If you bathe a dog…
He’ll probably lose his mind. No, I’m serious. Following then, there is a flurry of activity. “After her wash, my dog, Vera, acts possessed.” While digging in the carpet, she yips, barks, and yodels. “It’s so strange,” Rover editor Irene Keliher chuckles.
She is not the only one who has reported this event. Dogs go insane after a bath for a variety of reasons, including relief, enjoyment, and an instinctive need to return to a more familiar fragrance. The basic fact is that post-bath hyperactivity exists, whether you name it a FRAP, the crazy, or the zoomies. And we’re dissecting it.
Bath Anxiety
Unless you have a dog who enjoys bathing, you are all too familiar with the problem. It’s time to wash your dog because he rolled in feces, jumped in a muddy pond, or just hasn’t been cleaned in a minute. The paw breaks start as soon as your dog realizes you’re thinking of putting them in the tub, and it’s all tension from then on.
When it’s all said and done, your dog will be overjoyed. The only way to communicate this is to rush about like hell. It’s their anxious energy erupting.
If your dog despises bathing, read this trainer’s advice on how to calm them down.
Unusual New Smell
We’ve all experienced the stench that a damp dog can bring into the home. Humans like their dogs to smell like flowers, soaps, linen, cucumber, honey, or pretty much anything other than dog fur. According to research provided by the American Pet Supplies Association, dog owners spend more than $5 billion each year on pet wash services and products. Dog shampoos that are both safe and perfumed are in high demand.
A newly bathed dog excites a person, but what about a dog? Not at all. Not only is their sense of smell superior to ours (haven’t we all seen how dogs greet one another? ), but it also influences how they view the environment. And after a wash, they’re covered with a strange, unknown aroma.
The solution? Sprint around and roll in everything possible to rid themselves of the new scent and return to the old. Wanting to smell like poop and dirt and grass is in a dog’s DNA.
Getting Dry
The reason dogs go berserk after a bath might be as simple as drying off. If you’ve ever seen a dog shake violently after swimming, you won’t find this activity strange. A wet dog will shake, but they may also roll about on the carpet, your bed, or the sofa to dry themselves.
It’s as simple as that.
Invest in an absorbent dog-friendly towel to soak up much of the liquid before the zoomies begin to avoid part of the mess, if not the rolling.
Bath Zoomies
Frenetic Random Activity Periods, otherwise known as the zoomies, happen to pretty much every dog, especially young ones. Everything is just SO FUN, suddenly, and they cannot possibly contain their excitement. Baths may very well bring out the zoomies.
After all, they’ve been contained for a while: it’s time to let loose. The zoomies are an expression of happiness rather than relief, though the running and the rolling may look similar in both cases.
There’s nothing wrong with a case of the zoomies after a bath. If it’s causing problems—wet furniture, messy floors—it may help to keep your dog confined to a safe zone (behind a pet gate, for instance) until they calm down. If not, just sit back and laugh. Dogs are loveable goofballs, aren’t they?