When Do Springer Spaniels Calm Down?
Springer spaniels are a high energy dog breed that requires plenty of exercise. Spaniels usually calm down between two and three years of age. Some spaniels that are improperly trained can take longer to calm down. Personality also plays a role because each springer spaniel is an individual, and each one has a different personality.
When Do Springer Spaniels Calm Down?
Training and exercise will go hand in hand to help calm their overly active behavior.
Energy is great for playtime and outdoor activities, and springers need to let it out, but just as in children, there’s a time and place for everything.
With proper training, your springer will learn when it’s time for racing and running and when it’s time to take a break and settle down.
Why Are Springer Spaniels So Hyper?
To understand the answer to this question, you must first understand the nature of the springer spaniel.
Springer spaniels were traditionally bred as a working and retrieving dog, so they have tons of energy and stamina. Whether puppy or adult, they are filled with that instinctual working drive.
This drive is not going to go away, so training and physical and mental stimulation is a must to keep your pup busy.
The word hyper means overexcited or overstimulated. Yes, springer spaniels fit the bill of both.
Hyper Springer Spaniel Puppies!
All puppy breeds are incredibly active, so springer spaniel puppies aren’t the only hyper fur balls. They can be a handful if you’re not prepared to deal with a puppy. They can be very active and quite boisterous at times.
Before you bring your spaniel puppy home, make sure to de-puppy your house to avoid any destruction, as well as having everything safe for your pup.
Keeping puppy in one room initially and using puppy or child gates is an excellent way to ensure your spaniel is contained in one area.
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The kitchen is a good room, especially if you have carpeting throughout the rest of your home. It makes cleaning any accidents easier. Removing anything your puppy can chew or anything dangerous is good for your nerves as well as the puppy’s safety.
Your springer puppy will need a lot of sleep to energize them for the tons of energy they have. At this stage, they don’t know how to channel this energy. You will be their guide by providing stimulating toys and playtime as well as plenty of exercise.
How Do You Calm Hyper Springer Spaniels Puppies Down?
When your springer pup is between ten weeks and about four months, they should have at least two, fifteen to twenty minutes of play a day, morning and evening. Ideally, this playtime should be outside. Also, take your pup on short walks, never walking them over a half-mile at this age.
When your spaniel reaches six months, playtime can be extended to forty-five minutes twice a day, playing games that are a little more dynamic than before. Keep walks the same length.
At one year, you can increase activity to their needs. The time you play and walk with your spaniel should be quality time. It’s not just about tiring them out; it’s about stimulating them mentally and physically and also creating the ever-important bond between you and your favorite companion.
Just as exercise is important, so is quiet time. If your pup is lying quietly, don’t rile them up and encourage action and enthusiasm. Give them positive reinforcement by telling them what a good boy or girl they are for taking a break.
Make sure your springer puppy has a sleeping area that is strictly theirs alone. Because they are so active and energetic, they need up to twenty hours of sleep each night to regain all of that energy to do it all over again tomorrow!
Give them an area with a comfortable bed and blanket and perhaps a comforting stuffed dog toy. When first arriving at your home, a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel can soothe them, especially if they’re missing their mother and littermates.
What Does Your Energy Tell Your Springer Spaniel?
In your household, you are the pack leader. Are you behaving calmly, or has something gotten you rattled? Work, financial worries, relationship problems? Any of these issues that cause stress and anxiety can be transferred by your voice’s tone and the way your body language comes across.
Pups can sense that something is amiss. If you are nervous and agitated, this may refer back to your springer, causing hyperactivity that trickles down and makes you even more exasperated.
Then your pup becomes even more hyper. Take a step back and try to get your calm going. Be the pack leader that your spaniel looks to for guidance.
How Can You Redirect Your Springer Spaniel’s Hyper-energy?
As with puppies, taking your springer for two walks a day can redirect their energy. Older dogs can go for hour-long walks. Morning and evening. Longer hikes on weekends are enjoyable for the whole family.
These walks and hikes not only keep your pup busy but also helps tire them out. When it’s time for calm and relaxation, everyone, including your spaniel, is ready.
Will Working Your Springer Spaniel Calm Them Down?
The answer to this question isn’t making your springer go to the job fair looking for a job! Springer spaniels are instinctively working and retrieving dogs. They have a great nose perfect for sniffing, and some do have real jobs as sniffer dogs, working for the military and law enforcement. Hide treats or toys and make a game of it inside or outside.
Give your pup a job to do by sniffing them out. Reward them with praise as well as the treat they find. Also, throw tennis balls or sticks and have your springer return them to satisfy their retrieving instinct.
Obedience training classes are a good way, not only to get your pup the necessary training, but your spaniel will feel like they are working.
Agility training is another excellent idea for keeping your spaniel exercised and busy. You can train them on an obstacle course and even enter them in contests. This will satisfy their work gene.
You and your pup will share the enjoyment you get out of the training by sharing a common bond and forming a stronger bond at the same time.
Will Less Attention Help Cure Hyperactivity?
Using a kind of reverse psychology, start ignoring any bad hyper behavior your spaniel exhibits. If they become too animated and overstimulated by jumping or scratching, do not say anything or make eye contact. Simply ignore the display.
They will quickly calm down when they see you’re not giving them any attention, good or bad. When you carry on because they are carrying on, it only exacerbates the situation by acknowledging their bad behavior.
Can Calm Music and Soothing Smells Help Calm Your Springer Spaniel Down?
This may sound like a suggestion to send your spaniel to a spa, but calm music can help everyone, including your springer spaniel, to relax. When your household is in turmoil with everyone talking loudly and exhibiting excitement, then your spaniel picks up on everything and becomes overexcited and hyper.
Soothing music will help the whole family, and if you throw in some nice calming essential oils, it can’t hurt!
Here is some music especially for dogs!
Final Thoughts
There is hope for having a lovable, affectionate, energetic, but calm springer spaniel. There’s no need to panic! Stay calm and exercise your springer, make playtime fun for all, and soon you and your busy buddy will be chilling on the couch.
