Is Your Dog Hyper When You Come Home? Try These 3 Tips

Isn’t it a joy when your dog excitedly greets you when you come home after a long tiring day? We all love it, there is no doubt about that. However, hyper welcomes can be chaotic. 

Here are 3 tips to make you coming home and meeting your dog a pleasant everyday experience. 

1. WATCH YOUR ENERGY

We do know that dogs can read your energy. If you enter your home being all hyped, talking loudly, your dog will pick up on that energy and will match it. 

Try to be calm when you come home, and avoid doing anything that reinforces your dog’s hyper behaviors. You can give your happy dog attention, pet them, and talk to them while they are jumping excitedly, and maybe barking as well. 

Stay calm yourself, and give your dog time to calm down as well.

Give your dog time to calm down, and stay calm yourself.

2. FAKE EXITS & PRACTICE BEFORE THE REAL THING

Practice door greetings to perfect them or at least polish them. Trying out-door greeting techniques is important. 

You can do this by leaving, locking the door behind you, basically faking an exit. Then come back in a minute or so, and practice proper greetings. You can do it any time of the day at short intervals. 

You cannot expect your dog to be calm when they are already amped up. So, instead of trying to make them learn during actual entrances, you should do it beforehand. 

3. REDIRECTION & ALTERNATIVE BEHAVIORS

Try to make the initial approach as easy for your dog as possible because the first few seconds of the greeting will set the tone for the rest of the experience. Here are a few tips for making the first few seconds pleasant, so the rest could be done. 

• When you walk in, throw a few treats on the ground. Your dog will use their nose to find the treats on the ground. This little distraction is likely to help reset their brain. 
• Walk in and grab their favorite toy, and ask them to sit. Then throw the toy and let them fetch it. Have some fun with them, as such moments can help reset their brain from being hyper to being normal. 
• Give them a frozen treat when you walk in. It can be a frozen lick mat or a popsicle. When they are distracted in enjoying the frozen treat, you can pet them while their mind is taken off the hyper behavior. 

Calm door greetings can take a lot of time, energy, and practice. Be gentle with your fur baby but only reward the correct behaviors. 

Happy greetings!