Does anyone fancy a teenage dog survival thread?

[MistySparrow]

Maybe the people on the puppy survival thread would like to hide this one! Anyone else got their hands full?

Wolf he is 6 month on the 11 May! Morning walk was good today now he is left at home while youngest ds is having a football party

Hello all, may I join please?

My Labrador is now 8 months old. I've found him difficult from the beginning, but just recently I started to find him easier - until the last few days.

I took the kids and dog to a local event today. Normally when he's out and about he's fine, and really friendly. Last week we went to a fun, community dog show and he was pretty much the best behaved in the arena. But today he was barking really aggressively at a few people for no reason that I could see - including a couple with a toddler, which I felt so guilty about! He's normally lovely with little ones and just sits there while they fuss him.

We headed home early as I was embarrassed and a man started talking to us, said he didn't mind the barking, had had labs in the past etc. Put his hand out and the dog jumped up and looked like he was trying to bite him! He's never done that before. Occasionally he growls at men who come to our house if he hasn't met them before, but shies away from them, and never tries to bite anyone (apart from me when he's playing!)

Then he got excited seeing a big St Bernard going into a front garden and I let him sniff it through the fence as he loves dogs and always wants to play with every dog he meets. But after a minute or so he started aggressively barking and jumping at the fence and I had to drag him away!

At home he's generally not too bad these days (though gets a bit manic if he hadn't had a good long walk) but recently every time a car pulls up outside, or neighbours open a gate, or passers by walk past talking, he starts barking really loudly and doesn't stop until the people have gone in or moved away! I try ignoring, saying shhh gently, telling him off, but nothing seems to make a difference!

I was just starting to enjoy taking him out and about as I was feeling confident to have him off his lead (though today he was always on the lead) and then today he was acting so uncharacteristically aggressive which really got me worried!

I maybe should mention that he is generally better behaved for my husband - I think he sees him as the 'alpha' of our pack so I don't know if he'd have barked when we were out today if my husband had been there. He does bark at people outside even if my husband is there, but I don't think it lasts as long.

Kitsandkids that sounds difficult. I have read somewhere that if you can teach your dog to bark on command you can then teach it to stop easily but my dog only barks at plastic bags in the wind and noises where he can't see who is making them so I have never looked into it in any depth.

Recall is my main issue at all the moment. The other behaviours I can tolerate although tonight made me laugh. We have a very nice rug that he likes to scratch and bite when he is having his mad moment and today I got up from the sofa to put him outside to stop him and he ran and jumped onto his bed to say 'it wasn't me, I wasn't doing anything'

Kitsandkids it's normal for young dogs to have another, fairly brief, fear period during adolescence and this generally manifests as reacting to people, objects or situations which they've previously been absolutely fine with. Just try and keep his experiences as positive as possible for the next few weeks and he should be back to normal as it passes.

Kikopup on YouTube has some excellent videos about teaching dogs not to bark at various triggers, they're well worth looking up.

Also, have a read of this article. Whatever the reason is that your dog behaves better for you DH, it's not because he's "the alpha"!!

Interesting article. Ok, maybe not the alpha but maybe his tone of voice or whatever makes the dog respect him more? Normally when my husband gets home the dog barks joyously, picks up a toy and presents it at the baby gate at the living room door, tail wagging furiously, waiting to be petted. Tonight he went into his crate and stayed there silently until my husband called him out. My husband claims this is because the dog knew his behaviour earlier was unacceptable and was ashamed of himself. But would an 8 month old pup really think like that hours later?!

It is heartening to hear that this phase of being aggressive/scared when around other people or dogs should be short lived. I really hope so!

My husband also theorised that perhaps the dog is barking at people/dogs when my husband's not there because he thinks they might be a threat to me and the kids and feels like it's his place to 'protect' us with my husband not there.

Kitsandkids my dog behaves differently with DH and me. He actually knows I tend to keep to the rules and DH is the 'soft touch' so will act up more for DH. So I think dogs just behave differently to family members as we all interact with them differently.

I doubt your dog was ashamed, probably just out of sorts if you know what I mean. If my DDog has had a terrible day his behaviour tends to be erratic, sometimes more clingy or quiet etc. I just put it down to hormones as I think I read during these months testosterone is way higher now then when they reach full adulthood.

I have noticed my 8month pup is a bit more jumpy recently, she has been a very confident pup up to this point and is still confident just a bit more aware of her surroundings.

Kitsandkids, you mention in your fist post that you have always found your pup difficult. I suspect that you and pup are influencing each other and your feelings are traveling up and down the lead. I had a reactive dog and he turned me into a nervous wreck, I made him worse because I was nervous and he made me more nervous he was a different dog with DH because he remained calm and nothing phases him. I can see this now with hind sight but at the time I couldn't see why I was having such a hard time, I wish I could go back and fix the mistakes I made. I have since learnt as much as I can find on dog behaviour and body language and been to a lot of training as I don't want to make the same mistake with pup. (This is just my experience and I'm making a massive assumption about your situation).

