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. 😀
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 question how much should a husky at 5months weigh??
Shania was around 27 pounds. Lara was probably a couple of pounds lighter.
Hello,
I recently rescued a one and a half year old pug. She’s my first small dog and she’s a fluffy ball of energy. We go on two walks a day that are an hour or longer. She has plenty of toys and I give her a lot of attention. She’s still SUPER hyper. She’s constantly tormenting my other animals and I don’t know what to do. I would love to let her run around in the yard but she’s an escape artist! When its time for bed all
ssslshe wants to do is play.
Heh – yeah I hear that Pugs calm down after around 3 years old.
Does she get along with other dogs? Play sessions with other dogs helped my Sibe puppy drain a lot of energy. Pugs have short noses though, so make sure they do not over-exercise especially in hot or humid weather.
I also make my dogs work for all of their food. Frozen Kongs were helpful in keeping my Sibe puppy busy and helping her calm down before bed. Couple of hours before bed, we have quiet time so that she gets to calm down. If she is active right before bedtime, she gets too excited to go to bed.
i have 10 week old male puppy he was given to us at 7 weeks old. He is very super hyperactive. He bites whenever i put a leash on him and bites the bottom leg which is getting to hard. when taken for a walk he pulls so hard, likes to jump on people i had to restrain him. I need help up to my wits now. i have try putting a dog toy on his mouth, no luck on that either.
thank you
Hello Sarah,
In terms of biting at home, here are some things that helped with my dogs-
1. Bite inhibition training.
2. Consistent no-mark and alternative command.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout
In terms of pulling, here are some of my experiences with leash training-
http://shibashake.com/dog/leash-training-your-dog
Here is what I did for dog jumping-
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-your-dog-from-jumping-on-people
Some other things that helped with my dogs during puppyhood-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy
Shibashake- Hi I have my dog going to the science fair. I want her to be calm. What should i do???
Heh, my Sibe puppy Lara also gets really excited when going to people or dog events. The more of them I take her to though, the better she is. I usually start with places that have lower people density, e.g. the park during off hours. That way, she gets used to a smaller number of people, then I slowly make my way up.
If she misbehaves, I just take her away a certain distance until she can calm down. Then I try bringing her back slowly. If she starts getting over-excited again, we move away again and just repeat. I did this at a Husky event that we went to, and after a bit of this, she was able to calm down.
What kind of dog do you have? How is she when on neighborhood and park walks?
Good luck at the fair! Let us know how it goes. 😀
Hi,
I have a 10 week old siberian husky his name is Gage. He bites constantly, he follows behind everyone and bites their pants. He’s even broken a tooth by doing so. He also goes for fingers and toes alot. We have also tried to potty train him, he wouldn’t use it outside, so we started using puppy pads. He would potty around it, but not on it. This is the first time ever owning a siberian, so I’m not sure what to do. Help? 🙂
Hello LeAnn,
In terms of play-biting, two things were helpful with my dogs-
1. Bite inhibition training.
2. Redirecting the dog onto something else or giving an alternative command.
Here is more on my experiences with puppy biting.
Here is what I did while potty training my Sibes-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-potty-training-facts-and-myths
The first few weeks are always the most difficult. I was reminded of that last year when I got another Sibe. It takes a while to potty train a Sibe puppy, but if we reward good behaviors well, and are very consistent, then they will learn in no time. 😀
http://shibashake.com/dog/a-new-puppy-first-10-days-of-hell
Hugs to Gage and congratulations on your new Husky puppy!
Hello! I have a 10 month old German Shepherd and he is SUPER hyper. My husband and I leave him in his crate and whenever we let him out he will run in circles for an hour nonstop and grab his toys and beg us to play. We will lay on the couch watching TV and he’ll try to jump on the couch and shove his toys in our face. We have tried to calm him down but all he does is get even more excited. It’s been like this for months and we don’t know what to do. We have tried everything! The calm energy vibe, the food toys, taking him for walks(he is very out of control when we walk him), etc.
Heh – yeah sounds like my Sibe puppy Lara. She is always on the go and always ready to play. 😀
Some things that I do with Lara-
1. When she was younger, I fed most of her food to her using frozen Kongs. That keeps her busy for a while doing something calm, and she is usually ready to rest for a bit after that.
2. I walk her over 1.5 hours every day and we have several play sessions. Here are some things that helped me with leash training –
http://shibashake.com/dog/leash-training-your-dog
3. We do commands every day – throughout the day.
4. She plays a bunch with my other dogs – supervised.
5. We reserve a place at the back of our backyard where she gets to dig.
Hi my dog does very well when we are “alone” I used to have a roomate that did the oppposite of what I tried to practice, Calm behavior being a main one (this person was more hyper than my dog) now my roomie is gone and Im doing the obedience training over again, but when he sees the former roomie again he goes bonkers wild bananas!!! He literally runs in circles and slams into the walls repeatedly. How can I stop this? Xroomie has been warned that i will come down like a samurai if he continues to hype up my dog but even if he’s just standing there quietly my dog engages in this crazy desperate behavior. =( I want control here and I want my dog to be calm no matter who is present.
Hello Karen,
People desensitization exercises may help.
The key is to use distance to weaken the strength of the excitement stimulus and only expose a dog to little amounts of it at a time. This allows us to set our dog up for success and slowly teach him to stay calm.
Hi I have a 2 year old rottweiler cross husky he is generally well behaved and calm in the house but when we walk him he is a bad puller we have recently started doing lead training (stopping when he pulls and not moving until the lead is slack) which is going well however when ever he see’s another dog he gets so excitable and pulls so badly he doesnt hear anything we say! He isnt aggressive just over excited! We walk him for at least an hour a day so dont think its not enough excercise we dont know what to do to calm him down with other dogs??
Thank you xxx
Hello Alex,
My Shiba Inu also used to be really reactive to other dogs. Some things that helped with him-
1. Being calm. If I get anxious or nervous, he picks up on my energy and gets even more excited.
2. Neutral experiences. I create space, ignore the other dogs, and make seeing dogs as calm and boring as possible.
3. Desensitization exercises with other dogs.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
hi!, our dog is 10 months old, she’s so very hyper and she always eat and chew everything, when we had a dog walking she’s so very innocence and when she see other people she’s afraid. what will i do?
Hello Camille,
Yeah puppies think that everything is interesting so they try to put everything into their mouth. When my pup chews on something bad or dangerous, I give her a no-mark (e.g. Ack-ack). This lets her know that the behavior is undesirable. Then I redirect her to chew on a toy. If she redirects, then I praise her and reward her with a game. Very quickly she learned that certain objects are more fun than others because she gets rewarded for chewing on them.
In terms of people, here are some things that can help dog meetings be less stressful-
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-meet-a-dog
Desensitization exercises can also be helpful-
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#people
Hi i have a problem with my puppy shes only a few months old about 6 or 5 we have taken her for walks and everytime we take her shes getting out of her lead and ot coming back we’ve tried a sorts of leads but its not working someone help please 🙁 im worried that maybe one time shes going to get run over please reply!!!!!!
Do you mean she is escaping from her collar? I use the Premier martingale no-slip collar. It is great at preventing collar escapes. I size it so that at its tightest, it is the size of a regular flat collar. For sizing a flat collar, I just use the 2 finger rule. Make sure to resize as puppy grows.
Many flat collars slip with use, and therefore may have to be continuously readjusted to make sure that it does not slip over and out of the dog’s head.
What kind of dog do you have? For smaller dogs, a harness may be more appropriate.
I also use a 6 foot leather leash during walks. It gives me good control and is great for leash training. Here is more on Dog Leash Training Equipment.