Why Do Dogs Go Crazy After Having A Bath?

[moosmum]

You mean you guys dont run around the house/yard like a crazy after a bath?...man I think Im spending too much time with my dogs!!!

jkjk lol...its late

I will have to try it in the interests. of science.Will be worth it just to see O.H try to catch me with a towel.

[Red Fox]

You mean you guys dont run around the house/yard like a crazy after a bath?...man I think Im spending too much time with my dogs!!!

jkjk lol...its late

I will have to try it in the interests. of science.Will be worth it just to see O.H try to catch me with a towel.

And I might have to try it just to see how the neighbours react. Perhaps it will stun them into silence for a while. ;)

I always thought the mad post bath zoomies were due to a surge in adreneline/rapid change in body temp.

[poodlefan]

Personally I think its stress relief. My dogs certainly aren't fans of being bathed.. they are fans of being towelled though.

[toshman]

Don't know why, but it's pretty funny.

At my place it's called "Just Add Water..."

[Merrirose]

I think its to clear the adrenaline from their bodies post "stress" or bath. Mine also shake (even though the water is quite warm) due to adrenaline i think during bathing.

Very fricking cute though!

[Fatsofatsoman]

We don't have the zoomies at ours - but our boy (lab) loves baths so much he'll try and get in whilst either me or the wife are showering.

[Fynesse]

My boy does it as well. He LOVES water to the point that puddles on our walk of a morning result in aerial acrobatics on the end of the lead! However, he definately does not like propert baths, UNLESS mum is trying to have a relaxing bath, in which case he bounds in with unbridled enthusiasm! (much to my horror, lol) Obviously the sight of mum enjoying water without him was too much to bear and he just had to join me!

[Vehs]

hrm isn't in funny, in all my years of grooming I don't think I've seen a client dog get the crazy zooms... probably because they don't really have the opportunity to get on the ground and go crazy

bf's Malt x HATES being sprayed with fragrance (which I do to both dogs after their Saturday morning groom) - he rubs his face and body on the grass, carpet or the little ottoman that he sits on - flips around, somersaults - trying to get the smell off!

[Loraine]

I have no idea why they do it, but all of my dogs have done it. Zedley actually does zoomies around the lounge room when we have a visitor that he loves

[becks]

I've only ever seen it in wet dogs or those who have just had a rough towel dry, so thought it was because they want to dry off?

When I bath my dogs they are always blow dryed and don't have zoomies

[KateAndDuke]

Yep, another after-bath zoomie household here. Duke will zip around the house and and even charge at us at a million miles an hour. "I'll show you for bathing me!"

[jacqui835]

Personally I think its stress relief. My dogs certainly aren't fans of being bathed.. they are fans of being towelled though.

I think you're probably right. Only thing is, my dog seems to like showers. For example, if I leave the door open whilst I'm in the shower and the water is nice and warm, he will come and try and sit on my feet under me. He likes the water on his back lol.

[Bundyburger]

My two will run to the back door to go out and roll.. plus they know they can't stay inside while wet, but they don't do zoomies. The'll just sit in the sun til they dry.

[hortfurball]

I always thought it was to release the stress/tension of having a bath?

That was my guess too.

I like to think that Kyojin does it because he's just sooo excited about smelling wonderful and being so clean that he'll stay really, really clean for me this time

Haha! You are SOOO dreaming!

Personally I think its stress relief. My dogs certainly aren't fans of being bathed.. they are fans of being towelled though.

Oh don't they just love the towelling! Their whole bodies just waggle with joy and they shove their faces into the towel after they've wriggled their way out of it. Kuges used to actually knock me over he'd push his face so hard into the towel! I would be crouched on my heels so easy to knock off balance - I learned to kneel instead! Ella talks in moans and groans when she's being towel dried and I've never seen her smile so wide, although she detests being bathed with a passion!

We don't have the zoomies at ours - but our boy (lab) loves baths so much he'll try and get in whilst either me or the wife are showering.

That supports the tension/stress relief theory - if he loves them, no need for zoomies.

When I bath my dogs they are always blow dryed and don't have zoomies

They've probably had time to calm down by the time you've finished blow drying them, either that or Clyde's follicle idea has merit.

Maybe it's a combination of tingly follicle feeling and stress release?

[Erny]

We don't have the zoomies at ours - but our boy (lab) loves baths so much he'll try and get in whilst either me or the wife are showering.

That supports the tension/stress relief theory - if he loves them, no need for zoomies.

Sorry to burst your bubble ..... but Mandela will do zoomies after he's taken a voluntary dip in the lake. That doesn't really support the tension/stress relief theory.

