# Ep 134 Go, Go, Go! Why Your Dog Can’t Chill Out After Going for a Walk

An episode of [Help! My Dog: The Podcast. Dog Behaviour & Training Strategies that Work!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1721245241), 24 Jun 2026, 7:32.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287608/episodes/19082119-ep-134-go-go-go-why-your-dog-can-t-chill-out-after-going-for-a-walk.mp3

Does going out for a walk always leave your dog wanting more, no matter how long it was or how much you did? Whether they pace around, get the zoomies, or even follow you like a shadow, when our dogs struggle to relax after getting home from a good walk, it can leave us feeling pretty confused! This week, we’re exploring why some dogs can’t seem to switch off after getting in from a walk, and what that might be telling us about their inner stress management. While age-old advice tells us that energetic, over-excited or hyper dogs just need more exercise and stimulation, we could unintentionally be adding little loads of stress onto their brain, leaving them feeling even more restless and frustrated than before they went out! We’ll consider what walks could look like for these dogs, including key skills and a few easy changes we can introduce to their daily lives to finally unlock their inner zen! ................ Whether your dog is unpredictable with other dogs or predictably bad… Whether it looks like freezing, barking, lunging or running away… Whether you are just starting out on your dog-owning journey or your dog has been labelled as having a “behaviour problem”… … this episode is for you and is going to give you huge insights! Want to join the Help! My Dog Online HUB? Here's the link: www.helpmydog.com/hub Dr Tom Mitchell is a world-renowned veterinarian, behaviourist and dog trainer and director of the Behavet behaviour clinic (rated Excellent on Trustpilot), which sees over 400 pet behaviour consultations each and every month no matter where you are in the world. In 2023, he founded Help! My Dog, an online dog behaviour learning platform to help even more owners all over the world and show that dog behaviour transformation is not only possible but it's FUN, with the right know-how! Make sure to subscribe/follow the podcast for the free weekly episodes! Useful Links: Follow Help! My Dog on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpmydogofficial/ Schedule a Consultation with Behavet: https://www.beha.vet/ Follow Behavet on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/behavet

