# Puppy turns into a demon dog at night time



## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

It sounds like she could you a little more activity. do you let her have exercise in the evening eg: off leash time or some training exercises before that? It will help her calm down a lot if you make her use her brain as well, so maybe squeeze in a few short training sessions nearer the evening after she's had her dinner. you can try snuffle mats, or brain teaser toys etc.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

This is very normal behavior for a Golden puppy. We called it hell hour and Rukie would run in crazy circles and hurl himself at people. It was almost scary. We would just try taking him out and letting him run it off. He out grew it. I think they have a need to expend excess energy before bedtime.


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## Terra26 (Jul 25, 2020)

My golden girl Nala is the same, but only in the mornings. After she has done her business and eaten her meals, my husband takes her fora an 8 minute brisk walk in the backyard. She then comes inside and goes berserk! I'm petrified of her energy. She chews on things, tries to jump up on me and is basically out of control. My morning tea time (which is my only quiet time) is rushed. I would like some advice on what we should be doing different. 

This forum is great! Thanks to all the experienced golden parents!


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## Cjm (Oct 26, 2018)

It could also be they are overtired and need to go into the crate for bedtime.


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## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

That was the case with our 12 week old, when we thought she had to run around like crazy and nip at our hands to tire herself out, turns out she was simply overtired, and when my patience run out and I chose to remove myself from the room, couple of loud barks later, she put herself away in the crate.
3 weeks later, that seems to have done the trick, no more evening crazies here


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## MushyB (Oct 31, 2018)

I remember the witching hour!! With Barkley it was a bit earlier, usually around 8pm. He was just a little zoomie freak! After dinner walk/exercise will help, and possibly a special chewing toy, just for that time. It goes away pretty quick; I think by 16 weeks or so, it had calmed down. Good luck!


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## JulesAK (Jun 6, 2010)

This is when Maggie and I would do her brain games and training. I would hide bits of food and she had to find it. I would have her walk beside me all around the house, doing sits and down in various places. We would do this, intermixed with tug and some ball, for about 20 minutes and then she would usually be tired. She has always been a bit of a couch potato though!
Jules


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## Coco's mama (Sep 8, 2020)

Our puppy (12 weeks old) does exactly the same. I was just googling yesterday "my goldie puppy gets crazy at night" and found about this to be "normal" behaviour  We also learnt that we may be making it a bit worse by our own behavior..... Picture the scene last night: 1.-we are in the yard for the 8:30pm final play time, and puppy starts getting the "zoomies", going at our ankles, biting our pants, toes, whatever he finds. 2.-we try at first to distract his chewing by throwing a Frisbee 3.-puppy got even more excited, goes for the Frisbee, comes back to chew us with even more gusto, he is getting worked up 4.-hubby starts running away from him, cause he is wearing shorts and his ankles and legs are too exposed and juicy 5.-puppy thinks that hubby running away is super-fun, so gets even more excited.... 6.- I see my husband running for his life towards the raised bed planters (which puppy hasn't learnt to climb yet). So.... yes, 2 grown-up humans running away from a "scary golden retriever puppy" (yes, read that out loud...).  At the end, when I realized that we were just making the situation worse, I sent hubby inside, and I sat at a chair as boring and non-reacting as I could (long jeans and crocs or other hard shoes help, when the puppy is coming at you). After a while puppy's steam runs off and it became "normal" and then we went inside for sleep time. I'm really hoping this phase passes soon....


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## Sammy's Mum (Sep 13, 2014)

Totally normal behaviour. (Unfortunately!) My arms were full of tiny punctures then. Tire him out! Mentally, or physically, or both! He may be over tired too! Like a human child, they’re just unreasonable at that stage. Tire him out, put him to bed with a safe teething toy and turn out the lights mummy!


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

Normal Golden puppy behavior. I have two of them right now, 11 weeks old, who are exactly the same way. I have an x-pen attached to each crate, and I put them in their x-pens and let them calm down.


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## Wilcoxal195 (Jun 29, 2020)

We went through the same thing, only took a couple days before we got down a pattern that worked. We used to say that Cleo would suddenly turn into a demon dog! Lol 

So we basically made a habit of her getting some exercise at about 6 pm so we know she's gotten enough energy out and then if she got crazy we knew she was overtired. Noowe have a regular exercise pattern that works for her. So when Cleo gets like that (and she still does on occasion at nearly 5 months, just not nightly anymore) we know that she is overtired. Time for her to go in either the pen or the crate. Most of the time we just do bed time. She gets to be quite the wackadoodle when she's overtired. She will bark a few times when we put her in the crate and then she will just zonk out. 

I found that 12-14 weeks was the hardest period of her puppy hood. Cleo is a toddler about naptime and bedtime though, she doesnt like going to bed no matter what and she gets a little "cranky" when she's tired... aka turns into demon puppy. Lol She will literally be falling over sleepy and still try to stay awake and play. So we have to decide when bed time and nap time are for her. Just think of your puppy like a toddler.


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