[corvus]

I was watching a documentary on Numbats once. A storm came through and the Numbats in their hollow log got all wet. When it passed and the sun came out, they came out of the log and ran around acting like fools. The narrator made the point that all that silly rolling and chasing each other helped get them dry and warm. Maybe there's an evolutionary advantage to post-bath exuberance. Certainly every time one of the boys have fallen in the pool they run around like nutters afterwards. My old corgi girl used to do it after a swim as well. She loved to swim, but I used to fancy she loved the post-swim rolls and run even more. We joked that she liked to spin dry.

A word of caution, though, arousal can go both ways. For a while we had a dog with no bite inhibition and a slight tendency to go off the deep end when arousal mixed with uncertainty. We learnt it was a terrible idea to let her mix freely with the other dog after a bath. Nothing like finishing bathing one only to have a massive fight break out, hair everywhere, and a formerly clean and damp dog now muddy and gritty and shaking in terror while the other one still to be bathed is skittery and looking for the other dog to get back into it. That was a nice introduction to serious dog fights for a 15 year old. Actually, there's a photo somewhere of the same dog a hair's breadth from flying at the other dog's throat when we were trying to encourage her to jump into a dam for the second time. Too much excitement and a dash of uncertainty. Fortunately I was close enough to grab her and disaster was averted.

[D & D]

at the zoomies.

My two don't do zoomies after a bath.

They wait to be towel dried...................but they will push each other out of the way to be the first to the towel

In support of the 'stress' theory, they both love water, including baths. More often than not, one (or both) of them will poke a head into the shower to see if they can come in for a wash

[minyvlz]

One dog is quite calm during baths/showers. He doesn't struggle and does zoomies after. The other hates showers and never does zoomies but does rub himself against the carpet. Maybe it's the cool rush or they're trying to get water off/dry themselves?

[Fatsofatsoman]

some do it not just after baths

http://naturaldogtraining.com/blog/why-do-...ound-the-house/

Behaviorists call the syndrome of a dog running helter-skelter around the yard, or zooming from room to room in the house “frequent, random activity periods (FRAPS). However this is a profound misnomer because there’s nothing random about this activity. When a dog goes zoom-zoom-zoom it is actually fear coming to the surface so that it can be dissipated.

The opportunity for the release of fear occurs when the dog feels safe. That fear is being is expressed is why one can observe in such a dog a tell tale “scoot” in its hind end with a tucked tail and hunched in hindquarters as it corners and gathers itself for the next fly by. It looks just as if the dog is being chased by an imaginary predator close on its heels nipping at its tail so that it has to zig and zag to keep away from it.

You can see the identical behavior in cats that find themselves out in the yard, a gust of wind kicks up a leaf and the cat zoom-zoom-zooms until it finds itself up a tree and “safe.” Another example of the behavior can also be found in a litter of dogs. One puppy isn’t comfortable engaging in the group scrum with all the head knocking going on in the pile, and so not being able to participate directly but feeling just as energized as the others nonetheless: it races around orbiting the litter because it’s afraid to make direct contact.

Needless to say, the worst thing an owner can do is encourage this kind of behavior or play chase because now they are becoming the very embodiment of the imaginary predator. This will come back to haunt them in one way or another as we shall see when we plumb the nature of fear and the role it plays in nature.

[corvus]

some do it not just after baths

http://naturaldogtraining.com/blog/why-do-...ound-the-house/

Behaviorists call the syndrome of a dog running helter-skelter around the yard, or zooming from room to room in the house “frequent, random activity periods (FRAPS). However this is a profound misnomer because there’s nothing random about this activity. When a dog goes zoom-zoom-zoom it is actually fear coming to the surface so that it can be dissipated.

The opportunity for the release of fear occurs when the dog feels safe. That fear is being is expressed is why one can observe in such a dog a tell tale “scoot” in its hind end with a tucked tail and hunched in hindquarters as it corners and gathers itself for the next fly by. It looks just as if the dog is being chased by an imaginary predator close on its heels nipping at its tail so that it has to zig and zag to keep away from it.

Says who? Kevin Behan knows better than behaviourists, does he? When my dog feels safe after being frightened, he licks his lips, yawns, makes soft little barking sounds, and walks in circles. In short, he finds non-confrontational activities to calm himself down. If he is still wound up he will run at the thing that scared him and bark at it, but pull up well short and come back to us. Running around like a nutter is pretty much the polar opposite of this, and he only ever does it when he's excited in a positive way, i.e. we have come home, he has been having a good play session with the other dog. Certainly, it is a behaviour that only occurs when he is highly aroused, and certainly, a bit of stress when it is removed can create the conditions where he might run around like a loony, but the conditions don't occur every time he feels safe. Only when he feels safe AND is in a playful state AND is very aroused.