Hi all, I'm looking for some ideas on how to deal with my dogs hyperactive behaviour. Asha is an 18 month old Maltese/shih-tzu. We also have a 12 month old female English staffy, Bella. We walk/run/bike/play frisbee with the dogs for 30-60 minutes a day.

My problem is Asha is becoming increasingly excitable. When we first arrive home, or if we head towards the door to go outside, or at feeding time, she becomes intent on doing laps of our property at top speed (outside and inside), sniffing, panting and barking. Almost like she's checking the perimeter? She also does this if I react to something on tv (gasp or exclaim over something). She's so intense & single minded abou it. I've tried telling her no (brief response but difficult to keep her attention), squirting her with a water gun (some success but not ideal really as I don't think she understands & I feel mean), asking her to sit (some success, but she's still extremely worked up & often doesn't obey), shutting her in the laundry briefly (supposedly till she calms down but she doesn't). It seems to be getting worse. She's such a lovely dog otherwise, I just wish she was calmer. She has always been a bit jumpy too (springs back from bushes etc.). She's very intelligent (learns tricks quickly), and is the bossier of our two dogs, even though she's much smaller (they have their issues, but that's fodder for another post).

I'd really appreciate some insight into the causes for her behaviour, and step by step instructions or advice on how I should deal with this. I'm at my wits end!