Teenage puppy support thread ‘you’re not the boss of me now’

[GolightlyMrsGolightly]

Anyone else need a bit of support with adolescent dog? Ours is just having first season at 9 months. She’s being a bit of a mardy so and so and stopped listening.

[Speckledhen617]

I was walking along the canal today and a st Bernard came from the opposite direction. Dog went mad barking and growling at him. That's the first time he's reacted like that to another dog. His saving grace was his friendliness to other dogs. I despair!

[vodkaredbullgirl]

My younger lab keeps looking in the corners at night, then randomly barks.

[GolightlyMrsGolightly]

Ours is getting spooked by all sorts of things at the moment, including little children which she used to love. Nervy at dogs and got very barky. I'm hoping its just a stage.

[Wolfie11]

Can I join 🙂? Puppy is 7 months, he’s a very good boy most of the time but his hormones seem to be kicking in now. He’s cocking his leg all the time on walks and is more interested in some female dogs 🤦🏼‍♀️. Recall and general obedience is still good, although he’s followed a few joggers and gotten a little spooked by random things like traffic cones 🙄. He’s not the easiest breed so I’m expecting him to get more and more difficult from here on out until he’s like 2 😂.

[Helenluvsrob]

Joining here !
13mo CKCS. Lovely Lovely dog. BUT quite demanding when we eat tea - he wants all the attention in the evening 😂....; not lunch time though !)

His recall is fantastic in class / training / when he’s zooming around in the woods just with me , basically any situation it actually ain’t that important. Add an interesting dog or smell and no chance.

He has no insight into the fact that other dogs might not love him.

He is instantly heartbroken - crying , woofing refusing to move , basically screaming “ your are not my mum and I don’t want to go with you “ if anyone in the party leaves in a walk ( eg dh had his hair cut today ) .

I’m sure I’ll get that calm perfect dog one day. Doing a “ super recall” training class in October. I mean I have no fear I’ll loose him but no way am I “ sexier than a squirrel “😂

[muckandnettles]

Can I join please? My retriever is nearly 7 months old and is now much more interested in the wider world than what I am doing or saying to him. He's a lovely dog but is always on the alert for more interesting things happening when we are out and about - if he is off the lead he will dash off to other dogs. I'm sick of apologising for him to other dog owners. We started 'Total Recall' but didn't stick at it enough. Need to read it again...

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Billy I don't think he's ill there's nothing else to suggest he is anyway. We're actually seeing a vet this morning as he is having his boosters so will mention it.

He is still being a pain, as well getting me up over night (3am last night) he is getting more reactive to other dogs. On ystds walk he chased another dog (recall went out the window) and barked in a puppy's face 😫

We're seeing a trainer later today so will talk to her about all these issues. I suspect it's just his age though and possibly a hormone surge.

[GolightlyMrsGolightly]

The barking is getting painful. We need to start training as we are going to have building work soon and all that barking is going to be awful.

[Speckledhen617]

Can I join in too please? Our 12 month old is ticking off every problem in the adolescent dog manual. All training has vanished. I spent weeks training him to walk to heel, gone. I'm starting all over again but he's having none of it, he doesn't give a shit, all that matters to him is getting from a to b as quickly as possible.

Then there's the barking, at everything! He's in and out like a yo-yo, he goes bonkers at any post delivered, recall is zero. He tried to kill a sheep last week (see separate thread). He's just an absolute pain in the arsenal. For some strange reason we all love him dearly and he loves us. He does also settle well when left alone. Can't think of any other positives!

[vodkaredbullgirl]

My bratty lab pinch a homemade bread roll.She thought it was funny chasing her around the house.

[StillMedusa]

Mine's 15m old and following a horrible second season in which she became reactive to everyone and everything (slowly coming back to normal..bloody hormones) she has been a complete dick this week.
I'm back at school (TA) and she is sulking .

DS2 walks her in the morning after I've left and she took 25 minutes to get to the end of the street ( a 3 min walk) as she just kept lying down and refusing to budge. Then harrassed the cat. Then refused breakfast and has refused every day this week.
She's not left alone as DS2 works late shifts.. she's not abandoned.. she's STROPPING!

Oh and recall that went AWOL at 8 months is still very much 'I heard you... nope...'

And I just caught her clearing the cat food. She absolutely KNOWS she's not allowed.. but she just gave me the side eye and stalked off!

Git...

[BreathlessCommotion]

We need to sort out the barking. I was too complacent as our dog growing up never barked. This one barks at the door, at anyone walking past, a cat on the other side of the town etc etc.

She's had ear issues which probably haven't helped. She's far too big for a bottom step though, so maybe her bed.

