Want a Relaxed Dog?

You can help to calm an over excited or hyper dog.

Often we inadvertently reward hyper behaviour by giving attention and pats when they are jumping at us. Pawing and jumping is very common in dogs and unfortunately it is a habit for many dogs...and a habit that we have helped to create.

If a dog is jumping and pawing at us when we arrive home...and we pat and talk to our dogs. We have inadvertently rewarded that behaviour.....so why would your dog behave any differently when you next come home?

We pat our dogs and praise when they are in an overly excited state and this may be in an attempt to calm them.....when the reality is we are rewarding them over and over again for their hyper behaviour.

We have taught dogs that an overly excited state gets attention and pats.

Dogs that are rewarded for their hyper behaviour will show the SAME behaviour over and over again.....as they believe that is what we would like...because we reward them for this behaviour with pats and attention.

Don’t Encourage Hyper Excitement

The most important thing to remember when your dog approaches you with any hyper excitement is that how YOU react will determine whether this behavior becomes more or less frequent.

Actively Encourage and REWARD Calm Behavior

The other part to helping a hyper dog relax more is when your dog is CALM you can give pats, affection and attention, which will reinforce that CALM is rewarded.

A combination of ignoring overly excited behavior and rewarding calm behavior will help your dog to naturally show you more and more CALM.

Think about where your dog may show you the most hyper excitable behaviours....

• Before meals ?
• By a door waiting to go out ?
• When you get the lead out ?

What would happen if you waited for calm....and showed them that calm is to be rewarded.....if you can add little bits of calm into your day your dog will soon catch on and SHOW more calm.