By Carol Besler-Snell on 04/30/2014
FRAP: Frenetic Random Activity Periods
What does it mean when your sweet, cute, gentle little pup suddenly shoots off the furniture, runs in circles, attacks any toy in sight, barks like mad, and generally acts like a little kook? It means your puppy is having a FRAP episode. That stands for Frenetic Random Activity Periods.
As dog trainer and author Brian Kilcommons points out in his book, Good Owners, Great Dogs, FRAP episodes are normal for puppies—most have them 2 or more times a day while the pup is growing. These little bursts help the pup burn energy and see what limits he can push (just as human toddlers experiment with their own autonomy).
While often adorable, it is important that owners don’t give too much positive attention to the pup for these FRAP episodes (such as laughing or playing with the pup as he charges by). He could interpret this as praise for this unruly behavior. The good news is that puppies DO grow out of FRAP in time! But even adult dogs have FRAP episodes sometimes. We can spur these on by giving the dog a quick “play bow” (bounce your arms down on the ground in front of him). Most dogs also have FRAP episodes after bath time!
Check out this link to learn more about FRAP:
http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/why-does-my-dog-race-through-my-house
Or look at this fun video of a corgi FRAPing at the dog park!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpM2UTX5TU
Do you have some fun FRAP moments to share? We would love to hear about them! Please add your comments below.
My dog does this after pooping lol we call it the poop crazies (for some reason). I don’t see a problem in indulging this “unruly behavior”. He’s not hurting or barking or biting or being destructive. Just running around being happy and playing with toys. I think it would be a shame to not encourage this behavior. I like my dog having a personality of their own. It’s a dog, not a soulless obedient robot. I feel bad when I see dogs trained so extensively that they don’t do anything unless their owner tells them to do it. Not saying that’s what you were suggesfing with the article, but it just vaguely reminded me of something that has always bothered me. Hope everyone reading and their pups are well 🙂
Bernedoodle Canine
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I thought Molly was just nuts ha ha its amazing how fast she moves and if she put that amount of energy into her agility classes she would be top of class.
Seamus ALWAYS has a FRAP after baths!! I thought it was just him celebrating his clean locks 😉
This is my first time go to see at here and i am genuinely happy to read
everthing at single place.
My Harlem FRAPs most every weekend and I love watching her.
Bucky does this every once in a while! Especially after baths. We thought he was just air drying. We call it his zoomies!
What an interesting blog post! My Frankie still FRAPs about once every day! I thought he was just being wacky! Thanks for the info!