Natural Remedies For Excitable Dog

[Waggy]

I have a lovely two year old small terrier who is a very friendly boy BUT can get very excited and over the top when he is with people . He also is very unsettled inside and gets excited and runs around and takes ages to settle. Does anyone know of a natural remedy that helps excitable dogs settle. Not keen on using drugs etc. any ideas would be appreciated.

[Steph M]

A good trainer! :)

There's lots of cool settling techniques some on here have, but training and reinforcement much better than natural remedies.

[karly101]

An Adaptil collar - last for a month coupled with behavior modification training.

There is a calming paste you can try too - I've heard mixed results (value plus calming paste). A thunder shirt could also possibly help.

Don't necessarily close your mind off to drugs... drugs can be incredibly helpful as a short term solution coupled with behaviour modification - if the behaviour is anxiety based then sometimes drugs can help take them down a notch to make the training easier and increase success rates. I'm not saying they are even necessary but they can be a really good option.

[Ci]

Bach Flower Essences work well.

Rescue Remedy is the main one that people use. Get the original. There are a few different ones and there is a sleepytime one but it has alot of stuff in it.

I know a few people who give their terriers, mainly Jack Russells, a drop or two when they are going abit nuts!!!

The amount is different for each dog. Start with a couple of drops and see how you go. You can get it from vets, chemists, or health food/natural medicine places.

[persephone]

Lots of mental work /training . :)

[sas]

Rescue Remedy does have a sleep formula but it doesn't have a lot of other stuff in it.

Rescue Remedy is a 5 flower formula and their Sleep one is a 6 flower formula - there is nothing else in it other than the preservative and water.

I've found the best way to deal with such dogs is show them they can calm down themselves and you can teach them this through targeted games and activities, a trainer should be able to help you with this.

If you wanted a supplemental type option to work with as well as training there are a few options...

- A custom Bach flower remedy - I formula these myself - http://www.balanced-canine.com/#!bach/c786

- A dietary supplement such as PetArk Calm or Vetalogica Tranquil Calm

- Doses of Ester C and Vit B Complex - they are water soluble so any excess is removed from the body

Other:

- Look at the diet - Could you have more functional food ingredients rather than ones that contribute to inflammation that also affects behaviour?

- Exercise - age and breed appropriate

- Fitball training, look up a DVD called 'Get on the Ball' - a safe way to tire a dog including puppies

- Trick Training - exhausting the mind

As tired puppy is generally more well behaved. Obviously though if the puppy is crazy around people you need those people to follow your rules as to not reward puppy for excitable behaviours.

[Waggy]

Thanks all for your suggestions. Will try a combination of training and probably rescue remedy.

[Salukifan]

I think crate training would really assist here.

Self control is something that some dogs have to be taught.

[Ci]

I accidentally used the Sleepy Time once years ago When it very first appeared.

My parents brought for me not realizing it was different to the normal one, after one of the dogs was unwell and had to keep her quiet.

She has an allergic reaction to it and had to rush her to vet. It was definitely Sleepy Time as vet and I read the label trying to figure it out what happened and it had about 4 more ingredients than the normal Rescue remedy. Maybe its changed since then. I haven't looked at it since that incident.

Never had a problem with the normal Rescue Remedy.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Ci

[sas]

I accidentally used the Sleepy Time once years ago When it very first appeared.

My parents brought for me not realizing it was different to the normal one, after one of the dogs was unwell and had to keep her quiet.

She has an allergic reaction to it and had to rush her to vet. It was definitely Sleepy Time as vet and I read the label trying to figure it out what happened and it had about 4 more ingredients than the normal Rescue remedy. Maybe its changed since then. I haven't looked at it since that incident.

Never had a problem with the normal Rescue Remedy.

It's almost impossible to have a reaction to something that is 75% water, the preservative is incredibly diluted - perhaps you're thinking of a different product.

[Ci]

Nope it was something in the Sleepy time. It was the only thing she had had.

She came up in lumps on the side of her face and you could see it travel around her body.

Vet said she was obviously reacting to something in it. Whether it was the alcohol they used or one of the flowers is anyone's guess.

Like I said this was years ago when it first came out.

