Why I Don't Find Zoomies Cute Anymore

This image is representative of what Luchi’s first year or two with us were like. Curious about why zoomies happen, we found that they were “bursts of energy”, “natural for dogs”, and also specific to certain breeds. We assumed zoomies were Luchi’s way of being a “happy dog”.

But with time, I learned that there was so much more to zoomies than what I knew and I no longer found them cute. Here’s why:

Impact on bones, muscles, and joints

For many of our pet dogs, zoomies occur inside of our homes - on slippery floors (marbled/tiled/wooden), across stairs, and in nooks that are crowded with furniture. For our dogs, our home environment of flooring and staircases can be extremely challenging to their movement:

Dogs are digitigrade animals - they walk on their toes and while standing, walking, or running, and their heels do not touch the floor (unlike humans).

Image Source: Google Images

Look out how the ‘man’ foot is placed - the heel supports the foot and the full leg. With the dog, you can see that the limbs are essentially supported by the toes - the heels don’t touch the floor.

The human equivalent of being digitigrade is like walking in stilettos. If you ever walked in stilettos, you know how hard it can be. Now imagine running on slippery floors, over staircases - that’s quite a challenge! If you have run in them, then you know that sometimes, it can also be painful.

There have been established links between wearing heels like stilettos and the negative impact they have on human stance, posture, gait, upper and lower back, bounce, speed, and sway.

When it comes to our dogs, the impact isn’t very different. Walking on floors that are not carpeted can negatively hamper bone, joint, and muscle development. If your dog already has weak limbs, walking (and running) on these floors can cause further deterioration. This could also include the onset of early hip and joint issues including arthritis, dysplasia, and so on.

Given this, it’s not hard to imagine the extent of damage that a dog could experience while running in a frenzied state on these slippery floors.

Check out this article by CAM (Canine Arthritis Management) on the unintentional home environments we create for our dogs (including letting them walk and run on slippery floors)

What also happens very naturally in this state of frenzied running is that our dogs are likely to slip, skid, fall, and hurt themselves. Sometimes the fall can be bad enough to cause severe whiplash. Even a few seconds of whiplash can damage muscles and joints in a way that causes long-term pain and discomfort. More often than not, this could go unnoticed because the pain/discomfort don’t always manifest itself in more observable signs like whimpering when being touched, limping, lameness, inability to move, and so on.

“But if dogs hurt themselves, wouldn't they stop?”

No, not always.

Our dogs are masterful at hiding pain and discomfort. This is a behaviour that has been passed down in the evolutionary process. In times of sickness or injury, if animals allowed themselves to “feel” the pain and slow down or worse, become immobile, they ran the risk of being attacked by predators. It’s interesting that while our dogs have been domesticated over several years, this is an evolutionary behaviour that they still exhibit.

In addition, there have been multiple studies performed on animals where it was found that animals chose to experience physical pain over social pain like separation, loneliness, frustration, and other unpleasant states. While this is a whole other topic to deep dive into, in the context of zoomies and potential injury, it does reinforce the idea that dogs can mask physical pain extremely well, even at the risk of their own lives, as some of the studies show us.

To summarize, there will be some dogs who will stop in the middle of their zoomies because of injury and pain they might experience at that moment. But there will also be dogs who won’t pause and will continue in that frenzied state like nothing ever happened.

It’s also important to remember that during zoomies, our dogs experience a rush of adrenaline in their body. Adrenaline has pain-numbing properties. If they hurt themselves in this frenzied state, they are unlikely to even register that they are in pain. All because of the adrenaline rush that they are experiencing.

It’s the same reason why so many people, including athletes, don’t realize when they have injured themselves while they are in the middle of a highly adrenalizing activity - all because of the adrenaline pumping in their bodies and the way that numbs pain at the moment.

Street dogs and zoomies

A good exercise to understand what’s natural for dogs is to observe our street dogs. By watching them, we learn that behaviours like digging, barking, chewing, and even sleeping next to each other are natural behaviours. These behaviours are collectively called the ethogram of a dog.

But how often do you see street dogs having zoomies?

Yes, they are happy and excited to see their favorite humans - you will see a joyful trot, tails wagging, even them jumping at you - but do you see them running around in circles, from one place to another in the same frenzied state that we see our pet dogs in?

Probably not.

“If zoomies aren’t completely natural behaviours, why do they occur?”

The answer lies in the dog’s state of mind. When our dogs are adrenalised or “wired up” (either because of stress or excitement), one of the ways to expend all that energy is to release it from the body - which we see as bouts of hyperactivity and zoomies.

So when our dogs are running around in a frenzied state, it’s telling us something critical about their state of mind - they are just too wired up!

Take for example one of the most common situations in which zoomies occur. For a lot of pet parents, they find that their dog has zoomies immediately after a bath. Why is that? The bathing experience could have been “too much” for them, leaving them all wired up.

Or when a dog sees their favourite person after a very, very long time and bursts into zoomies. The interaction is too much for the dog - and so all of that energy needs to be expended.

Managing zoomies at home

Once I realised that zoomies were a way to tell me that Luchi was feeling wired up and potentially needed help coping, I started working on getting her less wired up by engaging in calming activities. Sniffing, chewing, eating wholesome, species-appropriate foods, and sleeping for 18-20 hours a day were some of the ways that we found she felt less wired up.

Over time, the frequency of her zoomies reduced - I could see that she was relatively in a much calmer state of mind. And while she would still do the famous Boxer ‘kidney bean dance’ to show that she was happy, she wouldn’t always end up in a frenzied state.

Additions to the home environment are crucial!

We also added anti-skid rugs and mats all over the house so that if she did have zoomies, she wouldn’t run on the slippery floors - instead she had some form of support to reduce potential damage. The rugs also supported her daily, regular movement around the house.

But most importantly, on days that she did have zoomies, I reflected and asked myself - what triggered this? What could I have done differently to ensure that she wasn’t as wired up? How could I have managed the environment better? The more I practiced this reflective exercise, the more I was able to ‘predict’ when she would have her zoomies - that allowed me to either immediately respond to the environment or engage her in an activity like sniffing or chewing.

For example, when we visited my mom’s house, in the past, my folks would be very excited to see Luchi - loud, high-pitched voices, big gestures, a lot of excitable “hi Luchi, hi Luchi!” - and that would just set Luchi off! She would run around the bare floor, go up and down the stairs, and jump on and off couches. Skidding and slipping were also part of this.

Now, before getting into the house, we do some sniffing in the garden nearby. I encourage my folks to calmly greet Luchi instead of being their most excitable selves. And guess what? Luchi is calmer in her greeting too! She’s not as wired up as before. She continues to show that she is excited to meet them, but she no longer runs around in her frenzied state.

So, are zoomies good or bad for our dogs?

I don’t think the answer is a sharp yes or no. It’s important to see zoomies as a behaviour that’s giving us insight into our dog’s state of mind. Understanding behaviours takes a bit of effort and must be looked at from several angles. This is called the biosociopsychology of a dog. But once we take the time to better understand that behaviour, we’re able to think of multiple solutions - solutions that work for us as individuals.

Want to know how you can ensure your dog is safe during zoomies? Book a consultation for an Adult Dog or Puppy Wellness Plan and get support!