If you have an energetic dog like mine, you know how difficult it can be to keep a lively dog entertained and calmed on a daily basis. Our rambunctious, one-year-old chihuahua, not only has a ton of energy but gets bored easily and loves to chew anything in sight. Issues with undesired behaviors is a continuous battle and always presents a set of challenges for us.
After researching several approaches to help calm our pup, I found six holistic ways to entertain a dog with positive redirection methods. Check them out below!
- Food Puzzle Toys
- Aromatherapy
- Fetch
- T-Touch
- Obedience Training
- Exercise Routine
Food Puzzle Toys
Food puzzle toys provide great mental and physical stimulation for energetic dogs by positive reinforcement. They make the dog use their mind and energy before getting rewarded with a treat or special toy. You can purchase them online or make your food puzzle toys at home. Check out our article on homemade brain games for dogs.
Outward Hound Hide-A-Squirrel and Puzzle Plus Squeaking Dog Toy, PetSafe Busy Buddy Tug-A-Jug Meal Dispensing Dog Toy, and KONG Classic are some of the best food puzzle toys on the market now that are awesome for pups of all sizes!
The Best 3 Food Puzzle Toys For Energetic Dogs
1. Outward Hound Hide-A-Squirrel Dog Toy
- Multi-purpose: hide and seek and fetch
- Designed for chewing, so they very durable
- Available in 4 sizes
2. PetSafe Busy Buddy Tug-A-Jug Meal Dispensing Dog Toy
- Multi-purpose: hide and seek, fetch, tug, cleans teeth, food bowl, treat dispenser
- Makes dogs work for the food
- Available in 3 sizes
3. KONG Classic
- Multi-purpose: treat dispenser, fetch, chew toy
- Available in 3 sizes
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils to help center the mind, body, and spirit. For dogs, aromatherapy is a great holistic option to consider because of their heightened sense of smell. Based on our research, we recommend lavender, chamomile, and orange scents to help your pup become more focused and calm.
The Best 3 Aromatherapy Scents For Energetic Dogs
Lavender
- Promotes inner peace and calmness
- Improves circulation, digestion, and boosts the immune system
Chamomile
- Promotes calmness and stomach issues due to hyperactivity
- Great for dogs will allergies or digestion problems
Orange
- Promotes happiness and acts as a natural antidepressant
- Relaxes muscles and improves the immune system
Fetch
A good ole’ game of fetch is a fantastic option for an active dog because it fulfills their natural instinct to chase an object and run. It provides an excellent amount of physical energy and can be incorporated into your pet’s lifestyle very easily.
Because there are so many innovative dog toys on the market today, there is a lot of versatility in the type of fetch you can play with your pup. The ifetch and ChuckIt fetch toys are some of Woof Dog’s favorites!
Awesome Fetch Toys
iFetch
- Automatic ball thrower that can be used both indoors and outdoors
- Promotes independent play
- Great mental and physical stimulation
ChuckIt Fetch Toys
- Variety of choices: ball launcher, balls, indoor, outdoor, water
- Affordable product
- Durable for active dogs who like to chew
TTouch Techniques
The Tellington Touch, or TTouch, consists of circular touches that will naturally calm the body. Created to understand better what horses were feeling, TTouch was designed to act as a communication tool to efficiently understand one’s physical and behavioral feelings entirely through touch.
TTouch is an excellent tool to help your dog become more aware of its’ body and create a special bond with your pup at the same time. Ear Work, Chimp Touch, and the Zig Zag Touch are fantastic touches to help calm an energetic dog.
Three Touches To Calm Your Energetic Dog
Image credits: doggiedrawings.net
1. TTouch: Ear Work
2. TTouch: Chimp Touch
3. TTouch: Zig Zag Touch
Side Note: TTouch has become more popular for companion animals and humans over the years and provides a great holistic and positive approach towards mental and physical health. To learn more about TTouch, you can register to take the TTouch Companion Animals Training course to learn more about the best techniques for you and your dog.
Obedience Training
Obedience training provides great opportunities for an owner to communicate, create excitement, gain trust, focus on desired behaviors, and improve socialization with their active dog. There is a lot of options of obedience training energetic dogs can benefit from and finding the best option for your loved one is the key.
Here is a list of positive obedience training that will promote calmness and help keep your pup motivated and entertained.
- Teach new tricks with clicker training
- Mastering basic commands such as sit, down, calm, stay
- Job assignment activities such as agility classes or teams, nose work, hide and seek
- Run errands with your dog like going to the mailbox, going to the bank, picking up children from school
- Go to a dog park to meet and interact with new faces
Make Exercise Fun and Consistent
Creating and maintaining a consistent exercise routine provides structure and motivation for an active dog. Setting healthy boundaries and expectations will help your dog focus on specific activities to help them mentally and physically release energy in a positive manner. We found a variety of indoor and outdoor games your energetic dog will love besides walking.
- Hide and seek
- Chase bubbles
- Making a rope toy, sometimes called a flirt pole
- Homemade obstacle course
- Yoga with your dog, also known as dog
- Climb up and down stairs throughout the house
- Frisbee
- Play in the sprinkler
- Visit a hospital or nursing home
Conclusion
Finding the best way to help entertain and calm your pup can be a lot of fun and help create an everlasting bond between you and your loved one. What works for my dog might not work for your dog, so being patient and trying some of the six ways we researched will hopefully help you discover what is best for your pup’s energetic lifestyle.
Let us know which one is your favorite!
Sources and References:
- Hannah Gilman – The 10 Best Puzzle Toys That Actually Help Bored Dogs – Daily Treat
- Aromatherapy For Your Dog – The Blissful Dog
- Quora – Why Are Dogs So Obsessed With Endlessly Playing Fetch? – Huffpost