## Transcript

[0:00] SPEAKER_00: I thought after a walk my dog would come home, have some water, and chill out.
[0:03] SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be nice?
[0:05] SPEAKER_00: Instead, he paces around, pants, watches out the window, follows me about, and seems more restless than before we went.
[0:12] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he even gets the zoomies afterwards.
[0:15] SPEAKER_00: Before we dive in, a warning.
[0:18] SPEAKER_00: The content of this podcast may not be appropriate for some young listeners.
[0:23] SPEAKER_00: This is real life, and that means that sometimes it can be a little bit graphic, so listen on at your own peril.
[0:31] SPEAKER_00: As a veterinarian, dog behaviourist, best-selling author and trainer, over the past decade I've had an obsession with transforming the behaviour of dogs.
[0:40] SPEAKER_00: Understanding their brains and creating practical strategies that you can implement easily at home.
[0:46] SPEAKER_00: I know all too well when the dream you imagined when you first got your dog is far from your daily reality.
[0:52] SPEAKER_00: In fact, out of the blue, a few months ago, my little dog Gorse was bitten by a dog 20 times her size.
[0:59] SPEAKER_00: And suddenly our life of stress-free walks, a calm and cuddly household, and being teammates was replaced with reactivity, anxiety, and worrying about what's around the next corner.
[1:10] SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
[1:11] SPEAKER_00: Tom.
[1:11] SPEAKER_00: This is the Help My Dog Podcast, and this is me documenting that journey of transformation, sharing my knowledge and experience with you and having a few laughs along the way.
[1:22] SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to this episode of the Help My Dog Podcast.
[1:25] SPEAKER_00: And today we're doing a listener's question.
[1:27] SPEAKER_00: Again, we seem to like these.
[1:29] SPEAKER_00: You guys give us great feedback with these, so we were like, let's lean in, let's do them, and it means that we can help even more of you.
[1:35] SPEAKER_00: So help my dog takes absolutely ages to settle after a walk.
[1:41] SPEAKER_00: I thought after a walk my dog would come home, have some water, and chill out.
[1:45] SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be nice?
[1:46] SPEAKER_00: Instead, he paces around, pants, watches out the window, follows me about, and seems more restless than before we went.
[1:54] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he even gets the zoomies afterwards.
[1:56] SPEAKER_00: Does that mean the walk was too much, too exciting, or am I reading too much into it?
[2:01] SPEAKER_00: So it's a great question.
[2:02] SPEAKER_00: It's actually not a common question that we get asked, which is why we thought we'd do it because, you know, we've we've not really talked on this that much.
[2:09] SPEAKER_00: Um and I think there are probably a few different reasons why this might be happening.
[2:13] SPEAKER_00: So the first reason might be how, you know, it's rare that this concept doesn't make an appearance in the pot in the podcast.
[2:20] SPEAKER_00: It might be that while we think that by walking our dogs, we're taking energy out of them, like we're tiring them out.
[2:29] SPEAKER_00: Often what's happening is we're filling their stress bucket.
[2:33] SPEAKER_00: So the stress bucket is this idea that your dog's got this stress bucket that might be big, it might be small, and exciting things pay into the stress bucket, scary things pay into the stress bucket, some other things pay into the stress bucket that I won't cover now.
[2:46] SPEAKER_00: And the stress bucket fills and fills and fills, but it often fills quicker than it empties.
[2:51] SPEAKER_00: And so it can fill and fill and fill.
[2:53] SPEAKER_00: And as it's filling, you can get the kinds of behaviors happening more frequently that you're describing, like pacing around, panting, watching out the window, following you around, seeming unable to settle as the stress bucket fills.
[3:07] SPEAKER_00: So my first thought would be is have we played around with um maybe shortening the walk, maybe not making the walk quite so stimulating?
[3:17] SPEAKER_00: What are we doing on that walk?
[3:18] SPEAKER_00: Are we doing lots of very exciting play?
[3:20] SPEAKER_00: Could we make it a calmer, more sniffing-based walk?
[3:24] SPEAKER_00: How does that change their behavior when they're home?
[3:27] SPEAKER_00: Because if we use their behavior when home as a measure of how full their stress bucket is, that means that we've got a way of measuring how stressful the walk is.
[3:37] SPEAKER_00: Okay?
[3:38] SPEAKER_00: So that would be my first thought.
[3:39] SPEAKER_00: And zoomies would be very typical of a dog with a full stress bucket.
[3:43] SPEAKER_00: That'd be my first thought.
[3:45] SPEAKER_00: Second thought that I've got for you is some dogs can really struggle to transition from one activity to another activity.
[3:52] SPEAKER_00: It requires a lot of skills to be able to go from a very stimulating walk to being calm and settled at home when you get there.
[4:00] SPEAKER_00: And so I'd be thinking, how can we transition them to the activity that you want them to do, right?
[4:07] SPEAKER_00: So when you get home, could you give them something to engage with that would be the vehicle to calming them down and lowering their arousal level, right?
[4:18] SPEAKER_00: So for example, could we give them a long-lasting chew?
[4:22] SPEAKER_00: Could we give them a stuffed kong or a stuffed bone?
[4:26] SPEAKER_00: They're engaging with that, and the act of engaging with that is also calming them down and transitioning them to a settled state.
[4:33] SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
[4:33] SPEAKER_00: Now, some dogs, and your dog might, this might be the case for your dog, you might get home, you might give them the long-lasting chew or the stuffed kong or whatever, and they pace around, pant, watch out the window, and they just ignore it, right?
[4:47] SPEAKER_00: And so you then need to think, well, how do I transition them to the long-lasting chew?
[4:52] SPEAKER_00: Well, what we might do is, for example, after the walk, we might go into the garden and scatter some food in the garden for them to hunt out.
[5:00] SPEAKER_00: Right?
[5:01] SPEAKER_00: We might make it higher value food so that they're more incentivized to engage with that activity.
[5:06] SPEAKER_00: We then might pop them on lead and we might lead them, bring them into the house on lead.
[5:11] SPEAKER_00: And we might just sit down on the sofa and I don't know, open the newspaper and calmly give them a long-lasting chew.
[5:19] SPEAKER_00: And that might just be a way to transition them in more baby steps to that activity.
[5:25] SPEAKER_00: The good news is you're not gonna have to hold their hand quite so much in this process as they get used to it.
[5:31] SPEAKER_00: And the whole point of this is that we're teaching them how to self-how to effectively settle themselves, how to transition from excitement to being um to being settled, right?
[5:43] SPEAKER_00: Um, so that would be the the the second tip that I've got for you.
[5:47] SPEAKER_00: And then the third one would be it might be that your dog just doesn't have the skills yet to be able to do that, and they need to learn the skills in a setup that is going to be achievable for them.
[6:02] SPEAKER_00: And so you might find more success by limiting your dog's choices when they get home.
[6:07] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so for example, just giving them some downtime in a puppy pen or a crate or a very you know safe room of the house with their long-lasting chew, and limit their choices of being able to follow you around and look out the window, because then they're gonna be able to more easily navigate to the choice that we want them to make, which is just chill out, have a bit of water, have a nice sleep, and that it then is gonna empty their stress bucket as well, which is probably gonna make it easier on you know, subsequently.
[6:39] SPEAKER_00: So I hope you got value from that, guys.
[6:42] SPEAKER_00: Um, it really is all about managing the stress bucket, thinking, are we transitioning them well enough to what we want them to do?
[6:49] SPEAKER_00: And thirdly, are are we just giving them too many choices and we need to limit their choices so that they can be a bit more successful, right?
[6:56] SPEAKER_00: And you could replace walk with training class, agility class, um uh I don't know, going playing with dog friends, whatever it might be, with your dog, and you might find that there are there are other things and other activities that um that they struggle to transition from, and that's kind of the playbook that I'd use for those as well.
[7:19] SPEAKER_00: So hopefully you got value, short and sweet, and we will see you next time.

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