What to do when a puppy is overstimulated?

If you are struggling with their behaviour, consider what an average day consists of for your dog. How much repetitive ball chasing is your dog doing? How much rough-housing and playing with other dogs is he doing? How busy and noisy is your household? Reduce overstimulating activities for your dog Where possible, reduce activities that cause your dog to be overstimulated. For example, if they bark at passers-by, try shutting the curtains or restricting access to the windows. If the children playing in the garden over-excites your pooch, give them a stuffed kong and limit their garden access to times the garden is calm. The answer isn’t to force downtime on your dog, but to consider how you can introduce some calming activities into their life so that they are less stimulated. Enrichment feeding: Make meal times last longer and more interesting by utilising enrichment feeding. It slows the process of eating down and requires concentration, which can be tiring for your dog. Scent games: Hiding things for your dog to find provides wonderful focused mental stimulation, and is always tiring. Sniffing walks: Allowing your dog to stop and sniff when on walks provides them with an opportunity to know about other dogs in the area without getting them over-excited. Training: Force-free training again tires the brain, but it also helps improve your dog’s overall mood.

If you're wondering, "Is my dog overstimulated or bored?" it’s important to recognise the signs of an overstimulated dog. These can include: Inability to settle down or relax, even when in a familiar environment Excessive barking or whining Jumping or nipping at people or other animals Pacing or panting Over-grooming or licking themselves Destructive behaviours, such as chewing on furniture or digging A dog experiencing overstimulation may be exposed to too much noise, activity, or unfamiliar surroundings, causing them to feel overwhelmed. As you can see, many of these signs can also be indicative of boredom, so it's crucial to determine the underlying cause of these behaviours to effectively address the issue. By understanding the difference between overstimulation and boredom, it may help in determining the proper course of action for your dog. This article will explore the differences between overstimulation and boredom, offer tips for managing an overstimulated dog, and provide suggestions for engaging activities to prevent boredom in the future. In these situations, it's essential to understand whether your dog is experiencing overstimulation or boredom, and to know what to do when your dog is overstimulated.

When a dog is overstimulated, it can be hard to calm them down, and this can escalate to aggression if not dealt with appropriately. To manage overstimulation, you’ll first need to identify what is causing your dog to behave this way – for example, it could be other dogs, people or animals, or situations like busy roads or loud environments. Once you understand the cause of their behaviour, you can work towards avoiding excessive exposure to the trigger. When your dog is overstimulated, avoid distracting them with food as this could encourage them to repeat their behaviour. Instead, try to build a positive association to the trigger. Giving your dog mentally stimulating activities that are of low arousal will help to engage their senses and increase their overall level of calmness. An emergency stop is an important command for your dog to learn as it can be used in urgent situations that need immediate intervention, for example, if your dog has become overstimulated. The command helps to get their focus back to you and can stop a situation from escalating. Monitoring your dog’s body language will help to understand when they are approaching their ‘threshold’. Over time, and with lots of practice, you should be able to expand your dog’s threshold and get them to remain calm in more stimulating situations. Constructive play is also a great way for your dog to burn off some energy, and by engaging in constructive play, you can also use this time to teach your dog some polite manners, just remember not to overstimulate your dog too much. If your dog is still struggling with overstimulation, we recommend getting help from a qualified trainer or behaviourist.

My first port of call is always a crate. Crate training your puppy is helpful for so many reasons, but basically it's your pups own space. With a bed or blankie, it's where they go when they want 'me' time. Your pup needs a place that says 'leave me to sleep in peace, I want space'. Enforcing Nap Times Your pup needs 18 hours sleep a day. During the day, the maximum they should be awake is 1.5 hours - at the 1.5 hour stage YOU put them in their crate for a minimum of 1 hour nap. If they wake after 20 minutes you ignore and they’ll settle again. If your pup is awake for an hour and they’re biting and their behaviour is over the top - it’s nap time. Redirect. Chewing is a self soothing activity, so remove your hands, feet, whatever gently, quietly, without fuss, and replace with one of their toys or treats. If your pup is jumping and trying to bite, tuck your hands up under your armpits out of the way, and turn side on. Don't use your knee to push him away. Don't give any eye contact, as hard as it is, be boring. Pup will eventually realise that the behaviour isn't getting the reaction they want, and will stop.

We have a crate but haven’t tried locking him in it yet because we are afraid he will hate it. He is in a playpen and last night we tried to ignore him until he self-settled, but he just barked as loud as he could for an entire hour. Whenever we play/exercise he gets continually worked up and then overtired to the point of no return and then turns into a biting and barking machine, running around panting (clearly exhausted) but won’t sleep. Clearly we cannot tire him out and expect him to sleep when he is pooped.

Decrease exposure to stimuli. The most obvious way to prevent sensory overload is to decrease the dog's exposure to sensory information. Socialization should occur in a controlled setting under close supervision, ideally with a handler for each dog. It's important to keep interactions calm and low-key since high-energy interactions can cause can intensify a dog's response and increase the likelihood of sensory overload. A simple way pet parents can reduce the chances of sensory overload is to ensure their dog gets plenty of exercise and mental stimulation throughout the day. Mental and physical stimulation help dogs relax and may make them less likely to become overstimulated when exposed to external stimuli. Many behaviorists suggest counterconditioning, a form of behavior modification, to address overstimulation in dogs. Dogs with severe reactivity or very low thresholds for external stimuli may benefit from Behavioral Adjustment Training (BAT), a more advanced behavior modification method. BAT encourages dogs to ignore sensory information that typically elicits a negative response.