What's the common term used to describe...

[pammyfay]

Those bursts of energy that make them run around the house full-speed ahead: I know there's some term out there for them. (And I have never seen any other dog do it before, but of course the only other dogs I've ever hung out with were bassets!)

[Idaho Cairns]

We call them "Speed Trials".

[rallycairn]

I've only heard them called the "zoomies" kinda like your thread title. And there's a great dog boutique in Manhattan in the West Village called Zoomies (www.zoomiesnyc.com I think) with nicely-made in-house clothes and that's where they got the name! But I like Speed Trials, too!

[remltr]

My previous terrierX would go from one end of the house to another and slide to a stop, take a couple deep breaths while playing statue (frozen in place) and wait for me to clap my hands and then proceed to do it all over again. Would just crack me up and she seemed to be laughing all the way. I liked to think it was her way of saying I'm happy and having a good time. Use to call her Speedy GonGinger after the cartoon character Speedy Gonzales.

[Sandi16]

Here we call it "Rocket dog" sometimes if I just say "Rocket dog" it's enough to get him going. When he really gets going, he'll run out the doggy door, rocket around the yard and the burst through the door again. It's a lot of fun!

[bradl]

I learned the term FRAP - Frenetic Random Activity Period - from a Kilcommons book. Another term that always seemed appropriate was going "cracker dog."

[rallycairn]

I learned the term FRAP - Frenetic Random Activity Period - from a Kilcommons book. Another term that always seemed appropriate was going "cracker dog."

Oh, cracker dog rings a bell! Could that have been in a (fiction) book, perhaps?

[Hagar]

Regardless of whether he does it outside or in the house, I just call them "Hot Laps".

Inside, he will run as fast as he can in a sort of skinny figure 8 from the living room through the house to the bedroom and "repeat as needed". Outside he runs oval laps around the back yard until he is panting.

[SparkyJonesMom]

I had never heard of a name for it, but I love every single term here! Especially "Rocket Dog" and "Hot Laps." My two seem to think that the best place to do this is in our bedroom. Our bed is a platform bed, so it's really low to the ground, and they love it. It's so funny to watch, especially when they start grunting.

[lindasue]

We just call it Pegi going nuts....she loves to do them after a 30 minute walk, when you would think she would be exhausted..

[mumscairn]

We've always called it going "cracker dog"...wasn't that an expression heard on All Creatures Great and Small?

[rallycairn]

We've always called it going "cracker dog"...wasn't that an expression heard on All Creatures Great and Small?

That's right! Tricki Woo went flop bot and cracker dog. Nice recall!

[biochembelle]

My cats did this before I had a Cairn, and we referred to it as "the cat races." So when I got my Cairn, we modified the name to "the dog races." What was she racing? Only Kenna knows.

[Zekey's Mom]

With Zekey, he only seems to do this outside. He'll grab one of his toys and run all around the yard, doing large figure 8s. He gets a special delight from "buzzing" the cats -- one of the them will just be sitting there watching it all, and Zekey will run full tilt toward it and at the last second angle away from the cat, like he's playing chicken!

[Kmurch64]

I call it the "scats". Ozzy gets and it is hilarious - no stopping him. Also, after a bath he goes crazy doing laps around the house!

[hheldorfer]

We call it Turbo Terrier when Buffy does it. Quite a sight when she skids over the hardwood floors!

[MacFluff]

My first gaggle of cairns: Mic, Mac & Mol did it. We called it zoomers. They grew out of it when they got older, and I found that sad.

My new gaggle. Sully, Sarah & Gracie do it. So, when it starts we just yell "Zoomers!" That way we all know to stand out of the middle of the house so we won't get run over in the process. I just stand and laugh at them.

[JimS]

When Ring figures out that it's safe to enter "cat territory" I envision him running through our house which has 5 rooms that connect into a circle. It'a about 50 ft of running space if he gets it figured out he'll love it. Great hiding spots for him when I chase him, when he's got a toy and I'm going to "get that toy"!

[tlwtheq]

We don't have a term for it. It's this manic period where everyone is fighting

over every toy and running at top speed once it is obtained to play keep-away

from the other two. What's really interesting is how the play period ends.

Everyone is going full force until they...stop abruptly. It's really

funny...no winding down, just STOP.

I don't get it! But it's really funny.

[Kathryn]

Thanks! We've always called it "cracker dog" and I never knew where the phrase came from.

We occasionally have two "cracker dogs." The fun is when they skid on the hard floors and slide into each other....

[TazTalk]

I can't believe how common this is! And the grunting noise too! Such clown moments

We call it AFU -- All Fired Up!!