Adding Structure to Help an Excited Puppy Calm Down and Behave on Walks

For this Santa Monica dog training session, we got to work with 5 year-old Yorkipoo Lolo (right) and her new roomie Mochi, a 1 year-old Maltipoo who gets so excited she piddles and doesn’t always play nice with Lolo.

The family had brought Mochi into the picture to be a companion for Lolo but the puppy’s high energy and aggressive play style wasn’t what the family was hoping for.

Puppies are full of energy and I think that may be a contributing factor here. I shared some tips on ways to burn off that excess energy. I also went over how important it is that they intercede on Lolo’s behalf when Mochi is pushing too far or doing inappropriate things. Disagreeing with Mochi when she gets close to Lolo when she has a chew item, food or other high value item can help sends a positive message to both dogs.

One of the suggestions I made was increasing exercise for Mochi. Obviously one of these would include the walk. Her guardians reported the dog got super excited when being leashed up and then hard to control on walks. Teaching a dog to stay calm during the leashing process is hugely important if you want your dog to behave on walks.

I pulled out my camera and handed it to one of the guardians so I could share tips to help a dog be calm on walks.

Training a dog to stay calm when the leash is attached isnt hard, but it takes practice. The good news is you dont have to be a professional Maltipoo dog trainer to do it. If the guardians follow the steps to helping a dog learn to stay calm that I cover in the above free positive dog training video, Mochi will learn that over excited behavior causes the leashing process to stop. With enough practice, Mochi will learn to sit calmly and quietly before going for a walk.

I shared a number of other tips in this in home Santa Monica dog training session including tips on potty training and how to stop excited urination. To help the family remember them all, we recorded a roadmap to success video that you can check out below.