How To Calm An Over Excited Dog? [2024 guide]

Many people encounter a dog that is extremely excited and will not settle down. To calm an over-excited dog can be difficult. Some of you may even have tried to use a Dremel, television, or phone to help the calming process.

While these methods may work, they are also quite dangerous. What if the dog knocks the TV off its stand or breaks the television? Instead of using these unsafe methods, one should instead try to calm down the over-excited dog through training and natural resources.

There are many different ways to calm an over-excited dog. Being a dog trainer, I have seen all sorts of calming techniques for dogs. Calming a very anxious or over-excited dog is complex because we are dealing with the mind of another species.

Although your dog may not be at the point of chewing on your furniture or breaking your wall unit down, this article will still apply to you and help you tame that overly excited canine.

Effective dog training is possible, simply at home too, without the need to spend tonnes of fortune on obedience and training school. Homeschooling for dogs is real as well!

Over time, a dog that can calm itself down becomes important. Your dog shouldn’t always need you to be around to feel calm and not hyperactive.

Is Your Dog Easily Excited?

If you observe your puppy is peaceful one minute and then exhibits a behavior shift, such as zoomies (uncontrollably racing in circles or back and forth), jumping, mouthing and nipping, barking, spinning in circles, etcetera consult your veterinarian. All of these symptoms indicate that your dog has become overly stimulated.

Jumping, either in the air or on a person/object; barking/crying; racing around erratically; having the zoomies are the most typical signs of an over-excited dog. It appears to be out of control and wild in general.

If contrary to popular belief, your dog jumps, turns in circles, and barks, It’s not necessarily that he’s happy. All these signs can mean that he’s excited and has excess energy.

Being easily distracted, inability to focus on one thing, absence of a response from your dog because they are caught up in something are all signs of hyperactivity. A hyperactive dog may also run around relentlessly, pick up, mouth, or bark at random stuff, chew or tear anything they usually wouldn’t.

You may also notice your dog crying or whining more than usual. Their overall mood just doesn’t seem to be okay even though physically they may be active.

An extreme case of hyperactivity or over-excitement may also cause loss of urine from the dog when it wasn’t intended.

Why does my dog get overly excited?

Dog owners prefer their dogs to be cheerful and happy, but if dogs are too excited, this can lead to a lot of behavioral problems that persist for the rest of their lives. Over-excited dogs often exhibit the following behavioral patterns: jumping, circling for a while, and barking up a storm.

Overstimulation, stress, your behavior, extra energy, and conditioned behavior are the most prevalent causes of your dog becoming overly excited. Once you’ve identified the problem, you can attempt to reduce the trigger and achieve a calm and comfortable dog.

If your dog gets excited during a walk, this may be due to overstimulation. Even calm dogs can become agitated if it is implied that a certain thing triggers their behavior.

It’s important to note that too much exercise can be bad for the dog too! A high-energy dog that receives intensive training as an outlet for its energy is in a state of arousal.

When a dog exercises activities that excite it during the day, it produces stress hormones. When arousal and agitation become the norm, no amount of physical exercise will help correct the dog’s mental state. In fact, it may worsen the behavior.

Your dog may be getting hyperactive because of conditioned behavior like them getting excited when young, and you accidentally reinforcing it by giving attention or treats or pets.

A common misconception is that hyperactive dogs are happy dogs. This understanding is highly problematic as a dog parent. Over excitement could be a result of unhealthy mental stimulation or simply the lack of much-needed exercise.

You must also make a note if your dog is over-excited in general or situationally hyperactive. For example, you may observe that your pet gets anxious and jumpy when a stranger comes home or while going to the grocery store or the garden.

How do you calm a hyperactive and overexcited dog?

Understand the trigger

To understand how you can calm an excited dog, you must first note why your dog is so excited or hyperactive. Understand your dog’s triggers and then start working in that direction. Like I always suggest, going for the long-run solution is always better.

If they repeat the behavior after the same stimulus only, this isn’t general hyperactivity, and you will need to train them with focus on the particular behavior.

For the more general over-excitement, you will have to be consistent and patient while dealing with your dog.

Keep calm yourself

One thing that matters the most while calming your excited dog is to not be hyper yourself. Your mood reflects in your dog. I’ve given dog parents a task: be calm as much as possible. When you’re upset or excited, and your dog has already crossed the boundary of over-excitement, it’s nearly impossible for them to calm down!

You can assist them by being calm. Getting enraged at a hyperactive dog isn’t going to help you! Instead, sit calmly with them and take long, deep breaths.

Exercise

A physically tired dog is a happy dog! As a result, it’s critical to ensure that your dog gets plenty of physical and mental exercise.

The best way to calm an overexcited dog is to take a walk that takes it away from the stimulus. A walk provides direct exercise that will channel excess energy to your dogs without draining them.

Exercise and daily training are one of the best ways to change the behavior patterns of your dogs. Things like playing fetch, letting your dog search for hidden treats, or letting them run through an obstacle course are good ways to stimulate his mind. Take the effort to control the length and intensity of the activity.

Mental Stimulation

If used effectively, mental stimulation can be an excellent training technique. Every dog needs a different amount of exercise. It’s advisable to experiment with various amounts. You might also mentally exhaust them from time to time as an alternative to walks.

Reinforcement

If your dog is in a calm, submissive state, you can give it affection and attention to reinforce this condition. The best way to react to an overexcited dog is to ignore it through touch, eye contact, and conversation.

Toys

Another interesting way to calm your dog is by chewing toys. They are a great way to keep your puppy’s body and mind engaged, and if you buy one, you can stuff it with treats to get your dogs interested. Chewing toys keep the dog busy for a long time.

Dog Play Groups

If you have the time and resources, you may also enroll your doggo in a dog sports course like swimming or group play, etc. Meeting other canines will help them loosen up a little and bust any stress they may have in a better way.

Establish the Alpha

All the while, it’s important to keep in mind that your dog must know who is in charge. Being the alpha in your dog’s mind will change the game for you. This is why make sure you are in control since day one and confident about your parentship.

How do you train an excitable dog?

Your overexcited dog will never calm down unless you are no less enthusiastic and take note of your energy. By bringing calm to your personality, you can control the excitement of your dogs.

Most dog owners tend to shout at their dog to correct it, but this only increases the excitement of the dogs. If your dog remains overexcited for some time, you may consider starting it with obedience training. Once your dog starts running, a dog that loves strangers will say “no” to anything that rewards the absence of jumps.

In high-energy dogs, in addition to the basic training of good manners, a lot of training time is invested in impulse-controlled behavior. If your dog remains over-excited all the time, you should consider starting it with obedience training. Otherwise, you are wasting your time, and your dog is just practicing jumping behavior that you are trying to stop.

If you’ve come across the problem of over-excitement in your dog at an early stage, you are lucky. Puppies are the best to train. It’s like writing on a clean slate! It also means that you have to be more careful when you are with your dog because, well, they are pretty impressionable. You don’t have to even try, and the puppy has learned it!

At any given time, if you feel that it’s getting out of your hands and you need help. Contact a professional and train your dog under good guidance.

Conclusion

Some dogs are extremely excited and will not settle down. It is important to try to calm these dogs to avoid any harm or accidents that could occur as a result. Using more likely and safer methods, such as using a belly rub or dog treats, will allow you to calm down most dogs.

But as I’ve said before, use natural and durable methods to train your dog to be calm in general and not calm them down once and then again and again.

Is Your Dog Easily Excited?

Why does my dog get overly excited?