Help! Yorkie Puppy Zooms

[Gingerpants]

Hi everyone! First time posting and first time Yorkie owner

Juliet (Juju) is 8 months old and our adorable ball of fluff. We got her when I was 7 months pregnant as I saw her and fell in love with her. I did the research on Yorkies and thought it was a doable combination, even with the incredible amount of energy that they seem to have!

Before our son was born, when Juju was a tiny puppy, each night she would get what we call 'The Zooms' where she would basically go nuts, zooming around the flat for no reason at all guruffing to herself and trying to kill one of her toys (we live in HK so the flat is pretty shoebox sized). After zooming around a few laps, because of her tiny size, she would get tuckered out and conk out in her bed. Adorbs

However we have a bit of a problem now where our son, who is now 4 months old, can't stand any noise once he's been put down. Just to make this post easier and shorter, our flat is not sound proofed from the room to the living area, and each night lately it's been a struggle trying to manage both of them - baby needing to sleep (around 6:30-7pm) and not get disturbed, and puppy needing to get that energy out of her little body (with The Zooms comes a fair amount of guruffing, as mentioned - a noise that baby seems hard wired to wake up to).

We've tried taking her out with her during the day to tire her out (she comes home, conks out but then wakes up around 10pm to get The Zooms) taking her on walks after dinner to meet her furry boyfriends (comes home even more mad and gets The Zooms) and we've even tried letting her out on our terrace and playing a pretty vigarous few rounds of Fetch to get that energy out - only for her to come back into the flat and, yes, you guessed it - get The Zooms anyway. We've also put her on the terrace when she gets The Zooms, hoping she'll go mental out there, but she sits by the door looking at us as if to say 'but it's no fun without you!' and when we let her back in - she then subsequently gets The Zooms.

The only way we've been able to subdue her is to muzzle her - but this is heart breaking because she looks so forlorn, and I wonder if this confuses her as she thinks she's getting punished for something (she just sulks when she's muzzled and goes and sooks in her bed).

I don't know if this is relevant, but something else we've noticed is that she only seems to get The Zooms when both of us, Mr Gingerpants and I, are sitting in the living room. If we go to bed she generally doesn't seem to get them - but we want to spend time with her at night as during the day, I'm usually wrapped up with baby Gingerpants.

Is there a way out of this? If they are inclined to get The Zooms, will they get it every night? How can we discourage her to getting The Zooms or is this cruel as it's just in her puppy nature? How would you manage this?

Any thoughts welcome - thanks!

[matese]

Welcome to YT. You have a normal baby yorkie.This is a high energy breed,getting the zoomies is a natural for yorkies, they are just super high energy. Not a breed you would want if you have a small apartment, thin walls and an infant that is disturbed noise. To muzzle her to me is cruel, zoomies are natural for the breed, a form of playing, muzzling her is telling her she is bad, besides I never heard of anyone putting a muzzle on a dog to to train not to make vocal sounds when playing. Sticking her alone on the terrace another punishment, you got her use to you being there and playing with her, now you put here there alone, sure she's going to sit by the door all sad looking, because it is NOT FUN without you there. Your baby has to get use to NOISE. We live in a world of noise,you cannot have total quietness when your baby is napping or down for the night. Train your baby to live in a world that has sounds and noise. Your puppy is a little baby also, puppy has to play and grow. These are my thoughts on your situation, other members will give their suggestions, advise, tips. Good luck

[Gingerpants]

I take those thoughts on board, thanks Matese

[kreuer]

Another suggestion. .. maybe playing some soothing music in the baby's room to help down out the sound of the puppy.

[barneysmommmy]

Hi and welcome to YT!

Could you play soft music or have a soft noise going in baby's room while Juju is feeling zoomie? I have a 2 year old yorkie and a 7 year old and they still have like to rumble and romp through the house. I'm not sure it's something Juju will grow completely out of.

If Juju only gets rambunctious when you and the Mr. are in the living room sitting. Could you have this sit down time a little before baby's bedtime? Baby might enjoy the show. I would wait until baby is soundly sleeping before the sitting down again. Maybe this will break the cycle.

Or maybe you could even take turns. One of you could put baby down while the other one takes Juju out to run and play. Maybe at least for the first 30 minutes of the baby going to sleep Juju will be outside and not there to disturb.

[ChibiLuv]

Please don't muzzle her, this is just cruel. It would be like putting duct tape on your baby's mouth every time it cried, sure it would keep your baby quiet but it's not a very nice thing to do. Puppy's are playful, zoomies are normal. I agree with the playing soft music and letting your baby get used to noise. You have to think of it as having two babies. Your puppy baby needs play and naps too, someday you baby may disturb your pup and I doubt you will muzzle the baby. You may look into taking her to the park or doggie daycare, long, and I mean like a mile or so long walks helped my zoomie baby. You'll work out a system, stick with it and don't punish your puppy for being a puppy.

[matese]

Originally Posted by ChibiLuv

Please don't muzzle her, this is just cruel. It would be like putting duct tape on your baby's mouth every time it cried, sure it would keep your baby quiet but it's not a very nice thing to do. Puppy's are playful, zoomies are normal. I agree with the playing soft music and letting your baby get used to noise. You have to think of it as having two babies. Your puppy baby needs play and naps too, someday you baby may disturb your pup and I doubt you will muzzle the baby. You may look into taking her to the park or doggie daycare, long, and I mean like a mile or so long walks helped my zoomie baby. You'll work out a system, stick with it and don't punish your puppy for being a puppy.

