Getting A Dog To 'switch Off'

[flea]

Any suggestions on 'helping' a dog calm down.

One of my four (spaniels) is a particularly high energy being who never seems to switch off.

Don't get me wrong- he's a lot of fun and being on acreage and having embraced clicker training he does have avenues to get some of that energy out.

I do really enjoy him as a dog (as I said a lot of fun) and after stopping/ reducing trialling etc mainly due to petrol costs I've come to realise that a title isn't the only meaning of life, and I'm happy just to enjoy him for who he is- it doesn't matter if he never gets into an agility ring.

Just sometimes he looks almost stressed (??) not too mention when training he is so fast in his effort to find the magic action that makes the clicker click that it's very hard to focus him into training a specific activity.

And taking him into any group training environment sends him almost psychotic with excitement (incessant barking, nano second focusing on 'everything' that's going on- hence I don't take him to any group training).

Vanessa

[Luke W]

Any suggestions on 'helping' a dog calm down.

One of my four (spaniels) is a particularly high energy being who never seems to switch off.

Don't get me wrong- he's a lot of fun and being on acreage and having embraced clicker training he does have avenues to get some of that energy out.

I do really enjoy him as a dog (as I said a lot of fun) and after stopping/ reducing trialling etc mainly due to petrol costs I've come to realise that a title isn't the only meaning of life, and I'm happy just to enjoy him for who he is- it doesn't matter if he never gets into an agility ring.

Just sometimes he looks almost stressed (??) not too mention when training he is so fast in his effort to find the magic action that makes the clicker click that it's very hard to focus him into training a specific activity.

And taking him into any group training environment sends him almost psychotic with excitement (incessant barking, nano second focusing on 'everything' that's going on- hence I don't take him to any group training).

Vanessa

I've got a 4 month old cocker and I've been playing my version of 'on/off' game - recommended in one of the books or DVDs I've got...I think it was in the "In Focus Foundation Work" DVD - or maybe is was the Building Blocks for Performance Book...maybe both...

Anyway...

I play tug for short blocks..30 seconds getting him as excited as possible...then I say "Enough", put the tug toy away...then soothing, deep slow 'good boy', 'settle' and patting around his shoulders and face for 30 seconds...then into the tug for 30 seconds...I do lots of these little blocks - 30secs of tug, 30secs of calm, 1 minute of tug, 30secs of calm...mixing up the times...2 minutes of tug....3 minutes of calm....etc.

Edited July 2, 2008 by Luke W

[cramet]

some thing simular

play with him tug,ball what ever when your ready do some obediance after a minute or 2 go back to playing do that 4 or 5 each or untill you both stuffed from to much play

it is also a good way to get the dog focus as well because they see that if i do well at obediance i get to play again

[Luke W]

some thing simular

play with him tug,ball what ever when your ready do some obediance after a minute or 2 go back to playing do that 4 or 5 each or untill you both stuffed from to much play

it is also a good way to get the dog focus as well because they see that if i do well at obediance i get to play again

I do that too.

It amazing (for me at least) how much difference in focus being fired up makes.

[dogdude]

Not sure what you are asking? Do you want to calm the dog down for training purposes? Or just in general?

For training purposes, get the food reward away from the dog, to a distance where he is slightly less excited (i.e a target bag). The further away the reward is, the more energy will be put into focus. Also..... lose the clicker and replace with a marker word.

If the dog can't focus on you in a group class, its because everything else around him is more interesting than you. Only you can change that.

It sounds like drive training may suit your dog. You would probably have more luck competing for his attention by fighting fire with fire (i.e a prey item). You won't need to wear your dog out if you choose the right method (one that teaches the dog self control)