Why does your dog get aggressive when excited? And how can you tell if your dog is aggressive or excited, what exactly are the signs? Is this an unusual behavior, or is it common for dogs to be aggressive when excited?

Well, you no longer have to worry, because today we’re going to give you all of these answers, and most importantly, we’ll tell you how to stop your dog being aggressive when excited. I’m sure you’re looking forward to that, so let’s not delay any longer and get to our article “My Dog Gets Aggressive When Excited.”

How to Stop Your Dog Being Aggressive When Excited

To stop your dog being aggressive when excited, you should immediately give them a calm but firm “no” or “stop” as soon as you see that they’re taking things too far. If you see them nipping, growling, or doing anything you feel is beyond normal play, put your dog into time-out in their crate or a closed-off room with no toys for about 10 minutes.

You can then let your dog back out to resume what they were doing, but should repeat this process as many times as necessary if your dog again becomes aggressive when excited. If they do well, however, reward them with praise and a small treat. Ensure that anyone else who spends time with the dog is also following these steps.

With time, patience, and consistency, your dog should soon learn that there are limits to their behavior when excited, and that responding with aggression is never okay. They’ll also see that behaving, and letting their excitement out through proper play, gets them rewarded.

But you still need to address the underlying issue that allowed your dog to ever think that it was okay to respond to feeling overexcited with aggression. And for us to do that, we need to first quickly go over what makes dogs function and has for thousands and thousands of years.

You’ve probably heard before that dogs are pack animals, and that in every pack there is a pack leader. Well, when your dog is getting aggressive when excited, misbehaves at other times, and just doesn’t listen to your commands in general, they are clearly telling you that they don’t respect you in this role. They may even see themselves in it.

Clearly, that is not acceptable.

But once you’ve shown your dog that you are not just their pack leader — but a capable one who deserves their respect — your dog will stop being aggressive when excited. They’ll stop all of the other related behavioral issues you’re likely having, or will be soon. And most importantly, they’ll obey your commands at all times, and they’ll do so happily!

That’s because having all of this confusion about pack leader issues isn’t just frustrating for you — it’s also very stressful for your dog. Once you’ve made these changes in your relationship with your dog, they’ll be much more relaxed and confident as they’ll have been freed of all that anxiety and worry, and they’ll know that they can fully trust in you.

Sounds terrific, does it not?

“Sure, but how am I supposed to make any of this happen?”

You should watch an excellent free video series which is on this very subject — how to be your dog’s pack leader — by a renowned trainer named Dan. In his series, he explains absolutely everything you need to know in ways that are very easy to understand and teach to your own dog, and he gets right to the point so that you’ll start seeing these critical changes in your dog in a hurry.

Start watching Dan’s free training series now by clicking here. And don’t worry or stress, because you’re not going to have to yell or even be mean to your four-legged friend. Dan never uses those types of methods. That’s because humane and loving training is the fastest way (not to mention, the only way) to achieve permanent changes in your dog’s behavior.

Why Does My Dog Get Aggressive When Excited?

Your dog gets aggressive when excited because they don’t know how to properly handle all of the feelings they’re having, so they start lashing out. Getting overexcited can result from too much of a good time, but also can happen during situations in which the dog is very anxious or stressed. Regardless of the exact reason why they’re too excited, it’s not something you should ignore.

A dog being too aggressive when excited could quickly escalate into biting or nipping at you, other people, or other dogs. Not handling things right away will give your dog the impression that they are on their own when they get overwhelmed like this. They’ll also believe that the resulting ways that they might deal with this — whether it’s getting aggressive, nipping, or biting — are okay.

It won’t be long before your dog is getting aggressive at all kinds of times. A dog getting aggressive when excited will quickly become a dog showing aggression during zoomies, a dog that has aggression at night following play, and a dog that aggressively barks throughout the day. They may even escalate to the point that your dog bites visitors.

Obviously, none of these are things you want to happen so it’s important that you show your dog now that their way of reacting with aggression when too excited is not okay. You would do this through behavioral training. Go back to the first section now where we went over how to do that.

How Can You Tell if Your Dog Is Aggressive or Excited?

To tell if your dog is aggressive or excited, look for other clues from their behavior. A dog that is being aggressive will be staring with a very focused, clear intent and likely barking with a deep growl. A dog that is merely excited might also bark, but it will be more high-pitched and accompanied by a wagging tail and also doing play bows. They’ll probably also bounce around a bit.

Is It Common for Dogs to Be Aggressive When Excited?

It is not common for dogs to be aggressive when excited. Some may have the impression that this is true, but that’s only because many people have trouble telling the difference between aggression and overexcitement. If you notice your dog being aggressive when excited, you need to work to stop this behavior right away.

Allowing it to continue because you believe it is common or normal will only make things worse. You will give your dog the idea that there are no limits during play or when they are overstimulated, and that they can respond in any way they want. This could lead to biting or attacking when things get to be too much for them, so obviously you can’t let this go on.

We went over how to stop your dog from being aggressive when excited in the first section of this article.

I’m sure you’re looking forward to not having to worry about what might happen when your dog starts getting excited, so I’ll let you get going on things now. Good luck, and thank you for reading our article “My Dog Gets Aggressive When Excited.”