Living Well With a High-Energy Dog

Balance physical exercise, enrichment, simple impulse-control games, and predictable rest.

Some dogs still want to run, explore, or bring toys after regular walks. High activity can reflect age, individual temperament, breed history, routine, or a need for more varied enrichment. Destructive chewing or frequent barking can also have medical or emotional causes, so avoid assuming that more exercise is always the only answer.

Combine appropriate physical activity with opportunities to sniff, search, learn, and make choices. Food puzzles and scent games provide a different kind of engagement from fast movement. Adjust difficulty so the dog can succeed, supervise anything that could be swallowed, and include food rewards within the dog's normal daily intake.

Short pause-and-release games can help a dog practice moving between excitement and calm. Keep sessions positive and brief. A predictable rest routine and a quiet sleeping area are equally important; continuously exhausting a dog can increase arousal instead of teaching relaxation.