[Ellen]

I am new to this forum. I have a seven-year-old Bichon/poodle mix with a zoomie problem. Molly is the first dog I've trained and she loves agility. Previously I did Rally with her, and she has her Advanced title in AKC. I thought she was cured of her zoomies because the last trials I went to she didn't zoom at all. She had UKC trials in January and did eight runs with no zoomies, qualifying in 7 out of 8 runs. But now in class she's been zooming every week. I have a very good teacher who has given me some good suggestions, but the problem persists. Fortunately, Molly has always zoomed more in class than at trials. Classes are in the evening, and that's usually her favorite time for zooming at home too.
I'd be interested in hearing from other people who have dealt with this problem.

 

[TricolorTerrier]

I've heard dogs find zooming as a way to get out of the moment, and it's most common when they're stressed out. My dog used to have the zoomies at agility a lot, but I gave him some time to individually meet each dog and play with them which seemed to help ease up the stress. Since then, he doesn't seem to have any more stress zoomies and only the occasionally, "Let's go crazy!" terrier zoomies!

 

[Ellen]

I've heard dogs find zooming as a way to get out of the moment, and it's most common when they're stressed out. My dog used to have the zoomies at agility a lot, but I gave him some time to individually meet each dog and play with them which seemed to help ease up the stress. Since then, he doesn't seem to have any more stress zoomies and only the occasionally, "Let's go crazy!" terrier zoomies!

Yes, I think my poor handling often causes the stress. Letting her meet the other dogs probably wouldn't help in class, because she's already met them. My teacher advised me to be sure she's holding her start-line stay. I didn't notice that sometimes her little rear was lifting up a bit. Also she suggested to do just one jump and then reward her, as a little warmup. At the last class, she zoomed because I hesitated a little while she was doing the weaves. I wasn't sure where the next obstacle was. Molly noticed that and missed a pole. When I took her back to start the weaves again, she took off.
I suppose there's no one magic solution.

 

[jclark343]

My dog Roxie has the same problem. I've always just attributed the zoomies to it being that time of day (class is at 7 at night after I have worked all day). They have gotten better even though I can see it in her eyes when she wants to zoom but she isn't and she is staying focused.

I am thinking about upping the antiy of the treats. I usually use hot dogs and sting cheese for class but I have noticed that hot dogs really aren't doing it for her, cheese still is which is good. I think I am going to try that rolled treat you can get from the petstores just to switch it up. I plan if I ever do a trial I am going to bring either chicken livers or that salmon crack everyone talks about on here.