“Energetic” “Can’t calm down” “Hyper” “Zoomies” - Most commonly heard words during a phone eval, virtual lesson or DM message. What’s a dog owner to do? Well, obviously, the first step is to make sure that you exercise them to the point of exhaustion. Doggie daycare needs to happen at least 5x per week while you’re at work. Dog parks on the weekend so they’re adequately exhausted before you leave to go out with friends. Several miles of walks if doggie daycare and the dog park don’t address the hyperactive, zoomie fur bullet ricocheting haphazardly off of your furniture. Too tired for those 3-5+ miles of walking? No problem, an hour-long game of fetch or tug should do the trick. Then finally, if all else fails, you can always ensure that you or your partner will always pay attention and distract your dog so one of you can clean the house or make food. — Raise your hand if you’re here and you feel like you can’t keep up this type of lifestyle🙋🏻‍♀️ . I’m here to tell you that your dog ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT REQUIRE all of those things in order to relax. (*disclaimer: each dog is different but unless you have a sport/working dog this is probably not going to be the case. Let’s not go to the comments & argue semantics🙃) If you have a dog that constantly requires your attention/hours of physical activity before they get hyperactive and mischievous/destructive, it’s not that they need MORE exercise...they need MORE mental stimulation. I see too many dogs in a constant state of hyper-arousal. The brain constantly unfocused and reeling at 99mph. The best thing that you can do for this type of dog is to teach them to switch their brain off, relax, learn to decompress &/or harness that brainpower towards more productive things like training. Physical exercise is good. Your dog naturally needs adequate physical exercise (the back yard DOESNT COUNT), but doing that much exercise just builds an athlete who needs will continue to increase over time. Don’t forget about the other half of your dog’s needs in order to drain energy: their mind. How do you exercise your dog’s mind that exhausts them to create calm? For me, I use duration climb and free shaping🤓 ►Get Your Dog Trained - http://www.canineperformancecoach.com ►INSTAGRAM @canine_performance