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?

Yoko similar issue here with BiteyPup. I have to manage his evenings so he doesn't start biting my feet or chewing big holes in his bed. I found that shoving him out of the room and shutting the door seems to bring him back to nice dog again but it's so tedious as I can set my watch by his evening tantrum.

tkband3 that sounds awful, poor dog. Hope he makes a quick recovery.

Can you hide food or balls around the house and garden and get him to sniff them out? Or a really hard food puzzle game?

Another one here who was hoping that all the walking would make me lose some weight ! I'm sure I have consumed more than normal in the last few months - although I had an excuse yesterday as it was poodle boy's 1st birthday . He celebrated it by being very naughty at home - running off with things and chewing them - but angelic with his 'aunties' in the park (we have 3 elderly friends who all dote on him!).
Kitsandkids our boy very definitely went through a second fear stage around the 9-10 month mark - barking at small children and growling if they approached him (lost count of the number of times we found ourselves saying 'sorry, he's not good with young children'!). He still doesn't love them but does now ignore them and appears to have decided that younger children WITH A DOG are ok and can stroke him (but will still run away from other young children!!).
I reckon hormones have a big part to play at this age - some days he's very affectionate and parks himself right next to one of us; other days, he's quite bitey and a bit hyper. The very annoying habit of jumping up and biting at clothes has re-appeared - and his recall is shite!

tkband3 how awful! You posted while I was typing my last post so I hadn't seen it. I hope the experience doesn't make him scared of other dogs that size - poodle boy was almost flattened by a large black lab in the New Forest a couple of weeks ago and is still wary of large dogs, esp black ones. Could you use the time at home to do some extra training? We did lots with a clicker over the winter when the weather was too bad for long walks

Thanks bitey - he is recovering well, and doesn't seem to be affected by his experience, although DH and I are going to be a bit nervous when he starts playing chase again.

I think one of those hide the treat puzzle games would be a great idea - I have to go to Pets at Home later so will see if they have one...

This thread is making me feel better. I was prepared for the teenage stage but when you are in the thick of it is can be so depressing to see all your hard work disappear even if you know it's only temporary until the hormones settle

Bitey I know exactly what you mean! You can feel so proud of your pup (and yourself) and then it all goes pear-shaped again! We thought poodle boy had got over his phase of coming for a stroke and then randomly snapping at your hand but he did it to me yesterday, little sod! And his latest trick is jumping onto the coffee table and refusing to get down until someone produces a ball.......blimey, it's hard work some days

I felt really incompetent too for ages so it's nice to hear other people are struggling too (in a misery loves company way).

Indoor games - treat puzzles are good but also we hide food/toys/etc in a room and then let the dog in to find them. That can go on for ages. Any kind of game/learning a new trick/skill will occupy his brain and tire him out actually.

For something more physical, if he's up for it, we stand at the top and bottom of the stairs and throw treats up and down them!

I hadn't thought about hormone surges but makes sense I suppose when you have a few good days and then a bad one. Today is a bad one. After consistently good recall for several weeks now she shot off this morning in the middle of a very large apple orchard and came back after about five mins soaking wet. DH and I both puzzled since never seen any water there. She hasn't settled properly all day just wants to shoot about the garden getting hot and bothered. Do any of you have a routine for settling or just let them sleep if they want to. On days like today I wish we hadn't got rid of the crate😕

I use a crate if it is obvious he needs to calm down and won't otherwise I throw him a dried cows ear and shove him out in the garden to run around and munch on (he loves them so channels his inner madness on eating his prize )

Sorry to hear about the lurcher attack, poor dog.

I have training to look forward to, we start next month. She seems bright so hopefully will take to it. Or it might work the other way and she just stands there refusing to do what she's told because why should she?

Still going ok so far. She is following me a little less today and decided to have a sleep on her bed in the kitchen. I think she's a bit bored. Tomorrow I will try a short walk along the street so she can get used to that. We are working our way up to the park!

I tried stuffing a Kong with peanut butter and treats for her to keep her occupied, but I don't think she likes peanut butter as she wasn't at all bothered.

So far the Lego has seemed very interesting, more tidying up required! She also nicked one of the soft toys which I removed from her. I might need to go and buy her one of her own. Tempting as it is to just donate one of the twelve million that live here, presumably a dog specific one is slightly harder wearing?

I meant say how sorry I was about the lurcher attack too - how horrible :(

Dog soft toys are no more hard wearing in my experience sadly!

As I suspected, with my husband out my pup's being much more 'naughty.'

I took him on a walk to take the kids to school this morning but he hated them going ahead on their bikes and spent the whole time pulling on the lead and whining.

Then I took him home and put him in his crate for a few hours because I had to go out. Then he was with me in the house until school pickup time and wasn't too bad. A bit of wandering about instead of settling, but ok.

