Why is my German Shepherd so hyper at night?

If your German Shepherd has been getting hyper at night you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.

This post will show you a number of reasons why your German Shepherd gets hyper at night and what you can do to stop it.

So, why is my German Shepherd hyper at night? Possible reasons are that it is eating the wrong foods just before bedtime, it’s not getting enough exercise, separation anxiety, you have inadvertently been encouraging it or that there is a problem with its sleeping environment.

There are actually a number of things that you can consider when trying to figure out why it is hyper at night. Depending on the cause there are also a number of things that you can do about it.

Why your German Shepherd is so hyper at night

Each of the different reasons why your German Shepherd gets hyper at night will likely come with a number of clues.

Below, I will mention a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might be doing it and the signs to look for.

It’s eating the wrong foods right before bed

It could be the case that it is eating things that it shouldn’t be right before bed. It could also be the case that it is eating too late at night.

You can look here to see what you should or should not be feeding your German Shepherd.

If you are currently feeding your German Shepherd late in the evening then you could also try feeding it a few hours earlier.

It’s not getting enough exercise

German Shepherds are meant to be a very active breed. Generally, it is recommended that they get at least an hour of exercise per day. If your German Shepherd is not currently getting that much exercise then it could be contributing to it getting hyper at night.

In this case, it would help to make sure that your German Shepherd is getting enough exercise by walking it, playing fetch with it or having a dog walker do it for you.

Related post: Ways to exercise your German Shepherd.

Separation anxiety

The reason why your German Shepherd gets hyper at night could be that it has some separation anxiety. This is where your German Shepherd does not like being left alone and it gets anxious when it is alone.

This would be more likely to be the reason if your German Shepherd tends to get very anxious when you are going out or you’re about to leave it to go to bed. Ways that it might show anxiety would be pacing, crying or being destructive while you are away.

If your German Shepherd does seem to have some separation anxiety then you can watch the video below to see a number of tips on what you can do about it.

You have been encouraging it

It might be the case that you have been inadvertently rewarding the behavior. This would be more likely if your method to get your German Shepherd to stop being hyper is to give it attention or other things that it wants.

Instead, it would help to try to avoid giving it attention, to try the other tips below and train it to lay down on your command so that you can get it to lay down when you want it to.

Related post: How to tell if your German Shepherd loves you

There is a problem with its sleeping environment

The reason that it gets hyper at night might be that it finds it difficult to sleep where it normally sleeps. Reasons that this might be the case could include the lights being left on, being too hot or it’s not comfortable for it.

Things to consider

Before trying to get your German Shepherd to be less hyper at night it would help to have a good idea of why it is happening. Below, I will mention a number of things that you can consider.

If it has always been hyper at night

It would help to consider the timing of when your German Shepherd started to be hyper at night. If it didn’t always get hyper at night and it started doing it suddenly then it would help to consider what happened at around that time.

Possible things that could have happened would be:

• You stopped letting it sleep in the same room as you (separation anxiety)
• You moved home
• Animals started breaking into the yard
• It started showing signs of being ill
• You changed its diet

If it has always done it then it could be due to its diet, eating too late, its sleeping environment, separation anxiety or not getting enough exercise.

What is different when it is less hyper

If it doesn’t always get hyper at night then it would help to consider what is different when it does get hyper.

Some things that might be different could be:

• It’s windier or there is thunder and lightening on the nights that it gets hyper
• You don’t let it out to pee before bed when it gets hyper
• You give it less exercise on the days that it gets hyper

How old it is

If your German Shepherd is still a puppy then it is likely that it will start to be hyper less as it gets older. However, it would help to ignore it when it is hyper at night unless you think that it needs to pee.

If your German Shepherd is not a puppy anymore it would help to consider the two things mentioned above. However, it would make it more likely to be due to things such as its diet or not enough exercise.

How to get your German Shepherd to be less hyper at night

Below, I will mention a number of things that you can do to get your German Shepherd to be less hyper at night.

You can look at the book Training Your German Shepherd on Amazon to get more tips about how you can train your GSD.

Make sure that you are feeding it correctly

The first thing that you can do is to make sure that it is getting the right diet. You can look here to see what you should or should not be feeding it. Avoiding feeding it right before bed would likely help as well.

If you are unsure of what food to get for your German Shepherd, consider getting dog food designed specifically for German Shepherds. You can get a GSD specific dog food on Amazon here and one for GSD puppies on Chewy here. 

Give it lots of exercise

It’s also important to give your German Shepherd lots of exercise in order to get it to be less hyper.

You might find that walks alone aren’t enough for your high energy German Shepherd so you’ll need to find ways to wear it out even more. You could do so by walking it faster, walking it further, walking it in a hilly area or you could make it wear a weight vest weighing less than 10% of your dog’s bodyweight. 

Another way is to teach it to play fetch. By doing so you will be able to get your German Shepherd to do a lot of running over a short time period that will be more likely to effectively wear it out.

You could also teach it to swim. It’s a good way to give it more exercise since it can take a lot of energy for it to stay afloat. It’s also good for the summer months since it can help to keep it cool.

If you don’t have the time to exercise your German Shepherd yourself then you could consider hiring a dog walker to do it for you. There are apps that you can download now that will let you hire a dog walker in your area through the app.

Consider crate training

Crate training is where you teach your German Shepherd to learn to be comfortable inside of a crate designed for dogs.

If you crate train your German Shepherd in the right way it will give it a space where it can feel safe. This will give your German Shepherd a space where it will be able to feel secure at night without you being around.

Avoid encouraging the behavior

It could be the case that it has learned that being hyper at night results in it getting things that it wants. When your German Shepherd is hyper at night it would help to avoid rewarding it with things that it wants.

Instead, you can try feeding it earlier, giving it more exercise, crate training, improving its sleeping environment and ensuring that its diet is correct.