New whippet puppy mad half hour!

[Luxaroma]

We have a lovely new whippet puppy who is a joy for most of the time, we've had him for a week but for the last three nights he has had a completely bonkers half hour when he behaves like something possessed. He's toilet trained but he wees in the living room straight after I have shown him the door to go outside at night. He jumps on the sofa and refuses to get off, even though he's not allowed on the sofa and stays off it all day. He jumps up, bites runs around like a thing possessed, when he's in this frenzy he digs everything and anything - it's so out of character to the way he behaves for the rest of the day - mostly sleepy, cuddly, playful.

Currently we're trying to use distraction with toys to channel his energy. He has his allowed time walking everyday, we play with him - when he's awake. I don't really know what I should be doing when he's frisky like this - ignoring him, crating him.....any ideas?

My mum's whippet puppy gets a case of the zoomies every evening. They just open the livingroom door while she zooms up and down stairs down the hall round the kitchen and in and out of the sitting room a few times. Once she's burnt off her excess energy she goes back to sleep. They do eventually grow out of it

My lurcher and new lurcher puppy both have mad zoomies in the evening. We go in the garden and they get on with it together!

100% normal - especially for Whippet pups. Often known as the Wall of Death by other Whipppet owners, they will race round and round and round the house/room, using furniture as launch pads, run in and out of rooms, into the garden and back. Lots of puppies, not just Whippets, do it too, but Whippets are known for being the masters.

Lots of people just leave them to get on with it -they soon wear themselves out and they do grow out of it, but if you're concerned about some of the behaviour it involves you could try two different approaches and see which one works.

First assumes he's overstimulated or overtired and is to give him something like a kong or chew and put him in his bed/crate. If he's overstimulated or overtired this should help to calm him down and teach him it's rewarding to be calm at the same time.

Second is the opposite and assumes he has excess energy to burn off. Pre-empt him by either taking him for a short walk or doing some clicker training with him - both will wear him out. Evening walks used to totally exhaust my Lurcher pup as the world is a very different place at night than it is on a sunny afternoon, so it was all new and interesting.

Try both approaches and see what works for him.

Oh puppy zoomies, Eric, now eight months, is growing out of them. They used to be a daily occurrence but now only happen when he has had a particularly pleasing (to him) walk. So when he's got soaked, or rolled in something horrendous or he's had a particularly nice time chasing round with other dogs so from Moose's theory when he has been overstimulated. We tend to just open the doors and let him run it off although he has never peed and he's allowed on the sofa anyway.

Oh god I've just googled - it's completely normal - which is good ans reassuring but it might last 2 years! I was worried it was being caused by the the raw meat diet he's been on since he arrived.

We are naturally zombies at night, while he's doing his zooming...so a bit of rearranging of the body clock might be needed for us!

I have a 17 week old JRT pup who does this too every evening! We tend to just get out the way and let him get it out of his system, although fortunately he's too small to be jumping on the sofa and if he goes upstairs he can't get back down again, so it's controlled madness

Hi, our whippet puppy is almost 15 weeks.

He has been great then a few weeks ago he got himself in a frenzy when we went to bed. He usually sleeps with me but he went into my daughters bedroom and she thought he had got in with her to sleep or for a snuggly but he turned into Cujo and started savaging her dreadlocks like a beast possessed!

This was so unlike him as he is gentle and loving. The next few nights he became restless again but I had him in my bed and he kicked the crap out of one of his teddies which at the time was a similar size to him.

I googled this behaviour and found a discussion on a whippet forum about puppies have a sensory overload and how at bedtime they are over stimulated.

This made perfect sense as he had just started going out.

Now his routine is not to over stimulate him in the last hour before bed and if he does go loopy then to give him a large stuffed toy that he can wrestle with and take it out on!

When I'm ready for bed I take him in with me, lights out and lots of soothing shhh noises and soft stroking. I get him on his back lying next to me so I can soothe his stomach and chest and he falls asleep with his head under my arm!

I'm jealous. My whipper snapper is 9 months now and calming down

I miss Wall of Death!

Just a tip though, you can't just show a puppy the door and expect them to know what to do. You need to physically take them out, stand with them, and praise praise praise when they wee. That's why she is coming straight back in and weeing.

In the morning!

And they are prone to bed sores as their skin is so so thin. Whippets are designed to be on sofas and beds, it's cruel to expect anything else. They need as soft and plush as possible to stay safe

Monkeyfacegrace, I have downsized to a single bed and have a single duvet on top of my mattress as extra cushioning for our whippet!

I get a wonderful sleep with him snuggled next to me but heaven help me when he is full size, I'll be sleeping on the floor!

Here he is in all his glory

instagram.com/wallythewhippet

This is my baby girl. In her favourite spot.

She is beautiful.

They are wonderful dogs aren't they? Very amusing and very, very affectionate.

It's like having a baby again!

Monkey face - our whippet is clean, all I need to do is open the door and he does just know what to do, it's amazing, he doesn't wee anywhere but the back garden...but this one time I woke him up to go outside for a wee at night, it was almost as if he was pissed off I'd woken him up so he peed in the living room beside Dh's mattress - it's the only time we've had a problem with that.

Zoomies in our house are called "daft half hour". . Our old boy lab still has them although not as frequently

Our lab used to go bonkers with snow or when he got wet. I'm fine with it being normal on a nightly basis - just needed to check it wasn't something I should try to control now to avoid problems later.
He's a spirited wee chap, no sign of nervousness or over sensitivity with dogs or humans, which is great.

So reassured by reading this [I googled whippet puppy bonkers and this popped up!]. This is my third whippet and I'm sure the last two weren't as mad as this one. She's obsessed with stealing my rubber gloves and, no matter how many times I try to remind myself to put them away I'll be in another room and realise I'd forgotten and they'd be in her crate. Except tonight when I remembered the gloves only to go into the utility room and find she was eating my pink 'indoor' crocs [I've got a black outdoor pair]. Boy does she keep me on my toes!

I've been through whippet puppy hood. Tbh it's all normal. Sleep 21 hours and 3 hours of madness.
You'll never ever keep him off the furniture tbh. They are a bit like humans. All skin and bone so hard surfaces are really rather uncomfortable for any length of time.
Even standard dog beds are a struggle with mine. Shes constantly twisting and turning trying to get comfortable.
Forget recall for the first 2 years and expect him to throw you a deaf ear for much of the time from 3 to life expired.
And be VERY careful letting him off leash within a hundred yards of a road.
Just my experience but I'd be surprised if anyone else's was different.

Just noticed op posted this in 2014

It's because I googled 'whippet puppy bonkers' and this thread popped up!

Just to add to the reincarnation of the thread - we got our whippet a few days ago and he does this too, it's crazy! If you want to chat whippet feel free to pm me Ours is 17 weeks and 12kg so far

Yes; I left her for short periods with the crate door open and I have puddles all over the kitchen. I did worm her yesterday, though, and I think she has a sore tummy....