hello, my two year old lab retriever is very hyper constantly. I have been told maybe its linked to his food/treats. Could anyone extend into this please, as the assistance dog charity tell us what to feed; so I can’t change his diet which is Purina (which I don’t really like) and I use a lot of the meals for his treats. So I don’t give many other treats apart from occasional sweet potato or carrot. Occasionally I will give liver cake, liver pate or fish treats. Any ideas which would be making him hyper please? Thank you
This is quite a big subject -- you would probably me best to find a canine nutritionist to advise you, does the assistance dog charity have access to one? What is there reason for feeding Purina? I had some trouble with Cassie's behavior about a year ago, which could have had multiple causes at it's roots, but I contacted a behaviourist who was most helpful and amongst other things advised me to change her food. After a time and some research I did so, I was looking to avoid additives with E numbers in, and found that "EU permitted additives" were the ones to avoid and chose a food without them, which has suited her very well in a number of ways. Cassie wasn't hyper all the time, far from it, and had recently had a nasty phantom pregnancy which I'm sure contributed to what amounted to temper tantrum outbursts, which although still occur sometimes are few and far between, so how much difference the food has made I can't be sure, but a good quality food that suits your dog can make a difference overall. I hope this helps a little bit.
Thanks that helps tons, even to give a case to the charity and hope they can see a different view. I have contacted a few different nutritionists but am waiting reply, just seeing worsening hyper ness and concerned the lasting effect. Thanks for your reply though
In human children, a diet low in sugar is considered a good idea for hyperactive children. This would also extend to being low in carbs. I wonder if this could be similar in dogs? I can’t see why not. Many kibble foods are high in carbs. Another thing to look at are the dewormer and tick and flea pesticides you might be putting in/on your dog. Some people have reported their dogs acting hyper after using them.
Lots of people say dogs are hyper when in fact they are not properly trained or just have too much energy for the outlets provided for them. A Detector Dog with a game warden friend had such a dog, a Seeing Eye Dog failure. A blind person would not have been abl to handle her. Working as a detector dog was right up her alley. Perhaps an evaluation by another accredited dog trainer would be in order. Bloodwork to see if all is right inside. Hypothyroidism is common in dogs. It's usually cats that get Hyperthyroidism. I don't know if a hyper thyroid can lead to hyperactivity but it sure gives my human friend tons of energy and she's got to be always busy. If it works the same way in dogs I'd think they would have no idea how to channel their energy. @MF has some good ideas. I don't about food in dogs but I sure know oating up a non-working horse can give lots of energy that can be hard to handle if it's not properly channeled and directed.
Sure, with a horse it's one of the first things you'd look at, why not the same for dogs? There's likely to be more than one contributing factor I believe, which is why I think the involvement of a professional behaviourist and/or canine nutritionist would be useful for the OP. As we all know, what suits one doesn't suit another. When my daughter was a toddler if she drank No Added Sugar drinks, or had jelly babies, she would become quite hyper in a short space of time, whereas they did not affect my son at all.
