This was the question posed by one of the attendees at our Saturday morning Perfect Pet class this week.
Their dog is the most gorgeous toy poodle puppy. He’s their first dog, so they sensibly joined our Perfect Pet class to make sure they got things right from the start.
They’d noticed that each evening, suddenly, without any warning, their puppy jumps up then charges around madly with his tail tucked in, running round the house. It also happens in long grass and at the beach.
We call it the zoomies. Nearly every puppy does it to a greater or lesser extent, in their first few months. It happens once a day, or sometimes twice, at the same time, most commonly in the early evening. It also happens when your puppy is excited, or suddenly startled, or it can be triggered by being on certain surfaces.
Your puppy will tuck their tail in, then, with a sudden burst of energy, run around, often taking a very similar route each time. (One of my previous dogs had a figure of eight route – round the sofa, up the stairs, back down the stairs, round the sofa, onto a chair, off the chair, and repeat…) When it happens outside, they’ll often run in large circles around you or around an object such as a tree or bush.
It’s a normal and generally harmless behaviour. After a few minutes or circuits most puppies stop and lie down somewhere to recover. Sometimes they can bite more when in this phase, so have a favourite toy ready to encourage them to play with that rather than with your fingers or toes.
Very rarely a puppy can injure himself. I remember a puppy who had the zoomies during a training session some years ago which suddenly yelped and stumbled back to us on three legs. She’d actually subluxed her kneecap and need vet care to put it back in pace. But that is very, very unusual.
If your puppy decides to have the zoomies, I recommend moving anything breakable out of the way, including small children and frail elderly, and just let the puppy enjoy himself. It always makes me smile and feel happy when I watch it. We can learn so much from our dogs – to enjoy and live in the moment.
If you’ve got any questions about why your dog does the things she does, please ask.
Keep training,
Carol