Provide an Outlet — With Limitations
Keeping your dog’s mind stimulated can also help reduce excess energy. This is when playtime comes in. Things like playing fetch, having your dog search for a hidden treat, or running him through an obstacle course are all good ways to stimulate his mind and drain his energy.The key here is that you control the length and intensity of the activity. That’s where “limitations” come in. If your dog is getting too excited, then the game ends. This is a gentle sort of negative reinforcement. While rewarding calm behavior tells your dog, “When I settle down I get a treat,” creating limitations tells your dog, “If I get too crazy, the treat goes away.”
Wear Your Dog Out
Of course, it’s easier to keep your dog from being over-excited if she doesn’t have the energy to do it in the first place, which is why the walk is so important. It provides directed exercise and channels your dog’s excess energy while draining it.Just letting your dog out in the yard to run around and do her business is not the right kind of exercise. In fact, this kind of activity can often leave her more excited when it’s over and not less. Likewise, the purpose of the walk is not just so your dog can do her business and come home. It mimics the movement of the pack on a mission together to find food, water, and shelter. This helps your dog stay connected to her primal instincts, stay focused on moving forward, and drain her excess energy.The return home — where the food, water, and shelter are — becomes the reward for going on the excursion with the pack. By bringing your dog home with excess energy drained through exercise, she will associate her feeling of calm with this reward.
Can Dogs Get Too Excited?
Yes, dogs can get too excited. Often, excess energy is due to a lack of exercise. However, additional causes include a lack of socialization, overstimulation, stress, or conditioned behavior.
The general sign of an overly excited dog is if it acts “wild.” This means that the dog’s actions lack control; it ignores your commands or forgets its training.
Behaviors associated with wild excitement include:
The differences between a happy and an over-excited dog can initially be difficult to spot. This is because symptoms like jumping and running around are also signs of a happy dog. You’ll need to pay attention to your dog’s body language so that you know when your pup is acting abnormally.
How To Calm An Excited Dog (First Meeting) – Live Dog Demo!
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word zoomies as “A sudden burst of frenetic energy in which an animal runs to and from.” That’s right, over-excited dogs are so common that the Oxford Dictionary needed a word for it. If your pet has the zoomies, you may be wondering how to calm an over-excited dog for yourself!
We all love an energetic and happy puppy, but what happens if the dog becomes overwhelmed? Broken furniture, bathroom accidents, and excessive barking can stem from excited behavior. To make sure your pet stays gleeful but not overly excited, we put together this guide to help you calm down any puppy or dog!