17 month old pup suddenly doing as he's asked

[Chevron383]

It's like someone's just flipped a switch in him. He waits at doors, he comes when he's asked, he all of a sudden understands DSs name and can find him when asked to, same with DH, he knows sit, down, he's stopped begging at the table, if he's got something that he shouldn't have and you say drop he holds it gently and let's you remove it from his mouth instead of running around with it like a loon, he's leaving the cats alone, he's not barking as much outside.

It's freaking me out! I've been exasperated by him for months and months and I've actually thought he wasn't very bright as nothing we were trying to teach him was singing in.

Still lots to work on-loose lead walking, horrible recall (he's been on his lead for a couple of months now as we went back to basics with recall and nothing was working. My nerves couldn't handle it anymore!) and some reactivity when we're out to young male dog, motorbikes and buses.

Not sure of the point of this post really but if you're struggling with an adolescent dog than don't give up hope!

[Clymene]

Well done! It's a great feeling isn't it?

[Shieldingending]

Gives me hope, I love my boy but at 10 months I sometimes feel we’re going backwards with training!

[Chevron383]

Sorry I meant to post this in doghouse, I've asked for it to be moved .

There's been times when I've really disliked him, he'd just sit there looking at me as if to say 'fuck off 😄

[DawnMumsnet]

We're moving this thread over to The Doghouse for the OP

[pigsDOfly]

How lovely. It's the best feeling when they become civilised; the relief is enormous when all the hard work starts to pay off.

My dog is nearly 10 years old now and I still have moments when I think, 'yes, we really 'get' each other now'.

[Chevron383]

Its a huge relief especially as we're first time puppy owners (we've only ever had elderly rescues before now). I really thought we'd broken him! It's been a rough 8 months! I just hope it continues.

[GhostPepperTears]

This is why everyone with teenage dogs must just be consistent, perserverent and Keep The Faith.

You care for the puppy.
You curse the adoloscent.
You meet the adult on the other side of teenage and the real love affair begins.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

Lucky you.

[nightshade1]

Now if he could just have a word with my 3yr old delinquent lab that would be great.
Well done OP glad it's dropping into place.

[PuppyFeet]

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

Lucky you.

I’m with you there... but this thread gives me hope... long hope, but hope!

[Chevron383]

Yes don't lose hope! I remember writing on here that he was ticking off every problem behaviour a dog could have. At one point it was something new each week.

I'm still eyeing up all the lovely dogs trotting alongside their owners on country walks while ours drags us about on his lead, he's really put us through the ringer with his recall and I'm not sure I'll ever have the confidence to let him off. I think I need to just do a few minutes at a time. I worked so so hard over the late summer with him and it all went to shit, I was getting so anxious on walks waiting for him to bolt that I just couldn't do it anymore so he's permanently on lead which is far from ideal.

[pigsDOfly]

Recall was the biggest problem I had with my dog during her teenage phase and she was on a long trailing lead for months and months to get us through her adolescent refusal to recall.

It took me some time before I felt confident enough to remove the lead and trust her to come back to me. However, I kept working on it and once I felt confident enough to remove the trailing lead her recall was totally reliable.

Obviously I can't tell you that you will eventually be able to trust your dog to recall successfully, but you've put in the hard work so it seems highly likely that, like everything else, it will all click into place and his recall will return.

[ChocolateHelps]

First time puppy owner here too...he's now 15 months old. His breed is known for high prey drive and rubbish recall so over the summer he was on a long 10m lead, lots of practice. Then on a much shorter trailing lead u....up until the last 2 weeks.

His walk today on the common today was brilliant! Completely off lead and he came back on the 3 occasions he was playing chase with another dog, it was a joy!

Still working on 'wait' but that's getting pretty good.

Only really bad behaviour is when anyone else comes in the house. We got him in January last year so we went into lockdown at quite a key stage of his development. He's great outdoors with other people but dreadful resource guarding if anyone comes in the house. Can't really practice right now!

[Chevron383]

Chocolate-ours has a high prey drive too, when he gets onto the scent of something his recall disappears and he bolts. He's only ever gone for 5 mins but it feels like a really long time. When I'm feeling up for the challenge again I'm going to get a really long trailing line.

He went through a fear stage with strangers in the house, we saw a behaviourist about it but unfortunately we haven't been able to put anything into practice due to lockdown.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

I’m with you there... but this thread gives me hope... long hope, but hope!
I have a three-year-old as well. She is (mostly) delightful. She is however forgetting her recall, so we're about to start revising that.

[ArabellaScott]

Wow. Hoping very much this happens to ours [through gritted teeth].

[SchoolNightWine]

Aww, he's growing up🐶🥰
Well done for persevering - sounds like your hard work is paying off!

[MsMarvellous]

When does our Dalmatian reach this point 🤣