The two questions that I always ask when my dog is excited or activated, especially when the have the roomies:
-Are you mentally engaged enough stop, come, or sit when I ask?
-Are you mentally engaged enough to respect boundaries like staying out of my personal space, off the furniture, in my ‘bubble’ if they are off leash and interact politely with other dogs?
If the answer isn’t an unequivocal yes, allowing zoomies undo the mindset that I work in every interaction to build and reinforce. Zoomies can even put a dog’s life at risk. I’m deadly serious about that.
There is such a thing as “too much fun”
I love dogs having fun. I try to make every day fun. I am also legitimately afraid of the kind of fun that can lead to an injury or dog getting lost or dying. Every time a dog flips into an overly excited mindset, a neural pathway is being paved or reinforced. The more we allow it the more a dog will do it. Since being overly excited is a self rewarding behavior, it’s our job as handlers to encourage dogs to sit in a different seat within themselves, one that is mentally engaged, tuned in, respectful, and, most importantly, safe.
Being respectful, having situational awareness, and maintaining self control isn’t the antithesis to happiness. I can be completely elated & full of joy without crashing my car, slamming into another person, or running into traffic. I can be absolutely elated without getting into an energy that is out of control or behaving like I'm in a mosh pit. Hopefully the people who love to party that way do so in spaces where everyone agrees that that behavior is acceptable. If they didn’t it would be extremely antisocial to the point of possibly getting them arrested. Adults can decide if they want to do this, but across the board we encourage children not to.
Who hates zoomies? Healthy dogs
It’s “natural” for a dog to live in their animal or instinctive brain. Because most owners don’t know part of their job is to work to counteract this mindset and the ensuing behaviors, we are at the point where it is so common that it appears “normal.” I can assure you is isn’t. Guess who taught me that? Dogs.
In the pack of dogs I hiked everyday for almost a decade, when a dog got the zoomies to the point where their thinking brain shut off, my healthy, balanced dogs HATED it. When a dog looses access to their thinking brain they become a danger to the pack. The dogs with more leadership energy do what they have to do to shut it down. I don’t proclaim to know everything about the ways dogs think and interact, not at all, but I do trust dogs. If they aren’t okay with that energy then I support the dogs I trust and also work to discourage it.
When I see owners encouraging zoomies it makes my stomach sink. This isn’t just bad manners, it’s dangerous. You know the old fashioned saying “you kids better calm down before someone looses an eye?” That is zoomies.
What is natural, anyway?
It’s “natural” for kids to do certain things that we discourage in order for them to have healthy social lives and grow into adults that aren’t ostracized or in and out of prison. It’s natural for children to hit or shriek when they are angry or frustrated. It’s natural for them to say whatever they are thinking, even if it’s insulting or even cruel, like the common example of asking someone if they are pregnant when it’s clear to an adult they are not. It’s natural for kids to tease each other in a mean way. It’s up to parents to guide them and show them where the lines are.
Zoomies make a dog’s ears shut off
That is a cute phrase to express a more complex concept. Dogs don’t communicate with each other in spoken language. We can teach dogs a lot of commands and that is amazing, but they will never learn to speak a language. What is happening is that they learn to associate certain sounds with actions or behaviors.
If you have learned a language you know how much mental exertion it takes to hear sounds, especially when they sound like others sounds, and dig into your brain for the meaning of that sound. It can be exhausting, especially when you are learning.
Now imagine a time when you truly loose yourself - maybe dancing, doing yoga or another sport, cheering at a sports game or having sex. If someone spoke to you in a second language, it would take you a few leaps to get back into your thinking brain that could hear, understand and translate those sounds into meaning. The speed of your understanding and ability to respond would be highly dependent on how much practice you have.
The moments that don’t matter matter the most
When we don’t regularly ask our dogs to regulate from an excited energy to a calm energy - even in the house or yard where danger is limited or nonexistent, your dog will definitely not be able to do it outside of the house, around other dogs or when their prey drive is triggered. If I lose verbal control of my dog and don’t have some means of physical control, like a leash, longline or eCollar, they could run off, run into traffic, run into a cactus, off a cliff, into another dog, perhaps a smaller, older, or injured dog that could be hurt or killed, or even a smaller, older, or injured person. My dog could knock into me when I’m carrying hot tea and get burned. They could eat something that could lead to surgery. If they are in Austin playing near Town Lake they could run into the water and die within minutes if the toxic algae is blooming.
