Puppy is very hyper.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh, how frustrating! It sounds like Gracey is a real handful!

I'll give you a few thoughts on your situation.

The first thing I will say, is hold on to hope! I have seen some dogs who are crazy like this as puppies and then mellow out a bit as they mature a little.

One of the best things that can help Gracey is large amounts of exercise. I have clients who have a very high energy labrador. They take her 3 times a week to a doggie daycare and she spends the entire day running around with other dogs. This poops her out enough so that she is well behaved the next day. If they don't take her to daycare every other day she is extremely hyper and bad mannered.

Another good idea (although I suspect you are already doing this) is to give her toys that will help to keep her mind occupied and also help her to burn energy. Here are a few that I really like:

The Nina Ottoson Dog Tornado:


The Kong Genius Toy:


Dogit Mind Games:


Nina Ottoson Dog Brick:


Nina Ottoson Dog Finder:


Tricky Treat Ball:



Getting some good toys and rotating their use should help to keep her mind stimulated and give her something to chew.

Another product that I am really seeing as useful is a new type of food called Calm diet. Is is made by VMD (in the US) or Medi-Cal (in Canada). It has natural things in it to help relax dogs. I have several clients using it and most of them have reported that it really helps. It is prescription so you would need to get it from your vet.

Similarly, you could look into a DAP collar. I wrote an article about these collars here: DAP collars.

There are medications that could likely help as well. One that I have been prescribing recently is called Reconcile. It is a form of Prozac for dogs. I have many dogs where I will put them on Reconcile for a few months and have the owners do training (i.e. obedience classes, quiet time in crate, etc.) and then eventually we wean the dog off of medication. I do have a few that stay on the medication which is safe as well.

There really aren't any over the counter products that will work well. I have had a number of people suggest to me that a product called Rescue Remedy can help calm dogs but I haven't seen it be too successful.

I hope that helps. I hope Gracey is more manageable soon!

Dr. Marie.



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