What causes Over Excitement?

Over Excitement, or more accurately Over Arousal, is one of the most common problem behaviours in our domestic dogs today. Often this behaviour has been created by the owners with a process called “Classical Conditioning”.

Classical Conditioning is a learning process that happened most by repetition, pairing a word/movement with a behaviour links these or “Pairs” them in the dogs brain. When you first had your puppy they were super cute, right! You came home, gave them lots of fuss and excitement, creating high energy when you come home. Maybe you feel sorry for your puppy because you’ve had to leave them, or maybe they’ve managed a few hours without a wee.

The problem is now you have a 60kg Husky adult dog and he has been conditioned by your actions how you would like him to greet a visitor at the door.

Over Arousal can also come from under socialisation, or ineffective socialisation (worse) where your dog is overwhelmed by the excitement of meeting another dog! It’s fairly easy to correct this type of behaviour - but you have to give tough love for a while! (Can you do it??). Try ignoring your dog when you come home and see the difference in just a couple of days!