We love having a hyper dog that has lots of energy.
Life is definitely more fun with dogs like this. However,
this is not so much fun, hi there to live with.
And we need to make sure that when we have a young dog,
we're able to teach them how to be calm and relaxed, because unfortunately,
it's not something that they do automatically. If you have a puppy like this,
there are a few exercises that you have to learn in order to get better control
from your puppy. Welcome back to McCann Dogs. I'm Kayl McCann,
and this is Penny. She's a little yellow lab puppy.
We used her for a puppy nipping video,
and she is back for more training because she is a wild and crazy girl.
So the very first exercise that we're gonna work on is something called
Playtime. Settle and Sit. Now,
I'm gonna stop her for a second because one of the important rules about this
game, settle good, is that I have to start the game.
It's not up to Penny. So I'm just gonna make her sit by using the leash.
There we go. And then I'm going to start it so that I can be in charge. Okay.
Playtime. Yeah, Playtime. Good girl. Now while we're playing,
I'm gonna get some treats out and I'm gonna tell her Settle,
sit, And I'm just gonna wait until she's a little calmer.
Yes. Good girl. There. Yes. Good. Settle.
Good sit. So it took a few seconds there for her to be calm,
and I'm gonna lure her back into a sit. Settle.
Sit. Yes. Good girl. I'm gonna reward her one treat at a time. Good.
Settle. Good Sit. Yes. Good girl.
Now notice the change in my voice when I teach her this if I'm still going.
Good girl. Good girl. Good. Settle. If I'm gonna pump her all off again.
So I'm gonna get her sitting again. Settle. Sit. Yes.
Good girl. Good. Settle. Now I want you to take note of my leash. Oops. Settle.
Good. So I want you to take note of my leash.
It stays loose until Penny decides to erupt in energy once again.
Yes. That was a good choice. Good girl. So Penny just went to go crazy again,
and I don't know if you saw that, but she kind of caught herself there. Yes.
Good settle. Good girl.
So I need to keep my leash ready and waiting so that if she decides to
combust in energy, I can stop her from doing so. Yes. Good girl. Excellent.
Now you'll notice how long the settle part takes. No. Settle.
Good. Settle. Good girl. Good. Settle.
The play time is for a short period of time,
and the settle is for a long period of time. Okay, I think we have a brain,
so we're gonna play again. Okay. Play time. Good girl. Play time. Play time.
Good girl. Play time. Play time. Sit.
No, settle. Sit.
So I just need to be patient,
So she's a bit frustrated, so I'm just gonna help her settle. Good.
Yes. Now an interesting note about this particular dog that I'm learning. Again,
I haven't really worked with this dog before, so I don't know her well,
Is she is so food motivated that actually the food really close to her nose
makes her quite high. So using the leash settle,
you can see how much more effective that is. Yeah.
So I can actually keep the food as more of a reward. Yes. Good. Settle.
Good girl. Good Settle. Yes. Good girl.
So I'm actually gonna change tactics here. I'm gonna try the exercise again.
But this time when I tell her settle,
rather than using the food to get her to sit, I'm going to use the leash.
Now keep in mind,
the way that I'm using the leash is not in a corrective way. I'm not
saying you're wrong. I'm simply showing her what I want her to do.
So the leash is strong the way I'm lifting it up, but it's also gentle.
It's just showing her what to do. Yes. I love that. All right,
let's try one more time. I'm gonna switch out the food for the leash. Ready?
Put time. Good. So she was so good about waiting there. Yay. Play time. Okay.
So she just jumped up and bit my arm when I said playtime,
so I don't really like that. So I'm gonna tell her. Settle.
Lift up on the leash. Yes. Wow. Pen.
Good girl. Good. Settle. Good sit. So I lifted up.
You can see how much more effective that was for this dog. Yes. Good girl.
Good Settle. Very good.
And she needs to remain sitting until I release her.
So it's absolutely okay to get her all fired up. But yes, good girl.
It needs to be my idea. When it starts, it needs to be my idea. When it ends,
there's a couple important rules. When you're teaching settle and sit.
Number one, you get to start the game.
So if your puppy starts to come over and initiate play,
you're going to immobilize 'em. You're gonna cause them to sit,
and then you can start the game. If you're feeling up to it. During the game,
you also get to set the rules.
You and your family member all have to be on the same page. On this.
You need to decide what you like and what you don't like,
But things like jumping up and biting your clothes, biting the leash,
whatever it might be,
stop the game right then and there so your puppy learns what's acceptable and
what's not. Lastly, you need to finish the game,
and the game needs to stay settled. The dog needs to stay settled until you
release them. So settling for two seconds is not good enough.
Make sure you prolong it enough that your dog actually settles before you're
ready to start again. Initially when I was teaching her this,
I was hopeful that I would be able to tell her,
settle and sit and use a bit of food to lure her into that sitting position.
Yes.
But earlier she was just too hyper and too excited in order to be able to do
that.
So I'd like to go back and show you now that she's a bit more calm-minded what
it might look like for some of your puppies. Ready? Play time. Play time.
Good girl. Put time and get down. Low settle. I'm gonna stand tall. Sit. Yes.
Oh my goodness. What an improvement.
Now Penny was able to do that with a completely loose leash without me having to
pull on the leash at all. Yes. Good. Settle.
That tells me that she's really starting to understand. Yes,
what a good girl for really hyper-energetic puppies.
