How to Stop a High Energy Dog From Getting Into Trouble

We hear some version of this sentence almost every week: “My dog keeps getting into trouble when I am not home.” Chewed baseboards, an emptied trash can, a shredded couch cushion. It is one of the most common calls we take, and it is almost always the same kind of dog: high drive, with more energy than outlet.

The good news is that this is a management problem before it is a behavior problem. You do not need a different dog. You need a little structure and some common sense, applied consistently by everyone in the house.

1. Use the Crate So the Habit Never Starts

If your eyes are not on the dog, the dog should be in the crate. Crate training is the single best way to manage a high drive dog when you genuinely cannot watch them: at work, at the gym, in the shower, out running errands.

Two misconceptions keep owners from using one. The first is that a crate is a punishment. It is not, and it should never be used as one. Sending a dog to the crate after they have already done something wrong teaches them that the crate is where bad things happen, which is the opposite of what you want. The second is that dogs resent being confined. Dogs are denning animals. Set the crate up properly, feed meals in it, and give your dog a chew in there, and most dogs start walking into it on their own to nap.

A crated dog is not a punished dog. A crated dog is a dog who cannot rehearse the habit of destroying your house, which means the habit never gets the chance to get stronger.

2. Spend the Time You Have Burning Energy

Most owners of high drive dogs are not short on love. They are short on hours. So the time you do have with your dog is better spent draining energy than passively hanging out next to them.

What matters is intensity, not duration. Any of the following works when it is genuinely active, not a slow wander around the block while you check your phone:

• A hard game of fetch
• A brisk walk or a run
• Swimming
• Tug with rules, meaning your dog releases on command

Twenty focused minutes before you leave the house will do more for a high drive dog than an hour of unfocused wandering. If your schedule genuinely does not allow that most days, that is what daycare is for. A dog who is genuinely social usually does well filling that time at DaySchool, our daily daycare and enrichment program. A dog who is also reactive, fearful, or was undersocialized as a puppy typically does better in the more structured, lower-stimulation environment of DayCamp. Either way, a dog who has spent the day working and playing comes home tired, and a tired dog is a dog who does not go looking for a project.

3. Give Them Something Legal to Chew

Naughty behavior usually traces back to boredom. Chewing itself is a normal, healthy dog behavior. The problem is never that your dog chews. The problem is what your dog chooses to chew when nothing else is available.

Durable and appropriately sized is the whole standard. Give your dog a chew that suits their size and jaw strength, and make sure it cannot be broken into pieces small enough to swallow or choke on. Then keep a few in rotation so the chew stays interesting instead of ignored in a corner. We do not push any particular brand here. The size and durability matter far more than what is printed on the packaging.

4. Teach the Place Command

Place is the command that changes the most homes we work with. You give your dog a defined spot, a cot or a bed or a rug, and the dog goes there and lies down until released. That is the entire skill, and it is worth more than almost anything else you can teach a busy dog.

Place works for the same reason the crate works: it gives your dog a clear answer to the question “what am I supposed to be doing right now.” Dinner is being cooked, the front door opens, guests arrive, and instead of guessing, your dog goes to their spot and settles instead of getting underfoot or getting into something.

We use elevated cots for this at both our Scottsdale and Cave Creek campuses because the raised edge draws an unmistakable line between on and off. Your dog knows exactly where the boundary is, and so do you. If you would rather have that foundation built for you instead of piecing it together on your own schedule, Foundation Camp teaches Place alongside the rest of your dog’s core obedience over a 14-night stay.

The Pattern Underneath All Four

A high drive dog getting into trouble is almost never a character flaw. It is the direct result of how much activity and how much structure that dog gets across the day. Add structure, and the relationship shifts from constant correction to something you actually enjoy.

If your dog’s energy has taken over the house, our approach to settling a dog who never seems to shut off walks through what that structure looks like week to week, beyond the four habits above.