Sometimes helping a dog wind down means preventing him from getting wound up in the first place.
It's most obviously an issue when guests arrive and make a big fuss over your hyper dog.
All that excitement and attention can be more than even the most painstakingly trained dog can bear.
The solution? Putting your dog's needs first.
That means you need to do two things before your guests arrive.
First, ask them to totally ignore him for the first 15 minutes of their visit.
Second, snap a collar on him before you open the door, so that you can correct him if necessary.
Once your guests have arrived, invite them to move around freely, since a hyper dog is less likely to gloom on to a moving target.
If they can't resist (and who can blame them?), admit that you've been having trouble with your dog becoming overexcited with guests and treat the event as an opportunity to school him.
Excuse yourself and get control by enforcing a series of obedience commands in quick succession.
By the time you're through, he will be one calm dog - or at least a lot more composed than he was a few minutes earlier.
In the meantime, you can begin alleviating this problem by treating your own homecomings as non-events.
Act oblivious to your dog, ignoring him and his shenanigans completely for the first 15 minutes.
If he leaps on you, don't yell at him; it will only inflame his excitement.
And don't push him away; he'll see that as a game.
Instead, focus on some other activity - chores or changing your clothes, for instance.
If he gets into your way in an attempt to engage you in play, stumble into him relentlessly to mess up his M.
O.
Or, if he needs to be fed or walked, do so without emotion.
After the prescribed length of time, have a ball: Wrestle, play, cuddle, do whatever makes you both happy.