# What makes a dog suddenly run around at top speed while growling?



## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

A weird thing happened 2 days ago. 

Nia and Guigui were playing outside like they always do and Guigui got some kind of leaf in her mouth. When her owner told her to drop it and go play, she dropped it and then started to run around at the fastest speed possible while continuously growling. It's like the zoomies while continuously growling.

Nia does a thing where if any of the dogs we know are running, she will DEFINITELY chase them. So like usual she chased Guigui but when she got close, guigui started to bite her side and pin her down. Nia gets scared, cowers in the hunched scared position and tries to sneak away. Guigui is still running all over the place while growling and whenever her circle comes close to Nia, she gives her a bite and runs away continuing her circle. She did this to Nia about 4 or 5 times and by now Nia has sneaked her way to my leg and is sitting beside my leg. Guigui runs over and pins her again while biting her belly (I don't think it was very hard but it's not making Nia feel good) and by now Nia snaps. She's been trying to hide for about 5 min now and lie on her back and crouch but still being charged and bitten.

Now she snaps and snarls at Guigui and whenever Guigui got close about half a meter of her, she charges snarls and tries to snap at Guigui.

By now Guigui's owners are getting scared and chases Guigui away and grabs her and puts her on a leash. I'm standing in front of Nia blocking guigui. Within about 2 min, Guigui calms down and they're back to normal friends playing together and licking each other?!??

I'm thinking what the hell just happened here? why did Guigui suddenly start growling and running around and trying to bite Nia? I know it wasn't like she was trying to kill her but she was still biting (no blood or broken skin kind of bite) after Nia had flipped over on the ground in submission.

Plus she's about 15 lbs and Nia is 6 lbs so Nia couldn't get out or get away...


----------



## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

It sounds like perfectly normal, perfectly wacky dog play that Nia doesn't like. Guigui was not the problem, Nia's fear and the respective humans' reaction to the situation was.

Yes, if one dog's behavior is making another uncomfortable, you should be able to redirect her behavior to something more socially acceptable.


----------



## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

But the thing is usually Guigui stops biting Nia when Nia is pinned down to the ground and Guigui did bite her a couple of times enough that Nia squealed. Although there was no blood or broken skin, after Nia got home and I took a look at her there were obvious red bite marks.

The problem is when guigui was like that no one could catch her. We let her do that for about 5 min when she was really starting to get pushier and pushier with Nia so we stopped it. Guigiu wasn't listening to any kind of command or even coming when called.


----------



## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

That's called "The zoomies" or "Rocketbutt" xD! 

Sounds like Guigui is just overzealous and needs to learn some manners.

I think you need to not allow Gui to get pushy though. The moment she acts like that you should pick Nia up and everybody should turn around/walk away. If she's going to play that rough, than nobody will play with her.


----------



## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Nia gets the zoomies sometimes but she's never growling continuously which is why I thought Guigui was a bit strange. 

Gui does tend to get a bit aggressive when they're playing or with any other dog she plays with but we don't usually have a problem. Nia doesn't mind and and they wrestle and bite each other all the time but she's never kept biting Nia when she's down before. Maybe she's too excited or something. 

The thing is I didn't want to pick up Nia because I've heard you shouldn't pick up a dog when they're scared. 

Btw Xeph, you're going to buy a Schnauzer? I never knew that!


----------



## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

Being in agility, you get to see a lot of dogs that get the zoomies because "OMG AGILITY IS SO FREAKING KEWL!!!!!"

Some are more vocal than others.

It still sounds like she was just overstimulated and got carried away. It happens 



> Btw Xeph, you're going to buy a Schnauzer? I never knew that!


YUS! And I'm so excited my head may explode into candy!


----------