[connie3dogs]

Babies get used to noises. Normal household noises like hoovering , washing machine etc...and the sound of dogs. The 'zooming'' only lasts for a short while then they get tired..I have mother and pup doing the zooming which is very typical of the breed. The baby will get used to it just as the pup has to get used to another baby in the family. The baby will go back to sleep anyway.

[Wylie's Mom]

Hi and WELCOME to YT ! So glad you found us!

I have some suggestions for ya. First, discontinue the muzzle right away as it's a very confusing intervention in the way you're using it - it's sort of like teaching her that "play" is a bad thing and elicits punishment -- and you def don't want to teach her that.

Since your flat isn't very soundproof, I'd suggest either running a fan in your son's room and/or a noise machine like the one I use at night (omg LOVE IT): Amazon
It sounds like your son is a *very* light sleeper and it would be better overall for the household in general if there was some kind of white noise for him to sleep to - it'd probably improve his quality of sleep too .

Do you think you could try one of those?

[Gingerpants]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Wylie's Mom - Yes we have a sound machine in the room for him (kind of like a sleep buddy) which I guess we should turn the volume up on, but i'll def look into the sound device you posted, thanks so much!

It's true to say if we just let her get the zooms out of her system it's over fairly quickly and then she falls asleep - I think we're having a bad few weeks due to the 4 month sleep regression and are tiptoeing around because he is just getting woken up by the drop of a pin - it's driving us insane to be honest, we've had no life in the flat after 'lights out' at 630p afraid of waking him, and no sleep during the night either! Argh. And it's true it's a dual problem - not just puppy, but puppy zooms AND baby sleep problem.

Barneysmommy - thanks for that idea, I never thought of it but you're right, it is a cycle - each night the zoom hit at around 1030-11pm, never before and never after, so maybe it's a case of trying to get her to get the zooms earlier in the day if we can.

As a postscript I should mention, we haven't been muzzling her as a course of action, we've done this twice only but that's what brought me to post here looking for answers because of her sad little face, we knew it wasn't something we could continue doing.

[OwnedByJezebel]

Mine grew out of the zoomies after a while. They do run when they are playing, but it is very different from when they were puppies and ran wildly in circles until they dropped. They do calm down some as they mature.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Gingerpants

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Wylie's Mom - Yes we have a sound machine in the room for him (kind of like a sleep buddy) which I guess we should turn the volume up on, but i'll def look into the sound device you posted, thanks so much!

It's true to say if we just let her get the zooms out of her system it's over fairly quickly and then she falls asleep - I think we're having a bad few weeks due to the 4 month sleep regression and are tiptoeing around because he is just getting woken up by the drop of a pin - it's driving us insane to be honest, we've had no life in the flat after 'lights out' at 630p afraid of waking him, and no sleep during the night either! Argh. And it's true it's a dual problem - not just puppy, but puppy zooms AND baby sleep problem.

Barneysmommy - thanks for that idea, I never thought of it but you're right, it is a cycle - each night the zoom hit at around 1030-11pm, never before and never after, so maybe it's a case of trying to get her to get the zooms earlier in the day if we can.

As a postscript I should mention, we haven't been muzzling her as a course of action, we've done this twice only but that's what brought me to post here looking for answers because of her sad little face, we knew it wasn't something we could continue doing.

Hang in there, it sounds tough right now...you're probably exhausted with a new baby and crazy yorkie!

Btw, on that sound machine I linked you to...I know it's pricey, but it's SO worth it bc it turns up loud if you need it to - louder than the many others I've tried. Also, it has a steady noise, or you can choose an ocean/tide noise.

Also -- do you have an ipad or tablet? If yes, you can actually download awesome apps and/or connect to different websites that play white noise...maybe you could try out the louder noises and see if they work...?

[ZoeysHumanMom]

Babies who live with noise learn to sleep through it. My mother-in-law was a foster mother -- infants only. Hers was a very noisy house -- kids, grandkids, in and out all the time, phones ringing, lawn mowers right outside the window, etc. -- super noisy. She had 130 babies through the years. We all became very good at taking care of babies. We could change a diaper without waking them. LOL Every one of her babies learned to sleep through noise. Parents make a mistake by trying to have a silent house for the baby to sleep in. It makes babies very light sleepers. They wake up because noise is something they aren't familiar with while they're sleeping. If they learn to sleep in a not-so-silent environment, noise doesn't disturb their sleep. The baby will get used to the puppy noise. If you would stop tip-toeing around, he'd learn to sleep better.

[kreuer]

I just wanted to add that I feel your frustration. My son is almost 4 now, but he was always a light sleeper. We didn't have a dog when he was a baby, but I remember if my husband made any sound when Evan was sleeping I would be so mad because he would wake up to the slightest sounds. Luckily he is now a much better sleeper, but I still freak out when someone makes too much noise lol. Everything will get easier with time!

[Jkpal]

A friend of mine, first born son, was coddled and from the time he was infant slept in quiet darkness. As an adult, he simply cannot sleep (actually travels with a black-out curtain) if there is any light, much noise, etc. He considers that his loving and caring mother did him a bit of a disservice by 'over-protecting' his sleeping situation when he was little...Bring on the marching band and let that puppy play a part!! Have fun, you'll figure it out!