Now that you have brought your long-awaited puppy or dog home, you have found that he is driving you crazy. You are now finding that he rarely sits still, is barking excessively and is chewing away at your expensive furniture. If your puppy or dog is exhibiting any of these behaviors, then he is probably suffering from hyperactivity.

Is your puppy or dog merely being unusually energetic or is he suffering from what is termed true hyperactivity. True Hyperactivity is a medical condition, fairly uncommon, which sees the dog exhibit frantic behaviors such as restlessness, panting, chasing his tail, and collapsing with exhaustion. It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference, so if you are not sure then it may be advisable to see your vet.

It may be worth noting that your puppy or dog may be hyperactive because that is the way he has been bred. An example is a Collie, a herding dog, which has been bred to have lots of energy to carry out is work. So it is very important to understand the characteristics of different breeds before you choose one to take home.

Training a hyperactive dog can be a challenge. In this article I have given some ideas on how to achieve this.

An over energetic dog requires plenty of excercise to wear him out. I recommend that you take your dog for long walks at least twice a day and play games such as frisbee, fetch and find. This not only gives your dog great exercise, but is a good way to keep you fit.

If you find that your dog or puppy is barking excessively and inappropriately, then you should give him a command like “stop” or “cease” in a stern voice. If he is barking because someone has rung your bell, and he just carries on barking even when you have commanded him to stop then you could try and pull him away from the door and give a correction such as a quick jerk on their collar. If your puppy or dog is outside and does not stop barking, you should command him to stop through the door and not open it if you are not ready to let him in. If this does not stop him from barking, you could try kicking the bottom of your door from the inside. Hopefully the loud noise will startle your puppy or dog enough to make him stop.

To stop your puppy or dog from chewing your house to bits, it is a good idea to place your valuables out of reach. Pick a few well-chosen sturdy toys for your dog to play with. By playing regularly with these toys with your dog he will have positive associations and will more likely chew these toys rather than your valuables.

You may want to consider using a dog crate at times when you not able to interact with your puppy or dog. As dogs like the comfort of a defined and confined space, this will act as a tranquillizer and calm your hyperactive dog down.

After all the hard work you are putting in training your puppy or dog, it is very important to give positive feedback for wanted behavior and negative feedback for unwanted behavior. Hopefully you can now start to use these techniques in order to train your hyperactive puppy or dog.

Visit my Training Your Dog website to read more about training your hyperactive puppy or dog and about how to solve other problems such as whining dogs.