How To Calm Dogs Down

Before we jump into the HOW of calming dogs down, we need to remember WHY dogs are hyper and acting up in the first place.

Typically it is due to three major things:

  1. The dog isn’t being physically stimulated

  2. The dog isn’t being mentally stimulated

  3. The dog is a genetically hyper dog and bred to work and it isn’t getting worked in the way it needs to be worked. Most dogs were originally bred to work and do things and in todays world, most dogs are house pets in oversized boxes (houses and backyards.)

So how do we calm dogs down?

Below are a list of suggestions that all work. Some may work better than others.

  1. Train the dog 10-20 minutes a day.

  2. Walk the dog at least once a day.

  3. If the dog has drive and likes to chase and bite and play, use a flirt pole to engage the dogs drive and wear her out.

  4. Take the dog to doggy daycare.

  5. Put the dogs food in a puzzle toy and let them work to get their food out.

  6. Play fetch with the dog.

  7. Go to a dog park.

  8. Play find it with kibbles in the yard. (Take a kibble, throw it for the dog and let them go search and find it.)

  9. Find a dog sport for the dog.

  10. Ignore bad and hyper behaviors as much as possible.

  11. Try out aromatherapy (consult a veterinarian or holistic professional to find out what smells work for your dog and which methods of dispersal are safe.)

  12. Get an XDog vest for walks and workouts so the dog gets wore out faster.

A common complaint we get:

“My dog chews EVERYTHING!!”

Lots of times what happens with dogs that chew literally everything is that the dog isn’t bored, its that the dog is going crazy! This wraps around to the same suggestions above. The owners have a high drive dog and aren’t giving it an avenue to do anything and as a by-product the dog is going crazy and chewing everything. The real solution isn’t to correct the problem necessarily, the problem is to stimulate the dogs mind and give the dog something to do and exercising the dog.

However, if they catch the dog chewing on something they shouldn’t be chewing on, they can correct the dog. After a correction, it is good to then re-direct the dog to something they can and should be chewing on.

If the dog is chewing on things when they are not home, then they need to isolate the dog. If they are open to a crate, then a crate is the ideal solution. If they don’t want to use a crate, getting a play pen, using a smaller room or an isolated room may be a good idea. If they can’t/won’t do this, then another solution is to send the dog to daycare when they aren’t home.

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