Is naughtiness in adolescence inevitable?

[NormaLouiseBates]

As the title says really! My 9 month old Labrador is only our second dog so my experiences are quite limited. At the moment she is an absolute joy to walk, her recall is solid (she's whistle trained), she has almost zero interest in other dogs and people and she never strays far. I've been reading a lot about the dreaded teenage years but I can't find anything that confirms or not whether ALL dogs will forget all their training and turn into absolute horrors!

Is it possible that she might stay as she is or is it only a matter of time and should I be preparing myself?

No not all dogs turn into idiots during the teenage stage.

Keeping up with consistent training helps a lot.

The teenage years are definitely a thing, but being prepared for them definitely helped us. It's something to do with hormones etc at certain points in their development, just like toddlers and teens. Our labradors were both bonkers and seemed to forget everything they knew almost overnight.

My last dog sailed though although she was a rescue and quite shut down when she came to us so I’m not sure what impact that had.

Current pup is a sod. We’ve kept up with the training and managed what we can’t rely on and hope she comes out the other side.

I agree. In a well balanced and well trained dog, there will be "moments", but that is generally the worst you will get. Having the naughty adolescent doesn't mean you have failed, just that you need to double down on some training. But it isn't all dogs. I have a PTSD assistance dog, so emotions and emotional maturity are important, so he's got a different type of temperament than, say, a seeing dog. He's 8, adolesence was 98% fine, but even now there's a couple of times a year when he tries a bit of boundary checking. Nothing serious, but intelligence can come at a price.

I missed the category at first and thought you meant teenagers 😂

My lab was an absolute sod from about 7-18m and everyone I've spoken to said similar. I think it's common but not inevitable

Mine was a rehoming- a very delayed start
Age approx 3 seems to be his teenage regression!

Most dogs turn back into assholes in adolescence. Very few escape the phase.

Wishing I'd just read this reply and none of the others 😂

My whippet wasn’t an arsehole. He chewed one shoe (our fault for leaving it lying around) and he was full of beans but he was a lovely fellow throughout, always trying hard to get it right.

We didn't really have any teenage regression with our older lab, I'd say she steadily improved from 8 months onwards. Waiting to see with the next one (nearly 7 months)

Mine was a pretty good teenager. Just chewed and made a mess when I left her during her "teenage" years. I never left her for longer than 3/4 hours but she definitely let it be know she wasn't happy!

My beagle was a little shit during adolescence - he was a dream puppy though!

While I don't think it's inevitable I also don't think what happens during adolescence is solely down to training (or lack of it). Hormones, personality, lifestyle and a good old dose of luck play a part too.

I know lots of people who've raised multiple dogs the same way and some have been a dream but others total horrors.

My mini poodles never seemed to have a teenager phase!

My small breed dog really only got difficult about letting me put her back on the lead. Other than that she wasn't too awful.

She'd come when called, so recall was still good, but would run off again as soon as I reached for her; it was very definitely a teenage disobedience thing.

I eventually put her on a long trailing lead so I could catch her and just kept on with consistent recall training.

Eventually, we got through it and recall has been consistent ever since - she's 12 years old now.

Sounds like it's luck of the draw then! We shall see what the next few weeks and months bring! She such an absolute joy to walk at the moment, I feel sad at the thought of losing that... which is silly I know.

Assume your pup is going to go doolally dip and double down on the training, reinforce everything and don't give an inch. Our younger lab was less idiotic than his mum because we did this.

I was lucky with my last two Labs, but number three has definitely pushed the boundaries. So it isn't inevitable.

Yeah, the sudden loss of recall is a humbling experience for most owners of teenage labs.

I still have nightmares as it involved a broken bone, dry cleaning bill and abject humiliation. All mine. She thought it was wonderful and spent the next six months in a battle of wills until one day she woke up and asked to be friends again.

I feel like this story needs elaboration 😂

(Note - not laughing at the broken bone bit obv!)