30/09/2024
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Pre-Walk Zoomies: Are They What They Seem?
The subject of one of our most recent posts was detailing how to identify stress, and anxiety, in your hounds’ facial expressions. The inspiration for which was one of our own hounds (let’s call her Sunflower for the sake of anonymity). Sunflower is a rather anxious bean, but to those less knowledgeable about canine body language and behaviour, she seems like a perfectly content hound because she internalises a lot of her anxieties.
We all know, as modern understanding of dog behaviour has proven, that dogs are emotional beings. Greyhounds particularly, what with them being overly emotional toddlers and all…
But while dogs may not be able to contextualise emotions, and verbalise them like we do as humans, they express them quite clearly in their own way. The problem is that we, as humans, don’t always understand what it is they’re trying to say and often misinterpret things.
In a lot of cases anxiety and stress are very clearly identifiable through unwanted, or what are often referred to as ‘negative’ behaviours. These can include things like destructiveness, over grooming, excessive vocalisation, restlessness, separation issues, defensive behaviours such as reactivity on walks, freezing on walks, or even growling or snapping at you in the home.
All these behaviours can typically be back tracked to a root emotional cause or trigger…but in other cases, where a hound internalises their anxieties, their emotions come out in less obvious behaviours.
Internalising is very common amongst greyhounds but can occur in any dog or breed. Whereas dogs are typically quite expressive with their emotions, internalised emotions can have both subtle and overt effects on a dog's behaviour. Their feelings of emotional stress can easily go unnoticed.
So, instead of big, and typically very obvious, displays of stress like reactivity or barking, their stress is demonstrated through behaviour that could be easily misinterpreted or reasoned away for other reasons.
Such behaviours include avoidance behaviours (avoiding certain people, situations, or objects), lethargy or being withdrawn, isolating themselves away from situations they would typically be involved in, changes in appetite, changes in their p**ps, sleeping excessively or not sleeping enough, hypervigilance both inside and on walks, excessive licking (them, the walls, their bed etc) and holding and carrying themselves very stiffly, holding a lot of tension in their bodies and/or faces.
These could all be explained away very easily and not be linked to stress or anxiety. For instance, sleeping too much, being lethargic or choosing to be in another room to you…they’re greyhounds, they’re lazy! Change of appetite and p**p, again, they’re greyhounds! They’re quite often fussy buggers and it’s just assumed that the excessive amount of p**p of varying qualities is normal! Excessive licking, well, who doesn’t love a good glopping at all hours of the day?
Just because a hound isn’t ‘acting out’ in their behaviour doesn’t mean they are happy with what is going on around them. But this is a subject that we’ll no doubt cover over numerous posts in future.
Today, we want to discuss one behaviour in particular…and that is the pre-walk zoomies!
So, why have we rattled on for several paragraphs without getting to this point? Because we needed some context to internalised behaviour first, and that not everything your hound does is as it seems, we shouldn’t explain away subtle changes in their behaviour…and we like to waffle!
But what has the zoomies got to do with any of that? Zoomies are a good thing, right? Typically, yes, they are.
We’ve had countless calls with hound owners who have got the collar and lead off the hook and had their hound go bonkers, running around the house, jumping about, tail helicoptering, throwing toys around…the works…right before going for a walk. SOOOOO excited to be going out…only for them to hate every darn second of it once they are out the house.
This is usually presented with them stopping dead at the end of the driveway and refusing to go another step. Or they get them out on a walk only for them to stop every other step, or are pulling like a train, walking erratically and/or being explosively reactive.
But for those poor hounds that internalise, and don’t know how to express their emotions in the typical fashion, they go for the walk…and as owners we think everything is fine. Until you realise, that they are holding themselves very stiffly, their ears are pinned back, they have raised worry lines on their face and furrowed brows, they are hypervigilant, they’re not interacting with their environment very much (sniffing and marking), they refuse to take treats and might refuse to interact with other dogs that approach them.
Giving off all the signals that they are uncomfortable and don’t want to be in this situation, and just want to get home and decompress.
The pre-walk zoomies can, and often are, a release of energy because a surge in stress, anxiety, panic and excitement. They want to go, but they also associate going on walks with fear and/or pain. They need to get rid of all that negative energy, so they burst into the zoomies! What looks like excitement to us, is actually them having a bit of a panic attack!
And how do you tell the difference between pre-walk excitment and pre-walk panic? You don't. For the most part it's incredibly hard to tell the difference!
Sunflower is very prone to this behaviour, and she’ll always do it while carrying her emotional support teddy...which is usually a dead giveaway as to it being a pre-walk panic!
This is called a displacement behaviour.
Displacement behaviours are actions that a hound will engage in when they’re feeling conflicted or experiencing stress, anxiety, or overstimulation. This often manifests in seemingly unrelated behaviours, like licking, yawning, or, in this case, carrying objects in their mouths. These behaviours act as a way for the dog to self-soothe or release pent-up emotional energy.
