05/07/2026
Let’s talk about puppy witching hour behavior and what’s actually happening in the brain.
A lot of puppies, especially working and herding breeds, tend to absolutely lose their minds in the evening hours. Owners usually describe it as zoomies, or FRAPs (Frenetic Random Activity Periods), biting, launching off furniture, grabbing clothes, leash biting, sprinting laps around the house, barking, inability to settle, and generally behaving like a tiny furry crackhead.
And while it can be funny or downright destructive, there’s actually a pretty logical neurological explanation for it.
First, dogs are crepuscular animals, meaning they naturally tend to be most active around dawn and dusk. So some amount of increased evening energy is completely biologically normal. You’re seeing part of the dog’s natural rhythm and activity cycle.
But then we layer puppy development on top of that.
By nighttime, puppies have spent the entire day taking in environmental stimulation, new information, frustration, excitement, movement, social interaction, training, sensory input, and physical fatigue. The problem is that puppies don’t regulate this overwhelming amount of input well.
An overtired puppy does not become calm.
So when many folks say things like, “You just need to tire the puppy out more,” it’s often actually the reverse. We’ve done too much. The puppy has napped too little.
The nervous system is still developing. Impulse control is poor, emotional regulation is immature, and the ability to self-soothe is limited. As fatigue builds throughout the day, the puppy’s ability to regulate arousal starts to fall apart.
That’s why evenings often come with harder biting, lower frustration thresholds, frantic engagement, explosive energy, and general inability to settle. What owners are often seeing as “psychotic behavior” is really a combination of fatigue, overstimulation, adrenal overload, teething discomfort, and a nervous system that’s struggling to shut down.
Teething can make this significantly worse because now you have oral discomfort layered on top of neurological fatigue. The result is often what people refer to as the “land shark phase.”
Working breeds can be especially dramatic because many of these dogs are genetically predisposed.
I see comments constantly:
“You need to correct that.”
“You need stronger boundaries.”
“You need to stop the behavior.”
I’m a NePoPo® trainer. But even I cannot layer in positive punishment on a dog that has only learned through positive reinforcement. You cannot punish a dog in a language that it does not understand.
Right now, the consequence available to me is negative punishment. If the behavior becomes too intense, the training session ends. Access to me ends. The flow of kibble stops. The puppy goes in the kennel to decompress and sleep.
That is still consequence-based learning.
But adding physical punishment or harsh corrections to a puppy that is neurologically overloaded and underdeveloped just creates conflict and confusion. The puppy is not sitting there making calculated decisions to ruin your life or turn you into a human pincushion. The nervous system is dysregulated, arousal is too high, and the dog is struggling to self-regulate appropriately.
Sometimes the appropriate answer is:
“You’re exhausted. It’s time to disengage and go take a nap.”
And honestly, there is a genetic component to this. Some dogs are simply predisposed to having lower thresholds. Skye, for example, has intense witching hour behavior regardless of exercise, engagement, and the number of naps she’s had throughout the day. Part of it is simply nervous system maturity. She should grow out of it (hopefully) with time and grace.
So no, we’re not going to layer in positive punishment on behavior the puppy genuinely cannot neurologically control, because all that would do is damage our relationship with her and damage her ability to trust her handler.
We have to be the cool heads in this situation. We have to handle it logically and give her the room and space she needs to grow and develop into an intelligent, well-balanced Malinois.
Credit: Thank you Danielle Scharle , this is so well put I had to share it!
Pictures for attention
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