Animal Welfare Professionals

zoomies! I think we all know them. Sudden bursts of energy that dogs get where they zoom around super fast. Are they always harmless? 

I have always been under the impression that zoomies were great fun and an expression of excitement and even happiness. I recently came across an article that suggested it could be due to pent up stress and anxiety, and if a dog has frequent zoomies, their situation may be less than ideal. What are your thoughts?

Interesting! I always thought zoomies were great and all positive, too. But now that I think about it, my two current dogs often get the zoomies AFTER we go on a walk. One of them is very leash-reactive (I'm working on it, I promise!) and gets pretty amped up on the walks when we see other dogs and of course the other feeds off his energy and gets pretty amped, too. Then when we get home and they "should" be tired, they get the zoomies and chase each other around the house for a bit. It's quite possible that they are getting zoomies after we get back because they were restricted on their leashes when their stress/anxiety levels rose on the walk. They don't always get the zoomies after walks but I'm going to start paying attention to see if it happens only when we see other dogs on the walk and they become reactive or not. Thanks for the food for thought!