# Controlling overexcitement and biting zoomies on hikes



## rchik43 (Apr 12, 2020)

Every weekend I hike with my Pillu ( 11+months , male, intact)...in wooded trails. Its a lot of fun for both of us. I let him sniff around and he is pretty much off leash ( I still keep a check cord on him)...We practice recall , he does great , most of the time. There is one behavior I am now seeing consistently over the last month, which I'm trying to figure out how to curb. He seems to get overexcited and gets into this very rough play, zoomie , jumping, growling, biting mode...which has been really hard to stop. He goes on for a good 4-5 minutes or so. After the 5 minutes, he is fine again and we continue our fun walk in the woods. He is 55 pounds now and 25 inches tall, so not a small dog and it HURTS!! Seems like a behavior from some months back that has somehow resurfaced ( that used to happen on regular walks) ...now it only happens on wooded trails, off leash , after being in there for some time. Anybody experiencing this, and have any ideas on calming him down? And yes its not easy to fold my arms and look away while he is jumping , grabbing and bouncing off of me. I don't get bruised ...no blood...but not fun. The only way I have been able to stop it is again a squirt gun. He does stop with that but wanted to get some ideas from others if they have experienced this and how they stopped it.


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

Seems like he wants to play with you. If there was another dog there, that would be most probably the point where they would start to chase each other, based on my experience. When Bende was an only dog, he used to try and invite me to play with a play bow after around 25 minutes off leash run, pretty much at the same spot every time. If i tried to walk forward he would start jumping up and down very close to me, trying to get my attention...So i started bringing a fetch toy with me and we used to play retrieve, that curbed any jumping up and the whole game became a lot of fun for both of us. Nowadays Miksa is with us, and the play invitation still happens pretty much at the same spot, after around 25 minutes run. The good thing is, Miksa is a great partner for him when it comes to chase each other lol. Funny world.


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## rchik43 (Apr 12, 2020)

Gabica said:


> Seems like he wants to play with you. If there was another dog there, that would be most probably the point where they would start to chase each other, based on my experience. When Bende was an only dog, he used to try and invite me to play with a play bow after around 25 minutes off leash run, pretty much at the same spot every time. If i tried to walk forward he would start jumping up and down very close to me, trying to get my attention...So i started bringing a fetch toy with me and we used to play retrieve, that curbed any jumping up and the whole game became a lot of fun for both of us. Nowadays Miksa is with us, and the play invitation still happens pretty much at the same spot, after around 25 minutes run. The good thing is, Miksa is a great partner for him when it comes to chase each other lol. Funny world.


Yes, it definitely is play, he does the play bow etc....it is just that he is total doggy play mode, bit too rough for me ! I'll try the fetch toy, very good idea!Thanks Gabica


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## rchik43 (Apr 12, 2020)

lol...nice picture Gabica! I guess thats what I need , bring home another pup! Wife will kick me out of the house 😂 😂


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

I take my 7mos girl on almost daily hikes in the woods for about 45min-1hr off leash. Usually about 1/4 to 1/2 through the hike, she gets into zoomie mode usually at the same location near a shallow creek. She'll zoom around , jump, roll, and go nuts. Fortunately not directed to me, but it does sound similar minus the bitey part. After a few minutes she'll stop and go back to general romping around the woods. Perhaps they are having such a fun time that the endorphins kick in and they engage in hyper zoomie mode for a bit. Seems redirection combined with some discipline that biting you is not OK are your options.


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## rchik43 (Apr 12, 2020)

Dan_A said:


> I take my 7mos girl on almost daily hikes in the woods for about 45min-1hr off leash. Usually about 1/4 to 1/2 through the hike, she gets into zoomie mode usually at the same location near a shallow creek. She'll zoom around , jump, roll, and go nuts. Fortunately not directed to me, but it does sound similar minus the bitey part. After a few minutes she'll stop and go back to general romping around the woods. Perhaps they are having such a fun time that the endorphins kick in and they engage in hyper zoomie mode for a bit. Seems redirection combined with some discipline that biting you is not OK are your options.


Thanks for the response Dan...yeah he used to have the zoomies like you mentioned ( without the biteys)...he started doing these overexcited bitey zoomies only recently in the past month. Yeah , I think redirecting is a good idea...I actually took Gabica's idea of redirecting with playing fetch ... this has worked so far!!! Basically he does seem to be instigating play and if I play fetch with him he seems to enjoy it and stops going for my arms and body. Thanks for reinforcing this idea with the redirection message...So far so good, not resorted to the squirt gun again yet. Hiked with him to the river yesterday , lot of free running and fetch along the way ...these dogs are so much fun to hike with


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

@rchik43 That's awesome! My Ellie and I are learning a lot about each other. They really do have their own language that they try to teach us to understand. Sometimes it seems like it is "being bad", but they are simply trying to let us know what's on their mind. They are super fun to have on hikes running free. It used to be difficult for me to get motivated to get out and about in nature even with some nice trails and isolated wooded areas around our neighborhood. Now I look forward to getting out every day that I can, it is a bit of an adventure each time!


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## rchik43 (Apr 12, 2020)

Dan_A said:


> @rchik43 That's awesome! My Ellie and I are learning a lot about each other. They really do have their own language that they try to teach us to understand. Sometimes it seems like it is "being bad", but they are simply trying to let us know what's on their mind. They are super fun to have on hikes running free. It used to be difficult for me to get motivated to get out and about in nature even with some nice trails and isolated wooded areas around our neighborhood. Now I look forward to getting out every day that I can, it is a bit of an adventure each time!


Same, I'm out exploring woods...which I never used to do before.


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