Why do Frenchies get the Zoomies?

One day a friend of mine came over for a quick visit. I introduced her to our baby French bulldog, and I went to the kitchen to put the kettle on. My friend remained in the living room with our pup, but she called me suddenly in a worried voice. She told me there was something wrong with the dog. So I hurried in and saw him having a zoomie! I started to laugh hard, which confused my friend completely. She had never witnessed any zoomie episode before, so she assumed the pup got scared of her and wanted to get out. So I explained to her what a Frenchie zoomie is.

What is a Frenchie zoomie?

The so-called zoomies are episodes when your dog behaves like a crazy devil for a few minutes. His eyes get crazy, and he runs around with sudden interruptions to change direction. This random burst of energy lasts from a few seconds to even up to 5 minutes.

The official name of this behavior is frenetic random activity periods, FRAPs in short. According to our breeding expert at TomKings Kennel, zoomies are a way to relieve pent-up energy and stress. Therefore, this behavior is perfectly normal, and there is nothing to worry about! Zoomies are observed among many breeds of all ages, and even cats get it!

What is triggering zoomies?

Although there is no scientific explanation on zoomies, we can conclude a few triggers based on our many years of breeding experience. First of all, Frenchies tend to get the zoomies when they are too excited about something. Such events are usually his favorite things, like a nice bath or when a family member arrives home after a long time. Some dogs get it after poop, and others before bedtime. The triggers vary from individual, and therefore, we’d recommend you to start to observe your Frenchie. Make a record of what happened right before the zoomies. After a while, you can predict when his episodes will happen.

What to do when your Frenchie gets a zoomie?

There is no need to worry about your pup when he gets a zoomie as long as he is doing it in a safe environment. Just sit back and watch the show! This hilarious behavior is not only entertaining for us, but dogs enjoy it too!

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But we must mention his safety. When pups are so extremely hyped up, they don’t care about anything. They can knock off and break things and even put their own life at risk. Therefore, you need to be well prepared.

You are probably familiar with child-proofing your apartment – now you need to dog-proof it too! We would highly recommend you to put fragile items out of reach and clear his usual sprint routes. Make sure he can sprint from one end of the apartment to the other without hazardous obstacles.

If your French bulldog tends to get the zoomies outdoors, running off can be a great danger. In this state of mind, they can sprint to a road full of cars. So always use a leash when you take him on a walk near a busy road. In a park full of trees cars are not a problem, but running off and getting lost is. We wrote this article on what to do when your Frenchie gets lost.

The most important thing when your Frenchie gets the zoomie is not to chase him! He would think that you are trying to play with him, and this makes him even more excited. When he is trying to run off, you need to stop and walk in the opposite direction. Try calling him by his name and with the “Come” command.

Preventing zoomies

You cannot eliminate zoomies, but you definitely can reduce their occurrence by keeping your Frenchie busy. In this article, we listed the favorite outdoor games of French bulldogs, like fetch, hide and seek or follow your nose. Playing outdoors every day exhausts them well enough to release the extra energy. We also wrote about other benefits of playing with your Frenchie in this article.

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Our TomKings Frenchie Family members have also shared their experiences about the topic, if you’d like to read these, feel free to join our Facebook group! Are you maybe looking for your second fur baby? Two Frenchies are always better than one, so feel free to check out our available puppies here!

The article is based on the expert knowledge of the TomKings Puppies team who have been breeding French Bulldogs for 10 years on their farm. All the pictures in the post belong to them and their customers, and show puppies from their breed. Check their available French Bulldog puppies, or if you have any questions or comments let us know below the article.