Puppy goes bonkers every evening

[Sherry Craun]

Lexie is the perfect angel all day.  She plays, eats and does really good but it seems after dinner she goes bonkers.  She gets this crazy look in her eyes and she starts nipping, jumping, and being a real brat.  I took her for a walk and she comes home and just acts up.  I just crated her because I could not get her settled down.  Anyone have any tips?

[Pilar, Sophie & Rico]

Sherry, My suggestion is to get a long leash if your not fenced in and let her run. It's the excess energy buildup and it kicks in each evening! My Sophie would go bonkers and would run like crazy crashing into the walls, doors and even tHrough my screen door!! She's 17 months and still does it but I fenced in my yard and can let her runs like a wild horse and she comes in all relaxed and ready for bed. I do remember when she was a puppy I thought that she was possessed!

[Anita - Thunder, Noodle, Sparky]

I too remember a walk would get Sparky fired up and he would come in and perform great parkour throughout our house!

[Linda And Loo]

Sometimes they go crazy when they are over tired. The crate may be the answer!

[Dynamite & Doodle]

I agree. My pup is almost 4 months old now and in the past when he has gone wild like that he was overtired. I calmly put him in his crate and he'd happily lie down and have a rest, then come out a whole new puppy until he'd go to bed for the night.

[Sandra]

My Chester is like this we kennel him three times a day on the days I do not work .  We do 9:30 am,2 pm and and around 7. Then bed at 10  and we start all over again at 6:30 am.  A schedule seems to work for us.

[Vivian & Mojo]

Ugh my Mojo had a bonkers hour in the evening when he was younger. What really helped was turning it into a training session. This works especially well if they're food motivated and I would have little morsels of chicken or Zukes jerky treats. After the training I would give him a massage and talking in a calming manner. He is 16 months old now  and while well behaved still likes the evening massage. Many times its mental energy not physical. Good luck it gets better.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Seems every couple months this subject comes up regarding evening puppy 'zoomies'. It's normal and quite common. I'm not convinced it has so much to do with being overtired. Dogs (especially puppies) are more active in the evening, and it seems to occur (at least in my 2 dog household) after a walk. The doods can have slept most of the day so I believe it has nothing to do with being tired. The walk seems to get their blood moving and it helps to 'feed the fire', so to speak, for more activity once we're home. Personally, I like seeing the activity and I don't try to discourage it. Maybe it's just me?

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Auggie is 14 months old and he goes bonkers in the evening as well. He just wants to play and play and play, after sleeping most of the day. I got used to it as his routine. We play, I let him run and after a while he settles back down.

[kristine & Auggie]

My Auggie at 8 months does the same thing.  It is always at the same time, weather he has walked or played all day it doesn't seem to matter.  He does it less now but every now and then, crazy bonkers puppy appears.

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This is called the zoomies. When he heard the sprinklers coming on,  Ned used to take off out the doggy door, race through the sprinklers, zoom back into the house and up and down on each couch and chair.   He wasn't nipping because he was too busy zooming.  I would guess that if she is being a brat that she is tired and crating her is a good idea.

[Renu & Theo]

My 4.5 month old Theo also have the same thing in the evening after walk , he runs around crazy for some time and finally settles down. He is calm by the time i put him in crate for the night

[Bev and Tess]

Yep, evenings are full of running at our house too. We are lucky and have a large fenced back yard, so I can let them run.....Tess loved to run laps around the edge of are yard, along the back fence and around the pool, and then back to the start. We couldn't believe how fast, and how many laps she would make. Now with two pups, they wrestle, run, and then wrestle some more.