Training High Energy Dogs

Part One

High energy dogs come in all shapes and sizes and they range from busy spaniel puppies with no off switch to highly frustrated teenage dogs who just have to chase every thing that moves in their environment.

It can be difficult to know where to start with regards to training them, for specific scenarios, especially if you have a dog that pulls the minute you step foot out of the front door, or a dog who is overtly stimulated by things in their environment when out and about.

I want to offer you part one of “how to train high energy dogs” of which I call “PRE-TRAINING”, imaginative I know right?

All dogs get excited and pull for a variety of reasons during the first 5-10 minutes of any walk. If you are trying to train your dog at this moment you are likely setting both you and your companion up to fail. Now this is where the “Pre-training” comes in.

The first question before we start pre-training – to ask yourself – Does your dog know how to drop? If the answer is yes then continue on to Pre-training, if not then it’s time to train a reliable “drop” (this is another “How To” post for another day).

Once you have this in the bag then you can use this new found skill to create a pre-training protocol, whereby you choose a breed specific game that you can play for about 15 minutes before you need to go out for your walk/ training session. Whatever you dog really enjoys * It could be Scent work and Find It games in the garden for spaniels and hounds. Games of tug with sight hounds terriers and bull breeds or retrieving games for gun dogs. Perhaps your dog is a sucker for a frisbee or more training games like many of the herding breeds.

Be on the look out for over arousal in your dog and always bring them back down from hyper games with licking sniffing or chewing activities.

This extra 15 minutes of activity will help to get rid of that “fizziness” you experience with them at the beginning of a walk.

*Every dog is different but taking the time to find out what they were bred to do, also what motivates them will serve you well when deciding how to structure this pre-training, perhaps your dog loves movement, scent ,holding something in their mouth, hunting or even working out a task on their own (spaniels and terriers excel at this). I guarantee it will be a joy to simply watch your dog carefully to find these things out.

By doing this you will find that your dog is already engaged with you and more likely to be “in the mood” for training and will be able to either concentrate/focus more on any engagement work you now want to do with your dog (loose lead or engage/disengage) for example.

Doing so will also make the first section of your walk much more bearable even if it’s so that you can get to your dog to an area more suitable for training. It could even be a calmer car journey if you need to get them into the car to go somewhere more suitable to continue your training efforts.

In part two we will look at the two types of structured walks that I recommend that can further set both you and your dog up to succeed in your training efforts especially with regards to high energy dogs. Sometimes we just need to change the context for our dogs and come up with protocols that meet them halfway when we ask so much of them everyday.

Keep an eye out for part 2 of “ How to train high energy dogs” and in the meantime if you would like to work with me don’t hesitate to contact me here About Town Pets

…..love from your friendly neighbourhood dog trainer Sara ❤️

Ps if you enjoyed this post you might like my previous post on Help my dog is lead reactive