My dog (pug/chihuahua? mix) is perfectly calm and still when I bathe him, but as soon as I get him out of the tub and start toweling him off, he seriously loses his shit, racing around the house and skidding into things like he’s possessed. Any clues about this behavior?
Our fox terrier does the same thing (despite being 14 years old).
“Zooming”. Our dogs do it too. I think it’s a combination of their relief at the bath being over and trying to dry off.
By the way, we picked up some dog washing towelettes last night, and used them to bathe our guys. Those things work surprisingly well.
Whatever it is, it’s not specific to dogs—my ferret does it too. Does this happen with any other domestic animal? Cats, perhaps? I’ve never had occasion to bathe a cat…
Oh, man, our normally laid-back dogs zoom, and zoom, take a break, then zoom some more.
We always say:
It’s relief at being released from the Waterboarding.
If they could talk, they’d be saying “Free at last, Free. At. Last!”
But there’s the factor of dry skin, too. One of ours spends an inordinate amount of freak out time rolling on his back. looks like he itches.
Our almost-two year old Chihuahua (male, ‘fixed’) does the exact same running around and jumping over/upon things as well. Usually lasts 5-10 minutes, and it seems like he has to burn off the energy he built up from the ‘stress’ of sitting still and being a ‘good-boy’ in tub. He maintains himself well enough, but I can tell he is not happy with bath. He tolerates the towel for maybe a minute before he must break free and run - often rubbing sides of his head/shoulders along couch cushions and such. If I don’t open up bathroom door, he’ll literally do little circles in the smallish bathroom and hit his head as I open it. Holding him in arms would be impossible with the wiggling he would definitely do.
The smile on his face is as big as I ever see it, even when he runs outdoors chasing something with glee, so I get the feeling he likes to run as an ‘energy release’ and post-bath time has him feeling ready to ‘release’ himself, so to speak. Its hilarious how he kinda whines with excitement as I lift him out of tub and set him on towel - then his first ‘shake-off’ builds in intensity and he ends up standing on his back legs hopping towards the door on other side of me. I’m used to it now, but the first time(s) were something else. We clear the floor of breakables nowadays 
He is probably just happy to be clean and free.
“damnit, it took me weeks to get my skin and smell just right - now I need to start all over again, better get a quick start at it”
No concrete information to add - our 5 month old puppy does the same thing.
My wife reacts in the same manner. Hopefully we’ll get a scientific answer.
I always assumed it was an attempt to get dried off, or that, as a chihuahua, sitting still for that long stores up a lot of extra energy.
And, yes, I have noticed that dogs don’t quite like to smell like what we consider clean.
Yes, every dog I’ve ever had does this. I like to think it’s because they just feel so good and clean after their bath!! But it’s probably an attempt to dry off.
Yes, I am pretty certain that they are running around looking for something stinky to roll in.
After a bath my dog gets on the bed and scootches around on her back until she kicks all the pillows on the floor and then settles into about an hour of continuous licking.
All my dogs have done this, too. A friend of mine thinks it’s because they’re all clean and happy, and they do seem happy. But I think it’s more an “OMG! What do I smell like? I should smell like A DOG. Instead I smell like butterflies and violets, AYEEEEEE.”
Fortunately I have only had one occasion where I had to bathe a cat. No idea what the cat did afterwards as we (he was a 7-week-old kitten, so it only took two of us) were busy with the bandaids and merthiolate.
We have two dogs. Sadie, 7, will go sit on her pad after a bath. Simone, 4, goes completely wild with zoomies, rocketing around the house. She doesn’t roll in anything; it seems to be a complete surrender to impulse.
She also does the same thing when being toweled off after rain.
As Max says in Where the Wild Things Are, let the wild rumpus begin!
We have zoomers as well. Both of our mixed breeds run around and roll after a bath. If bathed together it turns into a wild wrestling and chasing game. One of them adores the bath and loves to be toweled off, the other hates her bath and pouts.
All the dogs I have ever owned have done this. I think they get pent up while being bathed resulting in an adrenaline excitement rush when it’s finally over with.
It’s not necessarily a reaction to the bath, more a reaction to frustration. Our dog did this after having her ear drops put in. She was always very reluctant to lie down to have this done, and had to be gently held to prevent her from escaping. As soon as she was released she’d run around the house at full pelt. Then I had to do the other ear, and off she’d go again.
“I’m WET!! And I’m still HYSTERICAL!!!”