You care about your dog having fun. I care about keeping them safe. There is a lot of fun to be had my way and a lot of danger your way. I promise you, your dog would be happy to regulate themselves if they understood what was at risk, especially if they are “good."
A dangerous mindset
If you know anything about the way I work, I talk a lot about mindset. Owners often focus on “fixing” the behaviors they don’t like, but behaviors don’t exist in isolation. They arise out of certain energy states or mindsets. When owners complain their dog plays too rough, instead of focusing on correcting the undesirable behaviors, I ask owners to learn to recognize when a dog is building towards the energy level or mindset in which those behavior occur and redirect a dog before the behavior happens.
My outward behavior is often dictated by my mindset, too. When I am run down or frustrated I’m more likely to snap at someone. When I’m feeling sensitive or sad, my feelings are more likely to be hurt by something that may not bother me at another time. When someone steps on a trigger of mine I’m less likely to respond like my healthy adult self and more likely to react in a way that does damage. I do work to avoid certain behaviors, but I also work to maintain a calm, balanced, healthy mindset that the behaviors I aspire to can arise from.
In the zoomies mindset my dog is likely to lose the good manners I spend every day asking for and insisting on. If an owner accidentally anthropomorphizes, they will code behaviors as loving and affectionate that I know to be bad manners that will lead to antisocial behaviors.
You are always training or untraining your dog
At a baseline with every dog I encounter, I insist that they stay out of my personal space, off the furniture, refrain from following me, wait in front of doorways, avoid pulling on the leash or barking and lunging at other dogs. At the bare minimum my dog shouldn’t be so activated, distracted or excited that they can’t do these things. By insisting dogs always maintain enough awareness to respect these boundaries I’m ensuring that my dog always has a foothold in their thinking brain.
By asking my dog to respect and act in accordance with these good, respectful behaviors I’m helping them shift back into their thinking brain. The more I ask them to figure out how to get from excited, stimulated, nervous, etc to calm and thoughtful, the more opportunities they have to navigate their internal landscape. They learn the path back to home base so well that they can get there quickly when needed.
Dog park dangers
Zoomies are part of the reason I avoid dog parks. Dog parks are usually full of dogs who don’t get enough exercise. Owners who “love” their dogs drive them to the fenced dog park and let them zoom around while they doom scroll. These dogs haven’t been trained to be safe off leash. They probably pull on the leash, which is why they aren’t getting walked. They use play and a fenced area as their only outlet for physical and mental stimulation. As we learned in quarantine, being locked up makes us more likely to take full advantage of the times we get to get out. The dog park is a breeding ground for an overly stimulated mindset, overly enthusiastic to the point of being dangerous play and inattentive owners.
The dogs I feel the worst about at dog parks are healthy dogs. Since most owners think zoomies are happy and healthy, the dog that steps in trying to stop the zoomies is often the one getting fussed at. Imagine booing the bouncer when they try to break up a bar fight. Healthy dogs are the dogs who get yelled at and disregulated dogs are the ones who get encouraged and rewarded. No wonder we have a dog problem in our culture.
A dog with leadership energy who takes on responsibility for the environment and the safety of the dogs in it will try to shut down an overly excited energy because it’s a disregulated and unsafe mindset. They do this by doing all the behaviors I discourage in play. They will race to cut the other dog off, body check them, try to pin them on the ground and stand over them, snapping at the dog till they regulate out of that dangerous and antisocial energy. It was absolutely incredible to see the dogs in my pack who would give this correction use the perfect pressure and timing and know exactly when the mindset had shifted back. Both dogs would shake it off and our enjoyable hike would continue.
A dog in a zoomies mindset is more likely to bodyslam, bite, bark at, hump, pin, stand over and overcorrect another dog inappropriately. If I felt someone grab my butt from behind, I may use my arms to push them away as I turn around to see what is going on. If I punched someone I wouldn't necessarily be wrong. I would be in an activated mindset - even a survival mindset. This isn’t an ideal response, but I wouldn't be wrong. Not only is a dog in a zoomies mindset likely to engage in a behavior another dog wouldn’t be wrong to correct them for, they are more likely to operate on instinct and overcorrect another dog. This could lead to a fight or a bite that could be easily avoided if both dogs were calm enough to be in a thinking mindset.
