S/o zoomies - dog is unmanageable in this mood
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Anonymous
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So I was reading the thread on morning zoomies and saw a lot of people saying the zoomies are adorable and why would you try to medicate or train your dog out of them?
Our dog is totally unmanageable when he gets into this mood. It mostly happens on his walks after he meets another dog, or another dog barks at him from across the street, or he picks up a stick. I can visibly see a surge of excitement run through him and he starts acting like he suddenly has a bee in his bonnet: racing around, jumping at me, play biting (which in his excitement can be harder than it should be), grabbing at his leash with his teeth and trying to get a game of tug of war going. It is cute to see him that happy but it’s also incredibly annoying because he is unmanageable in this mood. Has anyone BTDT and trained a dog out of behavior like this? We’re working with a trainer and she advised me to turn my back on him whenever he starts this but that hasn’t been working. He jumps at my back, bites at my coat, and tugs the leash out of my hand. The most frustrating thing of all is that he doesn’t do this with my husband. When he tries to start up, DH tells him “no” and he supposedly stops right away. Of course, I also tell him no in a form voice, command him to “drop it” (the leash), make him sit still for a treat, and tell him to “settle” but it doesn’t work like it does for DH. He just starts up again when we get going back towards home. He doesn’t see me as his leader, like DH, I guess, but I’m not sure how to change that. Help? |
Anonymous
| Do you mean this happens during a walk? And only during a walk? |
Anonymous
He can get the zoomies at home too but it’s easier to make him settle in the house. Probably because there is less stimulation and we can command him to “go to your bed” which helps him settle. |
Anonymous
| The dog will grow out of it. |
Anonymous
OP here. I hope so. He’s a rescue dog we’ve had for about a month now. They told us he’s around 3, although that’s an estimate (based on his teeth) since he was a stray before being picked up. Isn’t 3 a little old for this constant zooming? We went with a rescue o er a puppy because we didn’t want these issues. |
Anonymous
| Can you get a trainer that'll work with you on how to take control? Or send him to a school for a week? |
Anonymous
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OP, I have the exact same issue with my Golden Retriever who is now almost 2 and shows no signs of stopping. We have tried working with a trainer but, of course, he doesn't do this behavior when the trainer is around.
Things that have helped: a chain leash - not a fun to grab causing a diversion - "look a squirrel!" using a shock collar - he tends to behave much better when we put it on him though sometimes it does not deter him. We almost never actually shock him with it unless he's really bad and even then, he can keep going. I wish I knew what else to say. Sometimes it's so bad that my kids come home in tears from walking him. |
Anonymous
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OP here. We are working with a trainer but haven’t seen results for this particular issue yet. We have had success with getting him to stop growling and snapping at people and to stay in his dog bed/off furniture.
One thing he does which freaks me out - he jumps really high in the air and kind of sails toward me, clicking his teeth open and shut like a cartoon shark. He’s not attacking me, he’s trying to play, but I really don’t like it. His play mouthing can sting when he gets this excited. He’s trying to get the leash away from me in a game of tug of war. I don’t know the correct action to stop him from doing this. |
Anonymous
| Our 6 1/2 month old puppy recently started doing this on walks. He does it when he gets excited but also occasionally when he gets bored. I start with pulling him away from me with a very firm no. This sometimes is enough to stop him, but sometimes it just frustrates him more and he continues to lunge at me and try to play bite. I always have treats with me and so I'll stop the walk and tell him to sit and then have him go through all his tricks before he gets the treat. I never give him a treat to stop biting me, I just get his attention with the treat so I can begin his training. That way he connects getting a treat with training not lunging and biting. The training session is usually enough to snap him out of the bitey mood and we continue on our walk. |
Anonymous
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That's not zoomies. That's reactive or bad behavior.
You need more than what you are doing. Much stronger response. |
Anonymous
OP here. Thanks for these tips! I’m going to try using a metal leash. |
Anonymous
OP here. Such as? I’m here asking for details about how to stop it. As to why I call it zoomies, that’s how the behavior started. We’d be walking and suddenly he’d start zooming around zig zagging back and forth across the sidewalk in the classic zoomie way. Then he started zooming around in circles. I thought it was cute and didn’t put a stop to it. Big mistake because it has since progressed to the jumping/lunging/biting behavior I describe above. |
Anonymous
| Get an Easy Walk harness |
Anonymous
| The cure for this is exercise. |
Anonymous
You will just hurt your hands. Both of you need a no-pull head collar or harness. Not a pinch collar. You also need to look in to clicker training. |