Teaching them to go and lie down or have a place where they can relax is really
important. Now, we highly recommend that you also utilize a crate,
but at some points we do want our puppies to be out spending more time with us,
but we wanna give them a job that's a little bit more productive to do than
running around the house like a crazy maniac.
So one of the things I'm gonna do here is I'm gonna teach Penny how to go and
lie on this bed and remain in position. Now,
I don't really think she's done much of this before.
So I'm gonna start right at the beginning by having a bit of food in my hand,
and I'm gonna simply lure her over to the bed. Once her feet are on the bed,
I'm gonna give her a reward, and then I'm gonna lure her into the down position.
Now, in the beginning stages, I don't even need to say the word down,
I can just use a bit of food. Now I'm gonna try taking my hand away.
Now a normal puppy will do just this. Settle.
Good girl on your bed. Good. As soon as you pull your hand away with the food,
they're gonna get up. So let's try it again. Yes. Good.
So this time when I pulled my hand away,
I just waited for a little moment of having her hold before getting my hand down
to feed again. Good girl. Now when I begin,
the food's going to be pretty constant.
I'm going to be rewarding every couple of seconds,
and I'm gonna try and keep her in position until I release her. So I'm gonna try
and beat her to the puncture. Okay. Yay. Now,
Penny doesn't know what okay means,
but what she is is she's a master of body language. So when I say, Okay,
move my body away,
most puppies are just gonna jump up and follow until they know what it means.
All right on your bed into that down position. Good girl.
I'm gonna try and take my hand away,
and this time I'm gonna see if I can start to put more space between the treats.
Here you go. Good girl. Good. Whoops. So she gets up,
I'm gonna take the food. I'm gonna lure her back into the position,
and I'm just gonna wait a second. You are such a silly puppy.
Yes. Good girl.
So notice I'm waiting for that calm moment before I say yes, and reward.
Good girl. Good on your bed.
And I could start to implement the command on your bed. Good girl. On your bed.
Yes. Good girl. Now she's looking a little bit crazy. So I'm gonna release,
Okay? Yes.
My goal here is that I release before Penny gets up on her own, because again,
what I'm trying to do here is establish myself as being someone that needs to be
listened to. So I wanna try and start and stop these exercises. Good girl.
That step you're gonna work on several times for several sessions,
and that might even take you a couple days if you're practicing on a regular
basis. But I would actually like to show you the next couple progressions.
Now I have Penny for the next hour,
and she's not necessarily ready for the next progression,
but I would love to show you what it looks like and if she makes a few mistakes
along the way,
because she's not quite ready. It's just a perfect learning opportunity for you
guys to see what it looks like. All right, girl. On your bed. So again,
I'm gonna try and work on building some distance and a little bit of more
duration. So I'm gonna space out the time between each of my treats on your bed.
Yes. Good girl. On your bed. Yes.
Good on your bed. Good girl. Yes.
When we have a dog that's very hyper and excitable,
it's super important that your demeanor is very calm. Good? Yes.
Good on your bed. Oops. On your bed. Yes.
Good girl. So you can see as soon as she broke position,
I gave her a little bit of an, oops.
A little verbal to let her know she's wrong. Good girl. Good On your bed. Ooh,
that was a good one. Okay. I better quit while I'm ahead. Okay, good. ,
keep me. I want you to try that again. Go.
So I'm gonna keep building duration on your bed. Yes.
I'm gonna give her one little cookie and I'm gonna stand up. Move away. Yes.
Good on your bed. Good girl. Good on your bed. Yes.
Good on your bed. Good girl. So I'm just sort of reading. Oops.
On your bed. Yes.
I'm reading her body language to know whether I should push things or not. Yes.
Good on your bed. Good girl. Good.
Every so often she goes into this little play bow position,
which does not really signify that she's relaxed there. Yes.
Good girl. So I'm looking at her whole body to make sure that when I Yes.
And reward her. Oops. On your bed.
I'm rewarding Calm there. Yes.
Good on your bed. Oops. On your bed.
Yes. There we go. And then again, my goal is to quit while I'm ahead. Okay.
Good girl. What I need to do is make sure I end on a win.
So as soon as I get a few little seconds of relaxation,
I'm gonna calmly release her off. And then as we practice this more,
you're gonna see that the duration and the distance is going to be able to
build. This was already immensely better than what we first started,
but it does need to happen very slowly and gradually,
depending on the individual dog. Oh, you like that bed? What a good girl.
If you have a hyper puppy,
please keep in mind that the exercises that we show today are not meant to tire
your puppy out.
They're actually meant to teach your puppy to have better self-control.
Once your puppy understands when they're excited and when they're hyper that
there's other choices that they can make that require self-control,
is then going to earn more attention and more rewards from you,
they're gonna slowly start to default towards those things instead of just
reacting to their emotions. A lot of young puppies have very poor emotional
control. It's very normal. There's nothing wrong with it,
but those are things that we can actually start to teach our puppies early on so
that you can have a dog that is able to self-regulate a bit better and they can
actually start making better choices.
That also really enhances your relationship and your ability to have them view
you as a leader.
In saying that what you need to do next is check out this video right here on
some simple ways to tire out your hyper puppy.
If you're feeling overwhelmed with your energetic puppy and you're looking for a
more personalized training program, I can help you with that.
Check out the link in the description below to our online puppy essentials
course. On that note, I'm Kayl. This is Penny. Happy training.