Dog Training
Obedience for Dogs Who Have Opinions
High-energy dogs aren't bad dogs. They're just dogs with a lot going on. Here's how to work with that instead of against it.
If your dog has ever dragged you across a parking lot, ignored a recall to chase a deer, or sat down in the middle of a trail and refused to move — welcome. This page is for you. These are practical obedience basics built around dogs that have more energy than patience, which, honestly, describes most good dogs.
Earn Attention Before You Ask for Anything Else
A high-energy dog isn't ignoring you because it's stubborn. It's ignoring you because the world is more interesting than you are right now. Fix that first. Short, frequent attention games — eye contact on cue, name recognition, check-ins on walks — build the habit of looking to you before acting. Five minutes a day beats one long frustrated session every time.
Sit and Stay Are Not the Same Command
Most people teach sit and then get frustrated when the dog doesn't hold it. Sit means 'put your butt down.' Stay means 'keep it there until I say otherwise.' Teach them separately. Build duration on stay in boring environments before you add distance or distraction. Your dog isn't blowing you off — it just never learned that sit meant anything past the moment the treat appeared.
Recall Is a Life Skill, Not a Party Trick
A reliable recall — coming when called, every time, no matter what — is the most important thing you can teach a high-energy dog. It is also the thing most people practice least, because it's hard. The rule: never call your dog to you for something it doesn't like. Never call it and then end the fun. Make coming to you the best thing that happens all day, every day, until it's automatic.
Leash Manners Start Before You Leave the House
If your dog loses its mind the moment the leash comes out, the walk is already off the rails. Teach calm before the leash goes on. Sit before the door opens. Wait at the threshold. The ritual of leaving matters as much as the walk itself. A dog that's already amped up when you hit the sidewalk will take a quarter mile just to settle — if it settles at all.
Tired Dogs Learn Better — But Not Exhausted Ones
A short training session after a run or a good play session lands better than one with a dog bouncing off the walls. But there's a ceiling: an exhausted dog is checked out and won't retain anything. Aim for 'pleasantly worn out' — loose, calm, still engaged. That's your window. Ten minutes of focused training in that state is worth an hour of frustrated repetition when the dog is wired.
The bottom line
These aren't the only five things that matter. But they're the five things that, if you get them right, make everything else easier. High-energy dogs are a lot of work. They're also, in my experience, the best kind.