Teen dog thread

[Unluckycat1]

Is there any appetite for a thread for owners of adolescent dogs? I think at 11 months Unluckypup has outgrown the puppy thread, but I'd love to keep chatting with others as she's my first dog and I don't know what I'm doing sometimes, or if things will get better.

Inspired by today's battle to get her back on the lead 😫

Her recall vanished at around nine months. But there's a decent fenced field nearby so all good. She's probably part saluki so needs a hard run most days. Although she wasn't (outside of the house) responding to her name or 'come' anymore, I would make myself interesting by being quite active, having treats, and she would check in with me often, and most of the time get a treat for her trouble, and eventually I'd pop her back on the lead to go.

Except today she would not come close. She seemed to want me to chase her and was dancing about just out of reach. She was also chasing every single car that went past as if possessed, which is new. I managed to eventually trick her by putting a YouTube video of squeaky ball sounds on my phone, hiding my phone in a bush, and grabbing her when she was investigating, but I doubt that'll work twice. She did the same to my partner the other day and it took him an hour and a half to get her back. So I guess no off-lead time now, until...who knows??

Anyone been through this and reached the well-behaved other side? Anyone want to pour a glass of wine with me because they're going through similar? Feel free to share any hardships or successes or tips 🙏(and photos!)

Who do you use for insurance? Just had a renewal quote and it has nearly trebled! Not sure what to do as he has had a couple of visits for an upset stomach so if I change I guess that might not be covered…:(

@Gizlotsmum we're with sainsburys. It's gone up but not by loads, and that's with a pay out for an expensive Christmas eve mince pie incident. Tripled after one year is shocking :(

We have had 4 claims, one for removal of a grass seed under ga, but yeah. Might need to look at reducing cover. Worried if we change because we have been seen for Gastro issues that will not be covered ☹️

Hoping to gain some wisdom or a handhold so bumping this thread - our 11 month old golden retriever has gone into textbook teenage phase, recall gone, obsessed with birds, obsessed beyond reason with other dogs, pulling on the lead again, absolutely bonkers. The vet said they won't consider neutering until 18 months. He really doesn't seem motivated by treats or toys at the moment and just loses his head the moment he sees a bird or another dog.

He is around DH all day at work, but we thought he needed more focused exercise, socialisation and training - we were sacked a few months ago by a walker who said he was too strong, and have just been sacked again by a self-advertised dog trainer (website full of certificates and registrations) for not having recall and pulling on the lead - er, yes that's why we told you we don't let him off unless in a secure field and that we are working hard on loose-lead walking so he doesn't pull... And loads of others just don't answer at all, or say they only walk little dogs, or don't take on puppies.

We used to have a dog-reactive Romanian rescue and she really WAS challenging so I'm no stranger to dogs that are hard work. But our boy is just a boisterous teen dog, if anything he is too friendly and yes of course needs more training so I am feeling pretty blue that "professionals" seem to think he's too hard work to bother. Feels chicken and egg that they won't take him on for training and walking as he's not trained enough yet.

And he really is such a beautiful boy as well...

So handsome!

I just wrote an essay which disappeared. I was commiserating as we have had a very similar journey. First trainer said Dog was too friendly to everyone and gave up. Then I enrolled in a very expensive academy. This ended in tears when Dog did a mega zoom and the trainer shook him and said I must control my dog. I hoiked my bosom and said if he were already trained I wouldn’t be there.

Anyway, he is two now and such a good boy. Still a, er, character, but no pulling and recall is… 90%. I am not neutering him.

I would recommend joining a breed group or finding some breed meet-ups.A chance for a non- judgemental bundle and to share war stories! And to find decent trainer recommendations as opposed to some of the charlatans out there

@Xiaoxiong are there any puppy classes near you? How poor of the trainers and walker you contacted. Have you tried a head collar to help with the pulling? Our nearly 17 month old English Setter will pull on anything other than a head collar if he sees something interesting, we go to a weekly puppy class which helps with socialisation ( meeting and not meeting other dogs) and a whole load of other stuff. I am hoping with time ( and training) that he will stop needing the head collar

Welcome @Xiaoxiong as you might have seen, I started this thread when my dog was 11 months. Just the words '11 months' make me shudder 😅 everything seemed to fall apart. She's nearly 18 months now and so much better. Not perfect, but she's a tricky mix of breeds. I bet your gorgeous retriever will be a dream at this stage as they are bred to be handler focused.

I'm convinced sometimes there isn't an answer, that for some dogs some maturing just needs to happen, that no matter what training you put in, at certain points with certain dogs, the results are going to be slow, and time is the answer. Which is not to say, stop training. But is to say, hang in there! I personally stopped letting her off at the lead at all for a few months, which was hard, but for us, needed to happen as she was finding not coming back to me so enormously rewarding.

Really sorry you've had such bad luck with your walker and trainer. Some of them just want the easy dogs. The puppy trainer I used obviously had no idea how to deal with a dog with strong lurcher and collie traits. I did it by myself in the end, following advice from here and a couple of positive dog training groups on Facebook.