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Over excitement

1K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Lilie 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello, my name is Bish and I’ve only just come across this forum and registered.
I’ve got a desexed four year old short haired German Shepherd named Leo. He’s a very well behaved pet and a joy to be around! I got Leo from a licensed breeder with all the paperwork. I’ve taken Leo to puppy school, then obedience classes and finally took him to an advanced class where he learnt to heel and recall in addition to other things all off lead.
Ever since we used to go to classes, all the trainers quickly pointed out that Leo was a very hyperactive dog, to the extent that when they would tell other members that they should used a high pitched tone with their dogs to excite them, they would turn around to me and tell me to try be as boring as possible when giving commands or playing with Leo as he’s already overly excited. No amount of exercise, fetch or any sort of game would exhaust him, he’s always willing to keep playing and go for long walks. I must admit that I’ve noticed that he has started calming down a lot more with ago though.
My query is in regards to when I go out to take him for his walk or even when I go out into the back yard where his kennel is. As soon as I walk out and he see’s me it’s almost as if he gets possessed! He starts panting very very heavily like he’s run a marathon, starts running around and doesn’t know how to contain himself! I’ve tried going out and ignoring him until he calms down before I give him any attention or before we set out on our walk, what happens is that he would start to calm down after a good 10-15 mins, but as soon as I acknowledge him or he notices that we’re about to go for the walk it’s back to square one again. I’ve tried doing this exercise for almost 2 hours once but still he would get excited and start the heavy panting again. Has anyone experienced that sort of behaviour before or can please provide any advice on what I can do? In case it helps, he gets fed once a day and its usually a mix of dry food and canned dog food/mackerel/raw minced meat.
If the answer is walking him more often or more exercise that’s ok, but I just want to know how to get him in a calm state as soon as I step into the backyard and he sees me before we go on our walk....
 
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#2 ·
I would try something more along the lines of mental stimulation.

Try hiding his ball or food and making him find it. Try hide-and-seek and other things where he must THINK before he DOES. ;)
 
#3 ·
... but I just want to know how to get him in a calm state as soon as I step into the backyard and he sees me before we go on our walk....
Bring him inside the house.

Seriously, he's so excited because he wants to be WITH you. Having him away from you for a large period of his day makes it that much harder for him to be calm when he sees you.
 
#4 ·
Bring him inside the house.

Seriously, he's so excited because he wants to be WITH you. Having him away from you for a large period of his day makes it that much harder for him to be calm when he sees you.
I get what you mean but unfortunately I can't do that as the rest of the family don't allow him inside because of his constant shedding and our house is fairly small and he’s a pretty big boy :(
 
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