When a dog feels unsure about how to react to a situation, they may grab something familiar or comforting in their mouth to help them process the tension or confusion they are feeling.
Unfortunately, it’s adorable, so the behaviour is again largely misunderstood.
Another significant aspect to consider when interpreting pre-walk zoomies in greyhounds is pain. Greyhounds, like all dogs, can suffer from various joint or muscle issues, particularly after retiring off the track. Conditions such as arthritis, or their retirement injuries (however minor they may seem) can cause pain, especially when transitioning from rest to movement.
When a greyhound knows a walk is coming, they might display zoomies not just out of excitement, but as a way of shaking off any discomfort or pain. These bursts of energy can serve as a coping mechanism to get their body moving or as an expression of restlessness due to physical discomfort. If the zoomies seem frantic or your greyhound avoids the walk after all that excitement, it may be a sign that the dog is experiencing pain, not joy!
The question is, what do you do if your hound is internalising?
The main problem with internalising is, as we’ve mentioned, that it gets misinterpreted and largely overlooked. Constantly ignoring these signs is what leads a hound to display the larger, more impactful, and obvious unwanted behaviours such as reactivity, freezing, destructive behaviours etc etc etc…you get the idea.
Internalising, and the more subtle behavioural issues, are often seen in hounds who are freshly off the track. We generally get the call that things have gone totally pear shaped at around 3-4 weeks post-adoption.
This is where the hound has decompressed, is starting to feel at home, they’ve learnt the routine and are feeling comfortable enough to start expressing their true character and emotional state…and is typically when behavioural issues start to emerge. This often occurs due to adopters doing too much too soon with their hound.
Though, in saying that, Sunflower is 2 years into home life and still only demonstrates those more subtle behavioural signals the majority of the time. We call her ‘part time reactive’, as her escalation in behaviour is usually down to our mistakes. Because despite knowing better, we still slip up from time to time in how we manage her!
But we’re waffling again.
Before putting any behavioural management in place, you want to rule out pain as a contributing factor. As a generalisation, in our experience, 9 times out of 10, hound owners are unaware that their hound is in pain because they hide it so well. Don’t bother with the vet, they’re useless for this sort of thing. Find yourself a qualified veterinary physiotherapist. No question, this is the only way to go.
The number of hounds we’ve seen have their behaviour improved through the assessment, treatment and management plans set out by physiotherapists…there is no comparison!
Should pain not be an influencing factor (though it often is to some degree!), one of the best bits of advice we can give you is to stop walking your hound!
We don’t mean that you should never walk them again, just that (depending on the hound) they need some level of decompression between walks.
It can take up to 72 hours for the stress hormone to return to normal levels for a hound…and if they find their morning walk stressful, and you take them out again that afternoon, then again, the next morning and afternoon, those stress levels are going to be through the roof and never able to come down.
Instead of deep diving into this and making this post several more pages long, we’re just going to link to our article about over-exercising:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122136470636054286&set=pb.61551628601787.-2207520000&type=3
Some hounds only want, or benefit from, one walk a day. Some, every other day. Some, twice a week. Some, not at all!
Walks are for their enjoyment, so if they aren’t enjoying it, find a walking routine or environment that they do enjoy. For instance, instead of street walking every day, take them to local fields or nature reserves to get away from societal pressures and triggers.
As example, Sunflower (who is 6 years old) only has one short walk a day in the very early hours when there are no other dogs, people or traffic around when street walking. Then long dog-led walks out in the countryside where she can decompress and just be a dog. Rest days are then put in as and when they are needed, and her hind leg issue (which does cause discomfort) is managed with medication and physiotherapy.
Finding what worked for her took some time, but we have settled on this routine and she’s doing well so long as there are no unexpected changes to her routine! She’s very dramatic!
Trying to figure out what works best for your hound will involve some trial and error, and sometimes they may need several days or a week or two of no walking to ‘reset’ them, their stress levels, and address their behaviour issues before implementing the new routine, but once you find what works for them, you’ll find you’ll have a much happier and more relaxed hound!
Just remember that at any point you aren’t walking them, it isn’t a case of just ignoring them. You will need to substitute that exercise with other forms of mental stimulation, be it brain games, training, puzzle feeders, play time in the garden…whatever works best for them!
Unfortunately, this subject is far too vast to fit into one post, so we’ll discuss it further in future ones!
But the moral of the story is that pre-walk zoomies aren’t always a sign of happiness and excitement and to pay attention to the more subtle behaviours they may be displaying…because catching issues early will prevent larger behaviours from developing!
If in doubt, contact a qualified, positive reinforcement behaviourist (ABTC/IMDT etc) to assist you!
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