Next level zoomies!

[Elizabeth & Cooper]

  Well for the most part week two has been good. I expected Cooper to have more energy and he has. But, overall his 'zoomies' outbursts are limited. Tonight, however, they got to a new level. He's been out many times today (3 walks, a round of soccer out back, and countless pee breaks) and I just took him out for another little round of kicking the ball around. He ended up getting so excited that I had a hard time getting him calmed down. Some neighbours came by and I tried to restrain him so he wouldn’t go running at them and he started going nuts and even started growling at me. It was like he was so worked up that he literally was acting like a crazed animal. The neighbours gave me a look of 'get your puppy under control' but 95% of the times he's totally well behaved. I have to admit though that in those few moments of him reaching that energy climax I got a bit worried that my little guy may turn out to be a hellion!! Any advice on how to either keep a pup from getting that worked up or advice on how to quickly calm them down??? I have him back inside and he’s back to his normal, calm self… sheesh!

 

Thanks!

 

Elizabeth

[Jess and Pippin]

One trick that we've used is to always end high energy play on a calm note.  We spend a few minutes with calming strokes and quiet voices.  This helps the puppies to learn how to calm themselves down.  The other thing we did, was to stop high energy play whenever we noticed the puppy on the verge of being out of control.  Pippin did growl at us a few times on similar occasions.  I think he was too wound up and tired and we missed quieter signals from him, so it escalated to a growl.  We let him know that growling was not acceptable right away as it happened and debriefed to see if we missed an earlier signal.

[Cathy w/Shiloh~Cody]

If he takes after my dog, then he needs to go down for a nap. Seriously, I put him in his crate and he

falls asleep and wakes up a whole different dog. Your dog did a lot today, and my dog does that when he

does a lot of activity. I do not know how old your dog is-but they say young dogs need 18 hours of sleep.

Good luck!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I totally agree with Cathy. Fudge was the wildest when she was tired. I would bring Fudge in and make her take a nap.

[Elizabeth & Cooper]

Thank you both for the great comments. I will try to keep an eye out for signs, for sure. It's funny you make the comment about being over-timed because as soon as I brought him in he's been out COLD. He's 9.5 weeks so he probably did need more rest. I am so mindful of making sure he gets lots of play and excercise that perhaps I went a bit too far. Interested to hear from others??

Thanks again. :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Elizabeth, I treated my puppies just like my kids when they were little. I stuck to a schedule of sorts and made them have quiet time. I know this sounds weird, but puppies, especially, need likes of sleep or they get out of control, just like tired kids. If Fudge got nippy and ornery, I did time her out in her crate and 9 times out of ten she fell asleep.

[Elizabeth & Cooper]

Very good point. I think my focus has been too much on the other end of the spectrum. I almost felt guilty if I felt like he was either in his pen or crate sleeping all the time but I'll definitely be more mindful of it and will encourage the rest. He always seems to get crazy at night too so maybe that's just him being overtired from the day. Thanks again. Definitely makes sense!