[billybagpuss]

@Girliefriendlikespuppies

I could do with some support/reassurance! Our dog is now 15 months but seems to have regressed loads. He now wakes up most nights wanting a wee which is really annoying as he can easily go through the night and has done for months!

He has also decided to put the brakes on whenever there's another dog about and won't move for love nor money 🙄

Give me strength!!

How long has the night time wee been a problem? that might be worth a chat with the vet if its out of character, alternatively has anything changed, maybe a neighbour having a new outside light thats waking him up or something?

Also when you get up for him I'm sure you're not, but don't give him any attention etc. outside, wee back to bed.

Good luck

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

I could do with some support/reassurance! Our dog is now 15 months but seems to have regressed loads. He now wakes up most nights wanting a wee which is really annoying as he can easily go through the night and has done for months!

He has also decided to put the brakes on whenever there's another dog about and won't move for love nor money 🙄

Give me strength!!

[vodkaredbullgirl]

I hope it does too, with mine @rosesinmygarden

[rosesinmygarden]

Ours is 15 months are a complete pain in the area. She's our second dog and I do not remember it being this hard with the first!

She's reactive to all kinds of things and lately is just ignoring me. She can jump 6 feet in the air and gave dh a fat lip when she headbutted him by accident last week!

She's being spayed next week and I am praying it calms her down a bit!

[vodkaredbullgirl]

My 1 yr old lab is a pain in the arse most days, she wont leave her uncle alone. She is really bratty, barks at you for no reason. She has started to hump both my dds legs, hopefully next week when she gets done she will calm down. She is good at going for a walk, will come back when told (treats work)

She is asleep next to me, as butter wouldnt melt.

[billybagpuss]

As for how to do it, I think we started by an 'on your step' command, similar to teaching 'go to bed' and never open the door until she's on it. I teach from home so everyone is used to having to wait a couple of moments before I open the door.

[billybagpuss]

We've been using the step when people come to the door pretty much since we've had her, over 2 years now and it very quickly became habit when people came to the door, it gives her a focus and routine which collies particularly like, door knocks, she barks, then goes to step and stops.

With the calming herself, during lockdown she got really agitated with the increase in people, joggers, cyclists, dogs, hedgehogs etc outside so we started using it more, send her to the step, look out of the window to convince her all ok. It took a few weeks but she's much easier to calm down now. All with lots of treats of course.

[GolightlyMrsGolightly]

@billybagpuss. That sounds brilliant. How long did it take? And how did you do it?

[billybagpuss]

Is 2 1/2 year old teenage arsehole too old for me to join in too?

She is starting to settle but we still have so many issues, she’s reactive to bikes and runners, which we are working on so it is improving.

@GolightlyMrsGolightly re the barking at the door, one thing that we always did, that is turning out to be a real godsend is whenever anyone comes to the door we get her to sit on her step (the bottom of the stairs directly opposite the front door). She’d get treats and she isn’t allowed off until the person is inside and either gone to where they need to be or happy to say hello to her. I could never have anticipated how useful this has been, she’s been quite on edge during lockdown where more people are out and about, and need barking at, she will now go to her step to calm herself down. If someone is outside and she doesn’t like it, she’ll come and tell us and then wait on her step for us to have a look. This can be irritating when it’s a cyclist half a mile a way, but it’s reduced the barking massively.

[BorisandHarriet]

I should add he’s incredibly gentle, tolerates my kids and many friends playing with him and never growls or looks remotely aggressive towards any dog. He’s just an idiot in most respects. But he’s my idiot and I love him --more than-- as much I love my kids.

[BorisandHarriet]

Love my idiot to death but he’s scared of everything that isn’t scary, yet of course not scared of traffic or big psycho looking dogs or eating rancid shit. He thinks he can catch any bird anywhere so if off lead he legs it after them whilst leaping in the air and if on lead he leaps around twisting himself and almost breaking his own neck. Like @GolightlyMrsGolightly he has massive FOMO and follows us round expectantly waiting for something amazing to happen all day.

[GolightlyMrsGolightly]

Ours went a bit fearful around stuff that had never caused an issue before, ran off, was cranky (normally really gentle), and woofed and snapped at puppies she’s normally friendly with. All to do wth her being 8n season I think. She’s calming down now, it was only for a few days....

But there’s more on the way I think as hormones start surging.

[MrsTumbletap]

Mine is 7 months and she is fabulous, I'm dreading what is to come!

She sleeps well, her recall is good, and she rarely barks. She isn't a teenager yet is she? What's the worst bit about their teenage behaviour?