Zoomies!! Nyowwwwww! Speedy Gonzales puppy coming through! Curious why?
As your puppy rushes around your room as though there’s a fire lit under their little butt, and you find yourself laughing or kind of concerned? They bounce around the room or garden, charging around and pouncing into a play bow! What fun!
Whilst fun, it is also pretty normal behaviour for a dog or puppy, but I want you to be aware of the potential reasons for a whizzy half an hour.
As always, let’s discuss the what the why and help you on your journey through puppyhood to becoming the very best you can and creating the very best pup for your family.
What Do Zoomies Look Like?
✅ Dark Eyes
✅ Hyperactive type behaviour
✅ Lots of running,
✅ Jumping on you or on furniture,
✅ Extra intense biting,
✅ Lack of response to cues.
Unintended results are usually laughter and a little bit of anxiety from a new puppy parent (certainly was for me!), and then a puppy who normally flattens out for a nap (depending on the reason for the zoomies, see below!).
Do I Need To Be Worried About Zoomies?
No, not really. You can, however use them for indicators of things like overtiredness or a lack of exercise and take appropriate cues for your training or routine adjustments!
Zoomies is something puppies get a lot and often gets misclassified by new puppy parents, so it’s something I get to explain quite a lot! It’s deemed fairly normal dog behaviour, but it can also be symptomatic of something else going on, so being aware of the potential reasons for this sudden hyperactivity can be:
1 – Overtiredness.
Similarly to an overtired child who might begin to get overly intense? An overtired dog (but particularly puppies!) can get zoomies as a way to push out that extra bit of energy they’ve just found in the bottom of the tank but cannot control.
The remedy here is to try and notice a pattern and see if you can either decrease their exercise a little, or put in a nap before the zoomies come…
2 – Too Much Energy!
If your dog has not had the opportunity to expend their energy – in both a mental and physical capacity – they can go into a zoomies phase to burn off excitement, energy and passion! This helps them to bring themselves back down to a ‘normal’ level, but we hope that appropriate outlets are provided as much as humanly possible. And remember, it’s not just physical exercise, but mental too.
3 – Nervousness
It can be a display of anxiety or nervousness, adrenalin builds and the response is a ‘contained’ flight response that appears as zoomies!
Normally the way to avoid this is to build confidence in your dog from a young age, and teach them appropriate behaviours, and be their best advocates. A nervous dog is nervous for a reason, it’s finding the reason and easing those fears.
4 – When Wet…
It sounds a little like Gremlins, right? But it’s true! Whilst they’re not gonna turn your cute little Gizmo into one of those mildly terrifying things… If your dog is wet, they can also go into this mode, running around your home (usually) attempting to dry themselves off, and rubbing on surfaces, rolling around or just using the warm air through their coat to try and get rid of some of the excess!
Personally? I find the best solution to this one is a drying coat (or a doggy robe!) – also great for preventing that big shake from sending muddy droplets up the walls too.
Want a way to show your pride in zoomies and live in the UK? This shirt is by scruffy little terrier (who are fantastic by the way, check them out) is a great way to show off your love of your goofy little pup!
If you need more support with your puppy? Give me a shout, I can help you to become the very best you can be with them, and get their training right, right from the start with my weekly puppy development emails, Pupdates! These are what I wish I had had when I was raising Indie!
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