How do i get my dog to calm down?

Question

my doberman which is 8 months old now, almost 9, is really hyper. i know this is the puppy age in them, but he is so big and powerful, when we let him out of the lot or go in to feed him he jumps all over us and everybody else. he jumped on my little girl yesterday and got his claw on her face, thank god it did'n't scratch her or anything, but now she is terrified of him, she knows he was trying to play but she's been attacked of a rottweiler before and i think it brought that back for her. how do i get him to listen when i say no get down, or what ever else, he's just too hyper. i have a momma goat with three babies and he even teases them and he knows the momma will ram him, and he doesn't care, he keeps doing it. he's like this with every animal that goes in the back yard and i used to let my chihuahua and dachschund out there to play and he tramples all over them, and my dachschund get's aggressive when he does it, and he's getting to where he'll fight back now, because he just about hurt my neighbors dog today because he was trying to play and it grabbed a hold of his side in offensive matter, and he about got him. so what can i do to get him to calm down..........please help, and sorry about rambling on and on. thanks

Answer 1

you need to take your dog to training classes or call in a dog trainer as this is not normal behavior for a dog of his age. He needs a lot of training and discipline but the right way - do not smack or yell at the dog. Keep him on a leash as much as possible, get a correction chain from a trainer and have them show you the correct way of using it.

Answer 2

stroke it  

Answer 3

I have a 9 month old Akita Shepherd who is 6 and a half stone and he was doing exactly the same thing, i have 3 nephews below the age of 5 and he was jumping up all the time. Basically i took him training and they taught me to grab his collar when he jumps and hank it towards the floor, when he is down then say the command Down! in a strong voice, it took about 3 weeks but if you do it consistantly he will start to listen, also you will notice after a few days he will look like he is going to jump but hesitate slightly say the command then and reward him if he doesnt jump. This worked for me and i hope it does for you, as for calming him down i bought a slip lead and everytime we came across another dog or child that he wanted to play with i would tighten the lead and try to distract him until he understood that he can't chase everything. I also got a long line (like a washing line) tie this to his lead and it lets him think he has freedom but it also means if he trys to run you can stand on the line and pull him up! this is also really funny because my dog had no idea how i was stopping him and got really confused! but it worked because if he was going to run after a dog he knew the he was going to be stopped!

Another idea is the diet, i was feeding him bakers but got told this was like giving him smarties, i changed his diet to Naturediet which is basically meat, brown rice and veg with nothing added, this seemed to calm him down after a couple of weeks.

If all this doesnt help maybe think about taking him to a local training group it will also socialise him with other dogs!

Good Luck!