Then after school I put him in the yard and he wanted to come straight back in. 10 minutes later he wanted to go back out and was out there without whining to come back in so I was pleased. Then my eldest appeared holding my youngest's new ball (that had been out of the dog's reach out there) to show us the dog had popped it. Cue tears from youngest. I said it must have rolled onto the ground so the dog thought he could have it so we couldn't be cross about that (to be honest I'm a bit suspicious that my eldest might have given it to the dog!).

Then since being back in the house he grabbed my DBS check from where I hadn't realised a. He could reach or b. My husband had left it and tried to run away from me. Thankfully when I told him to 'get in your bed!' sternly, he went in the crate for a 'timeout' and dropped the form when I reached for it. He's also been a bit bitey in a playful way, which it's hard to get him to stop once he gets in a bitey mood. Roll on 8.30pm when my husband should get home!

Argh - spent the day getting ours in and out if the garden due to barking. I know I need to train an alternative behaviour bla bla bla, but it's all so labour intensive.

MistySparrow the good news is the puppy/teenage period is relatively condensed, the bad news is you have to try and fit so much into the first few years

It's bloody hard work and relentless but fortunately I get a break when mine is in day care as he has had all his walks and is tired, although he has just been trying to help me weed the garden

Ok. Today did get worse. Afternoon walk through the woods cos it's cool and her favourite place, Cocopup runs off again only for a few mins and then returns BUT has totally ignored the whistle, shouts and squeaky ball. Our walks have been so lovely recently with her running about excitedly but keeping me in view...I really thought we had got there. I congratulated her politely on arrival but no treat, straight on lead and back home ( we had only been gone five minutes) I got the long line back out of shed and we resumed our walk. Wow, did she know she was in doghouse. Even when I let the line go she stayed within a few feet of me. Not what I want though, I want her to explore and run but come back to call or whistle. Feeling very frustrated tonight as I have put in loads of training over last four months and really thought we were getting somewhere! I think we are back to open areas where I can see her and keep going with training.

Thanks for the ideas for keeping DPup entertained. I got him one of those hide the treat puzzles today and he's loved that - although he barked at it when he got frustrated . I also got him a big marrowbone, which kept him entertained for a good while! He can also go on walks on the lead now, so he's had a couple of those today and has loved it - and I've been pleasantly surprised that he hasn't pulled me all round the park . Hopefully once he's allowed off the lead again, he won't forget all his recall training!

Cocobananas it's horrible isn't it. My mood was very low yesterday with DDogs behaviour. Fortunately feeling much better today and DDog has been lovely.

The problem I have is that on a line he would be 100%. On the walk he came back immediately for all the recalls (having to keep him close due to hunting urge) but then suddenly decided not to.

I was thinking the other day that I can understand actually why lots of dogs around this age are rehomed if you don't understand what is happening and why.

tkband3 glad DPup has had a good day. Mine doesn't bark when he is frustrated (often gets his kong wobbler jammed under something) but comes to me and gives a 'help me' look

Bitey, how often do you give your pup a kong, when and why , if you don't mind me asking?

I use a kong wobbler for his dry kibble twice a day on most days as he just doesn't want to eat food from his bowl. The stupid thing is if I put his food in his bowl he looks at the food in disgust and then watches me pour the same dry food into his wobbler which he then proceeds to eat from. I have no idea why it tastes better from the wobbler than the bowl

Oh I haven't seen those! Dog rarely eats from his bowl but will eat if I sprinkle his food on the floor. I don't always have time tho S o that might be a solution!

JigglyTuff I had the small one when he was a tiny puppy but now use a large one as I often bypass the bowl as it's usually a waste of time. Think they are around £10 from Amazon.

Thanks Bitey - will have a look. He is currently (grudgingly) eating food out of his bowl but he won't eat much (and then the rest of it gets revoltingly soggy where his slobbery chops have been all over it)

Bitey our behaviourist said exactly that - that the period from around 7 months up to something over a year is when the highest number of dogs are rehomed - and I think we can all see why!! Poodle boy was awful last night - jumping up at the dining table and computer desk to try to get to stuff (our stuff, not his!). Managed to make off with a list I needed and had shredded half of it before he decided to relinquish it for a piece of chicken . He then decided to see if he could squeeze himself behind me onto the chair at the computer desk, while I was sitting on it, and promptly started trying to eat the paperwork that's filed in magazine files right next to the desk. Took no notice of me telling him 'off' and when I lifted him off the chair to stop him shredding several months worth of my payslips, he snapped at my hand and caught me on the knuckles. I'm quite sure he didn't intend to bite me but he did draw blood - cue lots of swearing and I have to say, it was one of those moments when I really wondered why we had got a dog! It's still so stressful sometimes - he was a nightmare the whole evening yesterday but has been as good as gold this morning
Courage, everyone! We'll get there!! (helped along by quite a lot of in my case!