Puppies Gone Wild!

Bursts of energy
Once or twice a day, most puppies kick up their heels and go a little gleefully wild. One label for this extra energy burst is a FRAP, Frenetic Random Activity Period. This is especially true of older puppies who will soon be leaving puppyhood behind.

With puppies, FRAPs most often happen in the early morning and early evening. Racing around the house, rolling on the rugs and careening off of furniture are all normal parts of the canine FRAP. When you can, sit back and enjoy the show. FRAPs will be gone soon enough and when this happens you'll know that the end of puppyhood is nearing.

You may be able to see a FRAP coming. You may see a glint in your puppy's eye or maybe he'll play bow with his chest on the floor and his tail in the air. Maybe he'll bark or bounce but then … he's off! Spinning in circles, racing up and down the hall, around or over the furniture, barking at you, pouncing at toys before he suddenly changes his mind and races off again. He's a veritable whirlwind of life and few things in life are as full of pure happiness as a good puppy FRAP.

How to deal with FRAP
Sometimes a good FRAP is just plain fun, but other times you need to tone them down a bit for the sake of your house or puppy's safety. A simple solution is letting your puppy run around inside a fenced yard. Opening the door is usually all that is required to get him outside but you can attract his attention with a favorite toy and toss it outside if he needs to be coaxed. If you don't have a fenced backyard, close off the rooms inside your home you want your puppy to stay out of and let him rip. It's a good idea to keep large breed pups off of slippery surfaces as sliding around can hurt your puppy. Be especially aware of anything that could topple if bumped hard.

The good news is that FRAPs rarely last more than a few minutes. If the timing is just plain wrong for you, there is nothing wrong with taking a good chew toy and quietly crating your puppy for a few minutes. Or, if he'll focus, you can get out some treats and harness this energy into some obedience practice. What you want to avoid is supporting this behavior.

Chasing him around or laughing at his antics (pups understand laughter well) encourages more of this behavior. Trying to calm him down with stroking usually leads to squirming and mouthing because of his high excitement level, so skip that as well. Remember, most puppies experience FRAPs at some point or other. Try to sit back and enjoy your puppy's show during this time – it won't last forever and when FRAPs end it's likely puppyhood is ending too.

(photo courtesy of http://www.webleyweb.com/picts/puppy3.jpg, content courtesy of pedigree.com)