# Help with the zoomies!



## elsacockapoo (Sep 11, 2014)

Hi all, hoping for some help/advice regarding Elsa's mad evenings and what I believe are known as the zoomies? It's getting o the point where I dread coming downstairs once I've put the children to bed as she's crazy jumping everywhere, biting and charging around like a mad thing. She's not interested in me telling her 'off' or 'no' and now she's bigger and can jump up on the sofa it's even worse. I resort to giving her time out in her crate with a tasty treat but I wonder if maybe I am using this too much. The thing is it seems like nothing will calm her down.

Any advice greatly received!!

Thanks xxxx


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

elsacockapoo said:


> Hi all, hoping for some help/advice regarding Elsa's mad evenings and what I believe are known as the zoomies? It's getting o the point where I dread coming downstairs once I've put the children to bed as she's crazy jumping everywhere, biting and charging around like a mad thing. She's not interested in me telling her 'off' or 'no' and now she's bigger and can jump up on the sofa it's even worse. I resort to giving her time out in her crate with a tasty treat but I wonder if maybe I am using this too much. The thing is it seems like nothing will calm her down.
> 
> Any advice greatly received!!
> 
> Thanks xxxx


She might just think that her zoom gets her peace in her crate with a tasty treat! She may have trained you.

How old is she now and how much exercise? She might just have excess energy to use before bed. 

If it's not lack of exercise, I would just ignore her until she settles, then when settled reinforce that behaviour with a treat. Any reaction from you during the zooming may be a positive reward for her so she thinks she's doing the right thing.


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## elsacockapoo (Sep 11, 2014)

Thanks for that  - she's 12 weeks weds. She went on a 30 minute walk today? Xx


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Oh she's only 12 weeks? She's very young. You might just have to go with it and ignore her until she settles. Although, knowing her age I suspect your problem is possibly the opposite of not enough exercise, she is more likely to be over stimulated/overtired. 30 minutes is a long walk for a 12 week old. There is a guideline rule of thumb which recommends 5 minutes per month of age. This sounds like very little but their little musculoskeletal system is still developing and their little joints and bones need only small amounts of exercise. 

Does she get plenty of naps through the day? Pups this age need up to 18 hrs sleep per day. If they get over tired, they get quite nippy and hyper. I've had one of each, my first girl was like your pup, but I didn't realise how much sleep she needed. My second girl Nina had a great routine and plenty of sleep and we never had any issues with her. 

To also put your mind at rest, doodle dashing is very normal


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## elsacockapoo (Sep 11, 2014)

Hi Ruth, thanks again for your reply. Today is the first day she's had along walk, it was a bit of an accident really lol! Before today she has had about 20 minutes at maximum. She doesn't sleep that much at all though! X


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

I wonder if she needs some more naps then? That's what I would do, try some more structured naps and if the doodle dash is a problem, ignore her until she settles. 

This period really doesn't last long, enjoy her as much as you can


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

If you are sure she is not over tired maybe try to distract her with some training or a challenging new toy? It helps to have a sense of humour about it. She will out grow it, keep the faith!


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Ha the doodle dash - I cute like your description - the zoomies, it's like zombie time when this happens, they are tired, should be asleep - but don't quite know how to settle themselves down because there is still so much to do and discover as a puppy.
The crate, and a toy is a great way for them to calm down and get some much needed nap time. X


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Yes mine both did the 'doodle dash' and still do sometimes. It's just one of those things puppies do. Try giving her a small kong full of frozen yogurt, it takes mine about half an hour to lick it out and uses up their energy.


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## Sandhya333 (May 18, 2014)

Hiya, 

Love the name Elsa and the term zoomies. We used to call this "Barney's crazy time".

Have to say - have to agree with the quorum, in that looks like more naps are needed. Would shut her in her crate in a quiet room during the day at regular intervals to nap.

Barney was still on a pretty tight schedule at 12 weeks, so had a routine - which helped him settle.

When he was doing this mad half hour - we used to ignore him till he quitened down, then I hauled him up into my lap for his nightly grooming session - which he started associating with bed time . The rhythm of the grooming also seemed to calm him down.

Hope this helps,

Sandhya


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## Milly_pup (Sep 28, 2014)

I just posted a question about this!! Zoomies..love it !! This describes Milly in the evenings!!! I don't know how to enforce naps as she can't settle when we are walking around though she usually gives in and passes out late morning and sleeps 3 hours or so. If I would sit with her she would sleeps for hours..if not most of the day!!


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