Have a blip, please reassure me

[opalescent]

My working cocker spaniel puppy is now 8 months old. I found the very early days really, really hard, but as time went on, started to really enjoy my dog. We seemed to find a routine, and really get to know each other.

I really delight in walking her, training her (she's SO bright 😍), and cuddles in the evening, once she's tired and finally starts to settle.

In the last week though, her already high energy levels seem to have rocketed, and I feel back in a phase where it all feels really hard work. Could this be hormones/teenage stuff?

A typical day includes 2/3 walks, of a total of around 2hrs. Lots of off lead, and some lead waking, to include lead walk training.

I give her food on a licki mat for enrichment.

She has long last chews, and scent games at least once a day. I crate her for naps after walks.

I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that we will get there. She's a lovely dog, and is doing so well. The reality though, is that I need to get with other things, and cannot devote all day to her.

8 months old is hitting the peak difficult teenage phase but this but stood out

I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that we will get there. She's a lovely dog, and is doing so well. The reality though, is that I need to get with other things, and cannot devote all day to her.

You don't need to devote your day as they need to learn to switch off and settle.

Thanks @BiteyShark I think there's definitely something in that. I do struggle with constantly worrying that she's bored, in a way that my husband definitely does not!!!

A typical day includes 2/3 walks, of a total of around 2hrs. Lots of off lead, and some lead waking, to include lead walk training.

That's a LOT of exercise for a young puppy, especially when you combine it with scent games and training.

She is entering her teenage phase, but honestly it sounds like she's hugely over-stimulated. How much sleep does she get? Have you ever done anything to teach her to settle down without you?

She's definitely at the age where you could be starting to see the start of adolescence, which is reassuring in a way to know it wont last forever.
You're already doing so much great stuff with her, and I agree with you and @BiteyShark that you can't make your whole live revolve around her and she does need to learn to settle.
However, you also want to make sure her needs are being met during this time when her energy levels increase. I would say that brain work where they really have to think is more exhausting than physical exercise so make sure that the training sessions you are doing are stretching her capabilities, if she's finding them do-able but challenging then she'll be more knackered by them. Equally with the scent games, you may already do this but you can make scent work increasingly difficult so you're hiding stuff in all rooms of the house, on shelves/chairs etc so it's different heights, hide food behind or underneath things so she has to work out how to access it.

Something that you may find really useful if you haven't done this already is to deliberately teach her to settle, this is something that can be really useful with the really switched on dogs that want to be busy. You could do this whilst you're watching TV in an evening. Dogs Trust have an explanation of how to help her realise that just chilling out by herself can be rewarding here www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/training/settle-training

So something interesting happened this week that might be relevant to OpalPup. My female GR has always been very high energy but the last couple of weeks has been particularly bonkers. Pulling, bouncing, mouthing again, just a bloody nightmare.

This week her littermate went into heat at 7 months, which is quite early for a golden. Mine is now showing signs of also going into heat....gone off food, dropping her coat all over the house, clingy (for her, she isn't normally).... Has your dog had a season yet?? Cos that might explain the behavioural challenges!.

Lots of good advice here, but also remember to train the dog you want. If you don’t want an athlete, don’t make her one. 2 hours walk one day might tire her out, but will just make her fitter in the long run.
Maybe try shorter walks, but finishing them with a training session to mentally work her and then finish with some steadiness/impulse control work.
She might enjoy some scent work or gundog skills as well?

@Goawayangryman

So something interesting happened this week that might be relevant to OpalPup. My female GR has always been very high energy but the last couple of weeks has been particularly bonkers. Pulling, bouncing, mouthing again, just a bloody nightmare.

This week her littermate went into heat at 7 months, which is quite early for a golden. Mine is now showing signs of also going into heat....gone off food, dropping her coat all over the house, clingy (for her, she isn't normally).... Has your dog had a season yet?? Cos that might explain the behavioural challenges!.

I did wonder you know! Opalpup hasn't had her first season yet, so it's due any time I guess!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply, I really do appreciate it. I will definitely take a look at the settle training.

My WCS is 11 months old and has just been through her first season, from memory she became a bit more full on in the weeks leading up to it and it went on for nearly 4 weeks, which was a right pain for her as she couldn't have off lead walks. We also moved house/had covid/did Christmas so the turn of the year was a blur...but she has really got into her groove again now and is a total joy, and is also sleeping for longer at night. Hang in there and look out for her going into heat.