Question: My border collie mix has boundless energy. How to calm down an energetic dog and keep her entertained?
If your dog has too much energy (or what seems like too much energy), ask yourself the following: Is your pet getting enough exercise? Are you interacting (socializing) enough with her?
If the answer is no, the first way to calm down your energetic dog is go to the park, or better yet, an obedience class. This will mentally stimulate energetic dogs, which is just as important as physical exercise.
If you just don’t have the time, hire a dog walker or jogger. Or, on the other end of the extreme, you might even consider getting a doggie treadmill, although those things scare us!
Another trick: Offer a puzzle toy or a Kong. Kongs are hollow rubber cones you can stuff with food (peanut butter, kibble, cheese, honey) that’ll keep energetic dogs busy for hours. Then you can take a nap.
Beyond those simple things, we can dive into a proven way to calm down an energetic dog…
Try Clicker Training
The Whole Dog Journal heartily recommends a clicker-and-treat program to keep your dog at bay:
“One challenge with a high-energy dog is that the instant you try to praise or reward, he’s bouncing off the walls again. With the clicker, an instant of calm elicits a “click” during the calm behavior. Even if the delivery of the treat causes excitement, your dog still understands it was calm that caused the click-and-treat to happen. An added advantage of the clicker: when they hear the click, most dogs pause in anticipation of the coming morsel, drawing out the brief period of relatively calm behavior even longer.”
Reinforcing Tranquility
This video explains that you should get into the habit of having your pup sit down until he is perfectly calm and behaved.
Additional Resources
- The Whole Dog Journal: Training a hyperactive dog to calm down
- Peach Grove Animal Hospital: Excitable and disobedient dogs
Photo: Jackhynes/Flickr
