Overexcited Dog On Walks? Try These Tips

These two techniques were a game changer for me.

I know how frustrating it can be to have a dog that gets overstimulated on walks. I had one before we worked extensively on his reactivity and walk behavior. There are several ways to help a dog that gets overexcited, but today I want to share two methods that have worked extremely well for me and my energetic German Shepherd mix. 

So how do you help an overexcited dog on walks? 1. Don’t walk until your dog is calm. Make it a consistent rule that you don’t leave until they’re calm. 2. Desensitize your dog to busier environments in baby steps. 

Let’s take a closer look at these two helpful reactive dog walking tips. 

Overstimulated dog walk tip #1: Calm before you leave

Here’s something many new dog owners don’t realize: little habits can go a long way when it comes to teaching your dog to have restraint and self control. I won’t get into it too much in this blog, but I will say this: I make my dog sit down and wait for the command before he goes through any door or gate. I also make him sit and wait before he eats his meals. He knows that he doesn’t get what he wants until he is in a neutral, balanced state. 

If your dog goes bananas before you head out for a walk, you’re off to a bad start. Your dog is already past its threshold. You can’t expect to have a successful walk if they are already demonstrating poor behavior before you leave. They need to be calm before they leave for the walk. 

Let’s run through a couple scenarios.

You grab your dog’s leash and he realizes he’s about to go on a walk. He goes nuts, jumping up and down, whining, and running around the house. 

Your job is to wait. Do not put the leash on your dog until he calms down. It might take 30 seconds, it might take 5 minutes. When he’s calm, apply the leash. If he starts freaking out again before you get it on, wait once again. Continue until you get the leash on with calm behavior. 

Your dog is leashed up and ready to go on a walk. You open the door to head out and he lunges out the door and tries to pull you toward the street. You have already lost control and your dog has already passed his threshold. 

Your job is to not open the door until your dog is calm. Make him sit in front of the door with the leash on. If he whines and cries and barks and jumps, wait. Keep waiting until he is calm. As soon as he sits calmly, open the door. If the act of opening the door excites him again, shut it and wait again. Continue until you can get out the door in a calm manner. 

This can be an extremely frustrating situation. Pack your patience for the walk and prepare to make baby steps. Your dog is not going to be perfect in a day. But by consistently implementing these rules, you can set your dog up for a more successful walk. 

Overstimulated dog walk tip #2: Baby steps in busy environments 

Once you’ve left for your walk in a calm manner, you can work your way up to more busy environments. Don’t expect this to be a quick transformation. If your dog barks at other dogs on walks, it’s not going to suddenly stop because you left the house in a calm manner. Training a reactive dog takes time, repetition, and lots of patience. 

And that’s why we start with babysteps. We create distance between our reactive dogs and their triggers and we always keep it moving. When we’re ready to step it up, we can make our way to busier environments. Here’s how I did it:

My dog was extremely excited on walks and would get distracted and overstimulated quickly. Every sound, every dog and human that walked by, all of it would set him off in one way or another. 

So we started going to a busy park. 

First, we would walk around the park without entering it. We wouldn’t get so close that we’d cross his threshold and cause him to have a reaction. We’d stay far enough that he could see his triggers but didn’t feel threatened by them. I’d give him treats for moving his attention away from the sights and sounds of the park and looking at me. This took a while at first. But eventually, he started looking at me when we stood outside the park. Then I’d give him a treat for not being excited by all the hullabaloo. 

Next, we walked into the park but stuck to the perimeter. He could see the other children, dogs, and rollerbladers a bit closer, but we always walked away and created distance when they got too close. We didn’t enter the busy spaces. When he’d turn his attention to me, he’d get lots of treats. Eventually, he started naturally diverting his attention to me instead of the sights and sounds of the park. 

Then we moved closer into the park. We repeated the above steps over and over until we were seated on the grass just outside the kids skatepark. That’s right. It took a few weeks, but we eventually made it into the park right beside the children yelling, playing, and skating around. We’d stay for short periods of time before he started to get overly stimulated. 

Now we walk past and through that same park all the time. He doesn’t care. He’ll look at the sights and then continue to sniff the grass. He’ll occasionally turn his head when he hears the squeal of an excited child or two dogs barking at each other from across the way. But he quickly turns his attention back to his own walk experience, switching between sniffing the grass and checking in on me. 

If you have an overexcited dog on walks, there is hope

I hope this article helps you paint a clearer picture of how you can work to curb your dog’s reactivity and have more confident, fulfilling walks. Just know that I filtered this down to include the most important tips for success. What you don’t see is the endless repetition of waiting for my dog to be calm, of restarting entries and exits until he behaves the right way, of entering and exiting spaces where he is about to cross his threshold. The hours of desensitization work that goes into small improvements. 

Patience is everything when it comes to working with your reactive dog. 

Don’t Worry, He’s Friendly is here to help reactive dogs in urban spaces thrive.  Check out our other articles to learn more. 

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional veterinary, behavioral, or training advice.