8-9 month old cocker has suddenly turned into a teenager

[FlyMeToMars]

I'm just looking for tips on how to handle this and how long it will last

We have a lovely working cocker - he's always been energetic and I was doing the majority of the walking till the last 2 weeks when I got very busy with work and left dp to do the walking on his own. He has always charged around a lot but been very well behaved (good recall, good basic commands). Dp has been telling me he wasn't recalling which I thought might just be because he was not that used to Dp.

I took him out this morning for a long walk and he was absolutely abysmal. He was chasing birds (which he wouldn't normally do) and went so far away from me, he couldn't have been able to see me. When I finally managed to catch him, he slipped his collar (something he's never done!) and I had to take him home with a make do slip lead from his lead!

I thought it might be just a strange one off so I took him out to an enclosed space near me (on a long lead) and he was equally bad. Weirdly, his walking on lead, at the same time, has suddenly got better but I'm really worried about how I will exercise him now because there are lots of places (with cattle) that I will need to avoid and he is a dog that needs off lead running.

Obviously he's back on the long lead for now - but if yours went through this, how long did it take to come out the other end of it? Argh!

Up the brain work for your dog and increase your wine intake and this too will pass

Thanks Polly, that made me chuckle! Give me strength! I had managed to forget the teenage years with my last dog!

It's all back to basics once they hit that stage.

How long do you think it will last?

My dim memory says my last dog grew up around 18 months/2 but that's almost a year away!

No it will not be a year of this. The worst bit is when you suddenly realise and then you tend to go into management mode so it does not seem so bad again.

Ironically increase your interaction with your dog, give them loads of opportunities to succeed and cut down on the opportunities to be an idiot. Increase reinforcers for easier behaviours.

Dont let him lull you into thinking he needs hours and hours of off lead exercise to tire him out -he is a working cocker you will hardly ever tire out a working cocker by exercise alone.

Get him doing what he does instinctively so scenting and tracking even at home. Scent and search for everything he eats, loads of positive interactions with you -tuggy games, or flirt poles etc. No chasing ball games but he can scent the ball or have it pushed to him to retrieve when the ball is still.

Dont take his improved lead walking for granted at this age reinforce it often and really build up his ego and let him know how fab he is being.

Thanks that's really useful. Yes that's exactly how I feel (management mode!). Will adapt his activities and make sure I reinforce the lead walking as that alone makes him a much easier dog to handle.

Definitely normal! Our dog is 18 months now and has gone through stages of "forgetting" or more like ignoring everything he was taught. He's pretty reliable now but still has his moments!!

I pup went through the same at this age. It absolutely shredded my nerves. Get him back on a long line ASAP. The worst thing you can do is to keep letting him ignore you. We made this mistake, he did a runner on 3 or 4 occasions before we stopped letting him off lead. He's 19 months old now and he's still on a long line.

Thanks all. Did his evening walk on lead. He moaned a bit but I played some on lead games with him, did loads of praising of his good walking and came back and he's just as tired - was making him use his brain a bit more!

Will just need to re think our walking/games strategy while we sort this out!

Mine had to go back on the long lead around that age too (also wcs) - I think it lasted about a month and then his recall got good again. Then he discovered girls and it went to pot again until we got him neutered.

He shouldn't be having hours of exercise. He is 18 months old - it's supposed to be 5 minutes per every month of life until they reach maturity. Over exercising can damage their joints