Hi everyone! It's been a while and Titan is continuing to grow everday. I've got a bit of a couple of weird questions I hope you guys can help me with. 1. When we take Titan outside and we run around with him, he gets excited and runs with us and follows us around. The only issue is that when he gets to us or is running along side us, he starts to nip at our legs and pants. He did this a couple of times when he was a puppy and I did the whole "No bite" and ignore thing and he stopped, but the issue is that now he bites alot harder. It's nothing that will break skin, but it's just not pleasant and can scare kids when they come over. 2. Once he does catch up to us and is nipping at the legs and pants, chaos follows. He'll go into the zoomies mode where he spins in place really fast, runs back and forth, spins really fast in place again, stops like he's about to pounce, then runs back and forth again. If I try to stop him he growls and snarls. If I get close, he'll mouth my hands really hard and put pressure on his mouth. He does all this while he runs back and forth. He also does this inside the house, where I have to stop him and bring him to his crate and just let him relax. I feel like it's a state of over-excitement, but I want to know if it's possible to get him to stop doing this. It's not pleasant for me, as my arms and hand feel like they get beat up a bit, and it scares my wife. Thanks again for all of your input and help!
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! Amy (6 months) will still go into "mad puppy" mode. But thankfully she doesn't nip us anymore. I just stand by the wall I case she jumps up. I haven't thought about stopping her doing the running thing as see it as her playing. We stopped her biting at us by taking her back in the house when she did bite us. Or if we out of house just turn our backs on her. Or distract her with a toy. If you are running with her this will be what is getting her over exited. And that's when the biting will start.
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! Hi there, I call it 'the wall of death' when young dogs go into this sort of hyper mode. Try to keep movements around the dog very calm and minimal, same goes for noise. I don't know if you have children but sometimes their shrieks and laughter can make things worse. Like you have already said it is over excitement and the best thing is not to let him work himself up to that state by keeping things very calm and measured.
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! Thanks for the replies! I think I'll just try to exercise him more at this point. I've been telling my siblings try and keep it calm for now since it seems to be very easy to get him worked up and over excited. We've been doing anywhere between 1-3 mile walks. I'm going to try to get him going on at least a 3 mile run. It would be healthy for both me and him. I just hope that's enough to get him tired out earlier in the morning lol. Maybe another walk once I get home from work. Thanks again!
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! How old is your dog now? Sorry, there have been so many new lovely puppies and their owners arriving on the forum lately that I can't quite recall if Titan is still a pup.
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! I think it can be quite hard to tire dogs out consistently as they're sneaky and just keep getting fitter!! If he's still a pup a general guideline to avoid stressing their joints while they grow is 5 minutes per month of age. The advice you've had about calmness is key, dogs sometimes need to learn how to be calm or settle and if he's inclined to get over excited you'll have to tone down the playing til he's learnt the limits and no teeth is definitely one of those in our house. My husband was thrilled we got a puppy but the rough play had to wait until Riley had truly learnt to pull his punches. Now he's really good at switching on and off.
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! I think that this may be the key to your problem. 'Running' with a seven month old dog for short periods is ok, if the dog is able to run 'at heel' (and not many seven month old dogs are) and simply focused on 'running' from A to B. As in jogging. However, running around outside 'randomly' with a half grown dog is going to result in a very overexcited dog. Especially if children are involved (see Playing safely with a dog) Hope that makes sense. Pippa
Re: Zoomies/Going crazy! Titan is now 7 months old I've been trying to follow the 5 minute rule, or at least using it as a guideline, but he just seems so to need additional exercise. In regards to structured walks, we probably jog/walk anywhere between 1.5 miles to 3 miles, every other day. Other than that I just let him out into our yard (13 acres), and we just toss a ball, throw a stick, or just sit back and watch him sniff and run around. He'll lay down, run around, lay down. lol. Pippa, you are right though. He does this outside after 2 things. The first is when we run outside with him and he gets excited. This isn't a structured run like we would do with him heeling. This is him off leash and we call him or we have him find us while we hide behind a tree. The second time it does happen is after a long structured run/walk. We usually practice sit, down, and settle down on walks so it takes us about 30-40 minutes to walk. He's usually tired after but has a bout of energy and runs around like crazy. I attribute that to him being tired. He'll usually retire to his crate willingly after a walk. I'll try to be calmer and not overly excited to send him into that state. Thanks everyone!