She has never had a problem with normal remedy.

[sas]

Nope it was something in the Sleepy time. It was the only thing she had had.

She came up in lumps on the side of her face and you could see it travel around her body.

Vet said she was obviously reacting to something in it. Whether it was the alcohol they used or one of the flowers is anyone's guess.

Like I said this was years ago when it first came out.

She has never had a problem with normal remedy.

It's not the flowers, they are so incredibly diluted, most people don't understand what the content is and how it's collected. If anything it would have to be the brandy. You must have a pretty sensitive dog. In canines I use Apple Cider Vinegar rather the Brandy. Brandy is also used in their RR formula.

[Poodle wrangler]

My standard poodle is an excitable one, too.

Regular walks + training make him much more settled.

We practice hyping up and calming down, too, in training.

Kids love the hyping part.

He also has a wire crate for visitors. Dog, not visitors, go in there :)

Some people either hate or are afraid of dogs.

[persephone]

A natural remedy ?

yep .

Training to be calm ...giving that little busy brain LOTS of stuff to learn ..and teaching appropriate behaviour around people.

tell me - if you had a 3 yr old child who ran up to visitors, climbed on their laps , and interrupted every conversation - would you be using a supplement/medication, or would you be teaching how to behave when the visitors are there ? ;)

It's not a great leap from that scenario, to a terrier ...really .....

Edited September 6, 2015 by persephone

[persephone]

oh - re reading ..

there is excitement ..and there is ANXIETY ... I am perhaps leaning the anxiety rote now ...

Ok - I have found something for you to read ..from HERE, an article by behaviourist /trainer , Mark Singer .

an excerpt :

Anxiety in dogs

I would say that at least 80% of home consultations I do for behavioural problems are due to high levels of anxiety being triggered..

Anxiety in dogs can be the driving force for so many behavioural problems, such as;

Incessant barking

Destructive behaviour

Excessive Digging

Over the top attention seeking behaviour

Aggression (dog to dog and dog to human)

Fear

Overly exuberant behaviour

Resource guarding

Separation Stress (AKA Separation anxiety)

Lead pulling

Excessive Biting/mouthing

Patrolling of boundaries, etc,etc

Many dog owners mistake anxiety for excitement or happy behaviour. Not realising in many instances the dog is overly stressed with anxiety.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I accidentally used the Sleepy Time once years ago When it very first appeared.

My parents brought for me not realizing it was different to the normal one, after one of the dogs was unwell and had to keep her quiet.

She has an allergic reaction to it and had to rush her to vet. It was definitely Sleepy Time as vet and I read the label trying to figure it out what happened and it had about 4 more ingredients than the normal Rescue remedy. Maybe its changed since then. I haven't looked at it since that incident.

Never had a problem with the normal Rescue Remedy.

It's almost impossible to have a reaction to something that is 75% water, the preservative is incredibly diluted - perhaps you're thinking of a different product.

ok are you sure you meant 75% water. As best I can tell most homeopathic remedies are more water than distilled water sold in bottles. So maybe closer to 99.9999999999% water.

Humans are 75% water. A lot of plants eg cucumber, lettuce etc. are over 90% water and dogs can react to those.

For this dog - I would be training for listening when excited ie pushing out the threshold of too excited to pay attention to owner. By working on the edge of it. The easiest way to do that is to get distance from the exciting thing. But sometimes - if it's visitors etc that are exciting - get them to be very very still and make no eye contact and no getting to approach or say hello if dog is too excited to pay attention to the boss. Ie when you are calm - you can take one step in the direction of exciting thing... but not until you are calm.

I made the mistake of trying to reward calm with food but my food monster - took that as an opportunity to chain together a naughty behaviour (eg acting excited) with the calm behaviour and so the over the top lunging, barking and yelling actually got worse, then she'd get all polite and calm when I asked - to get the treat. Evil hound indeed. So I don't use treats or food when trying for calm behaviour even tho some trainers say food is calming - I think I'd have to feed a very large amount and wait an hour to get that effect. (the same effect on most of us after Christmas Dinner).

Edited September 6, 2015 by Mrs Rusty Bucket