The idea of taking a dog for a walk is to provide a physical and mental outlet to help tire them and meet their needs. For many dogs, the walk serves just that. They get back, drink some water and then take a nap. But this isn’t the case for all dogs. There are plenty of dogs that get back from the walk and look and act like they just did a warm up lap. If you find yourself in this position, here are somethings you can do to help. 1. Give an interactive food toy Food toys are exciting, but take precision and patience to conquer. Dogs that are amped up usually turn it down a notch to focus on the task at hand. And depending on the difficulty of the toy it can take 10-20 minutes to get it all out. By the end of it, you’re likely to see your dog looking satisfied. This strategy takes limited effort on your part but may need to be done long term. For the best results, it’s a good idea to feed your dog their meal using the toy after the walk. Consider using an Orbee Snoop or Kong Wobbler. 2. Practice a down/stay Another way to combat the zoomies and to get your dog to settle is to ask for an incompatible behavior. Lying down and staying and zooming around are incompatible. It can seem a little daunting to accomplish, but with a little effort it’s not that hard.
To do this, have a “place” for your dog. This could be a bed, towel or a spot on the couch. Practice the down/stay at other times so you’re not trying to introduce it when your dog is super amped up. When you ask for it after a walk, be prepared to pay your dog with a lot of treats. To keep them there, you may end up treating every couple of seconds. And to get your dog to the place, you may need to grab a treat and lure your dog over to the spot and into the down. The first couple days will be a bit of a balancing act between rewarding frequently enough and trying to increase the time between the rewards so that you’re not having to reward every couple of seconds forever. With consistency, it should only take a couple of days before you’re getting into a rhythm and your dog is “getting it.” Can you think of some other ways to redirect all of your dog’s energy after walks? Put it in the comment section below!