Creating A Calm Dog

The question always seems to be how can I calm my crazy dog? Usually when I hear this question the person is talking about a puppy or a younger dog. In this article I am going to discuss a few things that you can do to create a calm dog.

Creating a calm dog can sometimes be a tough job. For those of you with young dogs that don't understand what I am talking about because your dog has always been calm you are one of the lucky few.

TRAINING

Let's start off with training. The perfect time to start training a dog is right away. However for the purposes of this article we will talk about when formal obedience training should start and that magic number is 16 weeks (4 months). At that time in a puppy's life their minds are like little sponges and ready to absorb all the training that you can give them. Training establishes the dog master relationship, teaches the dog what is right and wrong and teaches them rules. This is the very beginning of a happy well trained dog.

EXERCISE

Young dogs are like kids they are full of energy. It is going to be your job to find things that will help your dog get rid of that excess energy. There are several ways to do that so let's start off by listing a few and then we can talk about them individually.

1. Doggy Day Care

2. Walks

3. Retrieve Games

4. Swimming

Let's start off with doggy day care. To put it simply, it's GREAT. Your dog can be at a day care all day playing with a bunch of other dogs and getting rid of energy in a way that you can never do. I think just about every town or city has one and they are great. Give it a try.

Walking is another way to help with the excess energy problem. However it means that you must take the time to do it. There is also the other question, are you able to walk long enough to give your dog a real workout? If not there is another option and that is the local dog walker. Ask your vet for a referral to a good one.

Retrieve games are great because you can stand still throw a ball and let the dog do all the work. If your dog will retrieve a ball or toy give it a try.

Last but not least is swimming. If you have a pool or even a lake or river take your dog for a swim. Just like with humans swimming is an excellent way to get low impact exercise that your dog will enjoy.

I hope these ideas will give you some new ways to exercise and stimulate your dog so that you have a nice calm dog.

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