I would recommend the Facebook page dog trading and vice and support as they are amazing and far more qualified than me

Hello everyone. Is this the right place for moral support & advice for a 12-18 month dog? Our new rescue dog should be arriving tomorrow. We are very excited & nervous as hell.

She's lived in a home & is house trains but not had any obedience training yet so that's our first priority. She can walk on a lead but won't be going off lead for a long time as she'll have no recall.

This is our first dog, although both had dogs growing up, so it's all very new. But massively exciting!

InterruptingGiraffe hope everything goes well for tomorrow. Is DDog a big breed?

Not a large breed, she's a small mixed cross. Possibly terrier background.

Hopefully then you are over the teenager daft stage and can concentrate on getting the obedience and recall training underway. Let us know how you get on and good luck with new DDog.

Well another rubbish walk. Spent most of it on lead given that he actually deliberately ran away from me despite calling and whistling him. Lead walking from now on until his selective deafness stops.

That's a shame Bitey, pup has been really good for a few days so we are probably building up to something properly naughty . I have bought a dog whistle as I can't whistle and I felt like a mad woman screening her name across the fields. It's working really well except that pups interpretation of "come immediately!" seems quite different to mine

Whistles are good, at least in theory they can hear you a long way away. Glad you pup has been good, fingers crossed for staying that way

The silver lining is that he is now really good at home and either we are managing his odd bitey time better or it is subsiding.

I have just ordered a retractable lead for the forest walks. My heart won't stand another moment like today. I am now hunting on google for open land near me which is quiet (less foresty) so I can take him there off lead to keep practicing recall. The problem with dense forest is he runs away and you can't even see the direction he has headed for

Our normal winter walks are fast disappearing as summer season approaches - no more miles of windswept empty beaches, they are now full to bursting with dog walking tourists. Don't get me wrong we need our tourists, it's just I have switched to forest walks recently and need to find some more quiet options. I had to smile on Sunday whe were on the beach and mobbed by a very freindly teenage spaniel who had no intention of obeying his owners who were miles away and a wee bit stressed. All I could think was thank god it's not me this time .

Yes that is the downside of summer.

In winter it is only the hardened dog walkers you see out and about

I don't know where or how I came across it but Naughty but Nice Dogs on Facebook has really helpful games to help with recall, selective deafness etc.

I have been doing the games a couple of times a day now with my dog for the last 10 days or so and took the dog on a walk today and he ignored all other dogs and humans and came back to check in with me constantly.

I really feel like we've turned a corner - it's made a huge difference

Our dog is here. She has followed me around a lot. Looked freaked out a bit. Cautiously sniffed the kids and been much more interested in them when they ate dinner.

She went in her crate ok when I had to leg it to do the school run. Took breaking out the really good treats though. No barking (I left the iPad on record) or whining.

She looks a bit lost, bless her. I am completely in love.

Giraffe, that is so sweet. Does ddog have a name yet?

Pup escaped through an open gate this evening thanks to teenage son and high tailed it up the road to cavort with strangers luckily one of the strangers brought her back by which time she was so over excited nothing would induce her to enter the house. Last time she did this she was gone for the longest three quarters of an hour of my life. Dear teenage son found her having the time of her life in a garden full of gnomes. I'm not sure my nerves can cope with this.

wolf it's nerve-racking looking after these dogs. I need to try and diet but the stress is making me eat more

giraffe glad today has been good.

I have applied to join naughty but nice thanks for the tip Jiggly. I am on so many Facebook dog groups now!

Pup just apologised with a big sloppy kiss all over my glasses, I love her so much it would kill me to lose her. I thought all the walking would help with weight loss but like you Bitey, I just eat more to help with the stress.

My pup is currently rampaging around the living room squeaking his toy duck.

To be fair to him he's been pretty good the last couple of days. A man he's never met before came to the house today and he went up to him in a friendly manner to be stroked.

He's also been quite chilled most of the day, which is nice.

But, my husband has been off work and is back tomorrow so he'll probably be a little horror for me then!

Oh dear Wolf how scary! our one is still pulling to chase cars now and again and I would be terrified if he ran off near a road ! Our road has hedges on either side so before we get to the park and he sees a car through the hedges he is desperate to chase it

Yokopup is getting bitey again in the evenings! and still so jumpy, not so much with me as I don't give him any fuss until he has four paws on the floor but the kids don't seem to follow that so much....or husband for that matter grrr

Other than that I am doing my best to avoid all the dog parties that seems to be going on in our park at the moment! they are all lovely but I just don't want his walks to be playing with other dogs..

Haven't been on the thread for a while... DPup was bitten really nastily by a lurcher while playing chase on bank holiday Monday. Stitches and a drain inserted under sedation and he's still on antibiotics. He's recovered well, but is still only allowed on short lead walks.

He's driving us mad because he's so bored though - does anyone have any tips as to how to keep him occupied in the house? He's used to two hour-long runs a day, now he's getting 2 15 minute lead walks...