How to Stop Dog Excitement by Stopping Your Petting at the Right Time

For this West LA dog training session, we help a very spoiled 1 year-old Maltipoo who doesn’t listen to her guardian and complains or has separation anxiety when left alone.

The photo doesn’t really do Macy justice; this is one incredibly cute dog. The cute factor, combined with her rescue dog background had her guardian not enforcing any rules and offering little to no structure. This resulted in a dog who thinks the world revolves around her and she can do whatever she wants, even when it is in conflict with what her human wants.

This manifested when we attempted to go for a walk. When Macy felt like she wanted to stop, she simply laid down. I attempted to show the guardian how to use a martingale collar to defeat her “turtle up” strategy, but her guardian couldn’t repeat it. I should have known better to try to fix this dog behavior problem without first addressing the leader follower dynamic.

Macy’s guardian is gong to have to decide if she wants her dog to listen to her or accept her behavior as it is. Unless she starts enforcing rules and structure to create a healthy leader follower dynamic, Macy is going to continue to do what she wants to the chagrin of her guardian.

One of the dog behavior secrets I shared in this in home dog behavior training session was how to use petting to stop a dog from getting over excited. This secret to helping excited dogs listen works for anyone, even if you are not a professional Maltipoo dog trainer.

Many people mistake excitement for happiness in dogs. But excitement is an over excited state of mind and just like humans, dogs are more prone to make mistakes when over stimulated. Stopping the petting or interaction when the dogs starts to get excited is a great way to stop a dog from getting too excited to listen.

One of the main issues the guardian wanted help with was how Macy behaved when left alone. Over the phone, it sounded like Separation Anxiety. But as the session progressed, I felt less like it was a case of separation anxiety and more of a spoiled dog who complained when apart from her guardians.

Nevertheless, the way I stop separation anxiety in dogs is to teach them to stay so they can practice being calm while apart from their guardian. This positive dog training technique will also help with Macy’s problem, even if its a demand instead of separation anxiety. I handed my camera over to show the guardian how to teach Macy to stay.

Its going to be important for Macy’s guardian to practice this stay exercise multiple times a day in short successful practice sessions until she can stay in a room by herself for progressively longer periods of time.

To help Macy’s guardian remember all the dog behavior tips I shared in this in home West L.A. dog training session, we recorded a roadmap to guess video.