my puppy had all his shots, I started going on longer walks (about 45 mins). I try walking him twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening.
Obedience exercises are also a great way to exercise a puppy’s mind. I keep each session short (10 mins) but I do many sessions during the day.
Interactive food toys are also a great way to keep a puppy busy.
Here are some things that helped me with my puppy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
I Have a Jack Russel NOT Terrier.
He is called Stanley and he`s 5 months old.
I try and train him but he just runs off, barks
or sometimes bites and scratches.My famiily and I train him propley but he is just to hyper. What should I do to calm him down?
What really helped with my Shiba puppy is to establish some rules and routine for him right away. Consistency is very important when trying to stop undesirable behaviors.
Every time my Shiba did something inappropriate, e.g. mouths on me – I no-marked him (ack-ack), and redirected him to bite on a toy. If he redirects onto the toy, I praise him and reward him. In this way he learns that biting on the toy is ok but biting on people is not.
Here are more things that really helped me when my Shiba was a puppy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Also young puppies need a lot of exercise- both mental and physical exercise. It would be great to get everyone in the family to participate. Doing joint activities together will help to get rid of all that crazy energy as well as start building a strong bond.
The methods above helped me with my hyperactive Shiba.