Training calmness in your dog is the best way to create a sense of wellbeing, and limit some of the most common problems we face when managing our animal: hypersensitivity, hyperactivity, excess reactivity, and exuberant behaviour.
Without wishing to, or realising, a lot of owners overexcite their dog by relating to the animal exclusively through movement, by creating a challenge or playing a trick on it, through physical activity, or using a loud and excited voice, or simply because they reward the dog whenever it gets excited.
They mistake frenzied excitement as a dog’s state of happiness that needs to be encouraged, or as a demand for attention that needs to be satisfied, or otherwise, as restlessness that needs to be either responded to, or even reprimanded.
Attention is what a dog covets most of all and, if we acknowledge the animal – even unconsciously – when it gets excited, barks, scratches the door, paws us or is overly-exuberant, we inevitably reinforce this style.
The classic example is when we enter the house: a moment that inevitably excites the dog to some extent. Generally speaking, people do little to calm their animal down. On the contrary, they increase its excitement through movement, a high-pitched voice, or excessive attention. Training calmness in your dog, on the other hand, is based on strong consistent behaviour by the owner and the ability to ignore the dog when it demonstrates excessive displays of exuberance, restlessness, or reactivity. The owner learns, instead, to reward calmness, even if we would normally be inclined to do the opposite.