Teaching a Pair of High Energy Dogs to Calm Down Before Getting Let Out

For this Omaha dog training session we share tips on how to teach dogs to calm themselves down to help 4 year-old Terrier Brussels mix Art and his roomie, 4 year-old Dachshund mix Bruiser.

The dogs are used to barking at guests and so we met outside so I could use some dog behaviorist tricks to make sure it was a positive and pleasant greeting. Once inside, the dogs did some barking and showed they had a lot of dog energy so I shared tips on how to exercise them quickly and easily.

When you have excitable dogs, its always a good idea to help them practice some self restraint and control in everyday tasks and activities. Asking for a sit before you pet a dog, put down the food, open a door, etc seems small, but if you do it all the time it becomes a powerful way to modify unwanted dog behavior.

Another great way to teach a dog to calm itself down is to wait for calm energy before interacting with the dog. Starting a process when a dog is calm, then stopping when it shows excitement – over and over – is a great, force free way to train a dog to calm down. This is a form of Operant Conditioning and I use it often as a Dog Behaviorist.

Because these high energy dogs are kept secluded to part of the house when the humans are away, I decided to use this repeating activity as a way to help the dogs practice calming down to get what they want. You can learn how to get dogs to calm themselves down before letting them out in the free dog training video below.

It will be easier to introduce this concept after the dogs have been properly exercised (and given time to catch their breath) and one at a time. If the guardian practices this trick to calm a dog down each time the dogs are let out, they will start calming themselves down faster and faster. Tips to stopping dog excitement are one of the things my clients request the most.

To help the humans remember all the positive dog training secrets we shared in this in home Omaha dog training session, we filmed a roadmap to success video that you can check out below.