Why Do Dogs Go Crazy After a Bath?

Original Blog written by Hannah Gilman and published by The Dog People by Rover.com

If you give a dog a bath… He’ll probably go crazy. No, seriously. There’s a real burst of activity afterward. If your dog has major zoomies, barking, and playful tail-chasing immediately after a bath, you're not the only one.

Dogs go crazy after a bath for a range of reasons from relief, to happiness, to an instinctual desire to return to a more familiar scent. Whether you call it the crazies or the zoomies, the bottom line is, post-bath hyperactivity is a thing. And we’re breaking it down.

Bath Anxiety

Unless you have a dog who loves baths, you know the situation all too well. Your dog rolled around in the mud or just hasn’t been washed in a minute, and it’s time. The paw breaks come on the minute your dog knows you’re thinking about getting them in the tub, and it’s all stress from there.

When it’s finally over, your dog is STOKED. The only way to express that is to run around, well, like crazy. It’s their nervous energy pouring out.

Strange New Smell

We’re all familiar with the stink of a wet dog. Humans want their dogs to smell like flowers, or soaps, or linen, or cucumber, or honey, or pretty much anything but dog fur. The American Pet Products Association released a report showing that dog owners spend over five billion dollars a year on pet bath services and products.

A freshly washed dog thrills a human, but a dog? Not so much. Not only is their sense of smell stronger than ours (we’ve all seen how dogs greet one another, yes?), but it’s how they perceive the world. And after a bath, they’re now coated in a weird, unfamiliar scent.

The solution? Sprint around and roll in everything possible to rid themselves of the new scent and return to the old. Wanting to smell like dirt and grass is in a dog’s DNA.

Drying Off

The answer to why dogs go crazy after a bath might be as simple as drying off. If you’ve ever seen a dog shake vigorously after a swim, this behavior won’t seem odd. A wet dog will shake, yes, but they may also do things like roll around on the carpet, your bed, or the couch, to get dry. Simple as that.

You can prevent some of the mess, if not the rolling, by investing in an absorbent dog towel to soak up most of the moisture before the zoomies begin.

Bath Zoomies

Frenetic Random Activity Periods, otherwise known as the zoomies, happen to pretty much every dog, especially young ones. Everything is just SO FUN, suddenly, and they cannot possibly contain their excitement. Baths may very well bring out the zoomies.

After all, they’ve been contained for awhile and it’s time to let loose. The zoomies are an expression of happiness rather than relief, though the running and the rolling may look similar in both cases.

There’s nothing wrong with a case of the zoomies after a bath. If it’s causing problems—wet furniture, messy floors—it may help to keep your dog confined to a safe zone (behind a pet gate, for instance) until they calm down. If not, just sit back and laugh.

Dogs are loveable goofballs, aren’t they?

Pets and People, Saving Each Other™

www.hsnt.org

HSNT’s mission is to act as an advocate on behalf of all animals and to ensure their legal, moral and ethical consideration and protection; to provide for the well-being of animals who are abandoned, injured, neglected, mistreated or otherwise in need; to promote an appreciation of animals; and to instill respect for all living things.