Why Do Dogs Get So Excited?

Every autumn, as the leaves pile up and the breeze begins to prick my skin with a faint chill, I think about one thing: a video I saw years ago of a dog running laps through his backyard. Every few moments, the pup would find a new leaf pile and dive in at full speed, burrowing through the mountain before popping out the other side and sprinting toward a new heap. It’s the kind of happiness to which most of us aspire — the reckless abandon of a child, but covered in fur and running on four legs.

This year, I decided to search for it and, to my surprise, could not. Instead, I discovered that whoever that dog was had been eclipsed by several other hounds, all of whom seem to have better search optimization. (Ah, how the web has changed!) Still, to my delight, there is no shortage of videos of dogs getting very, very excited about the leaves. A chief mascot of this season appears to be a Labrador named Stella, whose profile has risen enough to merit a broadcast news feature.

All of this got me wondering: Why do dogs get so excited? Is this the level of joy we’d all be able to embrace in our adult lives, were it not for tedious human realities like jobs, bills, and laundry day? Or are dogs somehow specially wired for enhanced joie de vivre? There was only one way to find out, so I asked the experts to break it all down for me.

Why do dogs get so hyped?

There’s no denying that many dogs can get rambunctious when properly stimulated. We’ve all seen those videos of dogs going absolutely gonzo when they hear the word “walk,” or running into walls at full speed when they have the zoomies. But according to applied animal behaviorist Renee Rhoades, our pups’ nervous systems don’t function that differently from our own. 

“I wouldn't say that dogs are necessarily more excitable than us,” Rhoades says, “but stress can present like excitement, and if we read our dog's body language incorrectly, we may inadvertently think our dog is excited when they are fearful or conflicted.”

Like many experts, Rhoades likens dogs’ cognitive abilities to human toddlers — and if you’ve ever met a three-year-old, you know that they, too, can get pretty excited about the everyday things many of us jaded adults find mundane. “It will depend on the individual dog as to what they find truly exciting,” Rhoades adds, “but having a good understanding of canine body language can help guardians to get a good idea of what their dog is feeling.”

Every dog is different, so different stimuli might excite dogs and stress others out. But generally, Rhoades says, “dogs can get excited about anything that brings them consistent positive outcomes.” That would explain why some of the lowest-common-denominator pleasure sources seem to be things like walks, treats, and playtime.

Rick Sanders, registered professional dog trainer and owner of Empire State K9 Services, notes that instinct can play a role in driving dogs’ excitement as well. Consider, for example, when you come home from work and your dog starts running around in cute little circles and barking with glee. That specific dance is called “pack-greeting behavior,” he says, and it dates all the way back to dogs’ lupine ancestors.

“The domestic dog in our home, the dog in our living room, is a watered-down version of the wolf,” Sanders says. “It starts with the wild dog, and it goes into our living rooms and on our front porches.”

Dogs are pack animals, Sanders says, so when part of the group is away and then returns, our pups react accordingly. Domestic dogs also rely on their parents to survive, which could further motivate the behavior. At the same time, Sanders adds, “I wouldn’t try to link it into human emotion. That’s called anthropomorphism.”

Anthropomorphism happens when we try to attribute human emotions, traits, and thought patterns to other creatures and entities. It’s an understandable instinct, but it can lead to big misunderstandings with our pets. Rhoades cautions that though thinking about our dogs in this way might help us empathize with them, we also shouldn’t “label our dogs with emotions or descriptive characteristics that dogs do not possess, like guilt, stubbornness, and spite.”

How else can I tell if my dog is excited?

Much like human toddlers, Rhoades says, our pups tend to let more of their feelings out around humans with whom they share close bonds. At the same time, she says, dogs are a social and behaviorally complex species, so we can't say for sure that dogs are expressing all of their emotions for us to see.

As with so many canine quandaries, clocking your dog’s excitement will often come down to reading their body language in its environmental context. That will also help you figure out if your dog’s high energy comes from joyful arousal or stress.

Signs of excitement include:

• Loose, open posture 

• Open mouth

• Ears forward

• Bright, open eyes

• “Helicopter tail” (spinning at a high velocity in a circle)

“Studies have indicated that a dog wagging their tail with a right bias correlates with a more positive physiological response comparative to a tail wagging left,” Rhoades adds, “so watching for this indicator among many others is likely to indicate the dog is feeling in more positive emotion.” 

How excited is too excited?

As adorable as it might be to watch our dogs sprint through piles of leaves or chirp at the word “walk,” you might reach a point where your their energy levels pose risks for them and others. For example, Sanders brings up that hyper “pack-greeting behavior” again. It might be cute in moderation, but in more severe cases, he says, “It's just not a functional behavior. It's something that we stop.”

In the United States, tens of thousands of people seek emergency treatment each year for falls related to cats and dogs. Depending on where you live, if your dog knocks someone over, you can even be held legally liable for their injuries. We never want to stifle our dogs’ sense of whimsy, but if your dog’s excitement tends to become explosive, it could be worth meeting with a professional to explore how to channel that energy in another way.