3 Tips For Living With High Energy Dogs
Some dogs are perfectly happy lounging around your house or garden with the occasional walk in the park or morning run. Other dogs, however, are full of high energy, always needing to run around, jump on things; full of restless momentum.
If you find that your dog can’t learn tasks easily or overreact to situations/changes in environment — consider talking to your local vet or veterinary behaviourist to see if there are underlying problems like anxiety.
However, whether it’s anxiety or other causes, there are a few steps you can take at home to help mange the needs of dogs with high energy and create a calmer environment.
1. Provide a Steady Exercise/Physical Activity Routine
It’s important for dogs with a lot of energy to have a good outlet to release it. Exercise is a great way to do this as it also stimulates serotonin in the brain, which can help regulate moods. Have a set routine where you take your dog out for a walk or run — at least 20-30 minutes every day.
The development of a routine also will be a stress-relief for your pet as they know when they’ll have the opportunity for a good run and play.
2. Encourage and Reward Calm Behaviour
You also want to heavily incentivise calm and chill behaviour in your pet. Practice commands like sit, look, and stay, and reward them when they manage to maintain those actions for a set period of time using healthy dog treats for training. You can even try increasing the reward if they can do it for longer.
Another approach is to give praise when the are sitting still or being quiet. A whispered ‘good dog’ when they are lying down or calmly sitting can help further encourage those behaviours.
3. Make Feeding Time an Adventure
Whether you want to use a food puzzle toy or hide food around your garden — making food time a game can help your dog use its energy.
This helps tire them out from the high usage of mental energy and keep them occupied so you can divert your attention to other matters for a moment.
A specially designed slow dog feeding mat is a great way to pace your dog's eating if they have a tendency to guzzle their food.
Keep Your Dog Well-Fed with Our Raw Dog Food
High energy dogs do need to be well-fed, especially if you’re working towards them burning off all that energy. It’s important to feed a natural diet of fresh foods without preservatives to avoid energy spikes your pets can sometimes get from processed food and biscuits. At Raw and Fresh, we create highly nutritious and delicious biologically appropriate raw food for dogs across Australia. Order online today or get in touch with our team for enquiries. You can use our raw dog food calculator to determine the right amount of food for your pooch.