There is truly no harm in discouraging zoomies
My dogs don’t have less fun because of the bar I set for them, they get to have more. When my dogs are in public they are less likely to charge other dogs or play in a way that could start a fight. Because my dog knows they have to stay tuned in to me no matter how excited they get or what is going on around us, they are safe to take off leash and into stimulating environments. This means they get to enjoy more of the world, which is what truly makes for a good life.
Not only that, but my dog gets to be a force of good in the world. Instead of harassing other dogs to the point of potentially traumatizing them because they think it’s “fun” or are too activated to read the room (and the dog’s energy and body language), my dog gets to be a healing presence - and she was. If you think you have a “good” dog, if they are truly good in their heart, do you think they would rather be a negative energy that harms others emotionally or physically or a safe and healing force in the world? I think the latter, but they need our help!
Scout’s story
Sometimes a dog’s owner would join our hiking pack to learn how we manage their dog off leash and because seeing 7-20 dogs calmly hiking off leash was honestly a sight to behold. My other trainer and I always encouraged good manners and upheld healthy boundaries, especially around our personal space. Not only was this important for us keeping the dog (and the rest of the pack) safe and to reinforce good manners, but if a dog was so excited that they ran into us it could potentially break our leg, jeopardizing our livelihood.
When the dogs would play we wanted to keep the energy in long and low wavelengths. If the energy became short and steep (ie zoomies) we would say a calm “eaasy” or a slightly stronger “eh-eh” and start directing energy towards the dog with our body language. If they didn’t listen to a polite request we would move towards them, raising our voice, amplifying our body language, increasing the intensity of our energy and commands until we got the dog into a sit so they could reregulate or putting them back on leash. There was always a consequence for ignoring our commands.
When the dogs would play, if they got too close to us we would do a move I call “marching band knees.” Without moving my feet I raise my knees and the movement makes me less attractive as a space to get close to. If a dog did knock into us, we would have a large energetic response that would be memorable enough for the dog to maintain enough mental control when they were having fun to avoid us, which was a win/win.
When Scout’s owner joined us, Scout was very excited to find out that we knew each other since most of the dog’s never saw us and their owners at the same time! She was more amped than usual and when we stopped at the top of the trail to let the dogs play she flipped into an excited mindset. Because we had always set and maintained personal space boundaries, Scout kept track of where we were and used her breaks to avoid us. Her owner, who likely didn’t have the same consistent boundaries around personal space, didn’t get the same consideration. Scout the mini Aussie crashed into her owner with such force that it knocked her down.
This shows that Scout was in her thinking brain enough to avoid the trainers and the consequence we would surely provide if she didn’t, but she didn’t care enough about her owner to do the same. This is why it’s so important to ask for the boundaries and respect we Need in excited moments in the calm moments where it isn’t essential to that interaction.
Just because it’s common doesn’t make it normal
When I see videos of zoomies on instagram I see an owner who doesn’t understand dogs. I see an owner advertising that they are encouraging a potentially dangerous and antisocial behavior. I see an owner taking a clip out of what could be an otherwise calm life and pandering to other owners who don’t understand dogs for the positive reinforcement they get every time someone “likes” it. It makes me sad and it makes me worried. It makes the world unsafe for the dogs and humans that that dog encounters and for that dog themselves.
Now that you know all this, pivot your perspective on zoomies and respond to them appropriately:
-Learn to read your dog’s mindset and energy so you can step in and ask them to regulate before they get out of control
-Always test to see if your dog can pause or stop when you ask nicely
-Practice the good manners your dog needs in the moments that don’t matter so they will have access to them in the moments that they do
-Call your dog away from another dog with the zoomies - whether they are joining in or trying to correct, that dog zooming with no breaks is dangerous and their energy is contagious
-Practice having safe fun and incorporate pauses into your play
-spread the good word and send this article to the dog owners in your life to help me change the world and make it a better, safer place for dogs