Settling/Over-Excitement
Looking for some advice…
We love our 8 month old toller; he’s great, loves the kids, perfectly potty trained, knows every command, walks great on a leash, almost fully trained off leash.. but he cannot settle and he gets SO excited around people.
We don’t let anyone greet him unless he’s sitting but he’s still LOSING HIS MIND. I have to hold him down and wrestle him so he doesn’t jump on people. He will not calm down and whines and cries out of excitement. Treat reinforcement does not work when he’s this excited— he doesn’t care about treats at all, he won’t even acknowledge them when he’s in this state.
For example, currently we are on vacation in a house with another family and he is SO excited that he’s constantly losing his mind. I just tried to put him down for a crate nap (which he’s had since he was puppy) and he screamed for 10 minutes! He graduated from crate naps awhile ago, but happily sleeps in it every night, but right now he needs to settle/rest and idk how to get him to! He refuses to lay down and settle in the house. Currently, I am laying next to his crate and he just closed his eyes 🤦🏼♀️ but every little noise excites him again (yes, I have white noise on).
It’s like he gets over stimulated and can’t calm down. He has plenty of exercise. We do at least two hours of exercise a day, swimming, puzzles, sniff walks… but it seems like his excitability is magnified when he’s tired, but he refuses to rest, so it just gets worse.
We do beef cheeks, toppls, lick mats…. HELP!
Posted Jul 29, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC