Please tell me it gets easier

[Lovetosleep1]

My GSD is 9 months old and I cried this morning because she's such hard work. She was great until about 6 weeks ago and now seems to have forgotten all of the training we have done. She plays rough, demands attention, has constant zoomies, never stops, is a pain to walk. This mornings walk was awful, the wind made her wild, seagulls all over the field sent her mad, she just barked and lunged the whole time.
I do love her but also don't like her very much sometimes so feel really guilty about that.
Just looking for some reassurance that she will come out of this stage and calm down a bit.

9 mo dogs are total dicks. By 1 year it’ll feel better then it improves from there. Ddog is now 3.5 and reliable and loving.

@FortunaMajor that is a massive relief to hear!
At least it's not just mine that's a massive teenage twat.

It sounds like she has hit the teenager stage. Our lab goldie cross was all over the place at that age. I think a lot of it is hormonal. Our dog is working stock and very smart, so I found weekly agility classes and flyball were amazing for working her mentally and physically and directing all that crazy energy.

Take heart. I promise it gets better. My dog (Australian Shepherd) was quite an easy puppy but the teenage phase was awful. There are a few incidents I wish I could forget that happened when he was about 10 months old. There is one particular park that I avoid to this day out of sheer embarrassment.

But by the time he was a year old, things were better. He is now 2 years old and an absolute delight. Today we went for a walk in the woods. He was off lead the whole time, never ran far from us, checked in frequently, and recalled to the whistle immediately even when he was startled by an unexpected cyclist. When he was in the depths of adolescence, a walk like that seemed an impossible dream. Now it's just an ordinary event on a ordinary day.

BTW are you on the puppy survival threads? I found those threads a great source of support and solidarity when my dog was a pup.

@certainshepherdpups that is really reassuring. I bet they have similar quirks both being Shepherds. Did yours go back to being really mouthy and trying to lead people around by their arms at this age?

Her drive to chase anything that moves has gone through the roof too.

I'm currently trying to think of brain games that will occupy her for short periods because she's forgotten her off switch currently.

OP, I am just coming out the other side of this stage- which foolishly I’ve done 3 times.

This time, instead of the 8yo being a good influence on the puppy- she turned out to be a bad influence on him 😫 and the pair of them caused merry, fluffy, labrador shaped havoc. The looks I got on walks as I got dragged along- honestly, never wanted to walk the buggers again. I’d dread it. Ended up loosing about 2 stone as I’d have to walk them individually.

It even crossed my mind to return both of them to the breeder- perfectly reasonable after 8 years, right?

However, we are out the other side now. Feelypup seemed to mature overnight, and although we still get episodes of over excitement, it’s settled considerably.

Hang in there!!!

@feelingalittlehorse that makes me feel so much better! I've also lost nearly 2 stone because we're out for hours a day even though I dread it and have to build myself up to go.

Haha imagine the breeders face if you'd have contacted them.

I'm so glad others have been through it and come out the other side.

I'm hanging on to the little glimpses when she's being adorable and well behaved. It's honestly like a second full time job though between walking, training and having to watch her like a hawk. It's a very intense relationship 😂.

I took verypup out for her walk today. We have been teaching walking to heel for the last month. Bloody hell she was awful today. Completely ignored everything i said or did. Pulled constantly. I was very strict with her. Subsequently it took 40 minutes to get nowhere very much.

During one particularly naughty episode this smug woman in running gear and bobbing ponytail, trotted past with her dog off lead and running along beside her. I so wanted to trip her up. Verypup was hanging off her lead by her teeth at this point. Im sure i saw smug woman smirk.

@Lovetosleep1 my gsd is just over 10 months. She has such extreme peaks and troughs! I so feel exactly as you do at times. But, these days it's like one bad day two good days. Bad days in this " teenage " stage are very demanding, I struggle to keep calm. But each day I find a little step that helps. I have recently started scent training using one of my gloves. She is brilliant at it and loves it and it really uses her brain and seems to calm her quicker afterwards. She is awful on the lead so I use a dogmatic when I have to. I have found if she sleeps/ chills longer she is so much better but that has and still takes a lot of practise!

@Floramac what scent work do you do with your glove? ChenPup loves scent work so I’m always looking for new ideas.

@SirChenjins I started by hiding her ball/ toy around the house and use the word find. Then out on walks, ( she loves her Kong on a rope and I use this as a training tool /reward), I just threw my glove down as we walked and showed her my other glove and said "find". She picked up on it straight away and I do it every day now, even planting it in tree branches and hidden under grass etc. As soon as she finds it she just noses it and I reward immediately with a bit of a tug on her Kong. She loves it, she prances along with her tail in the air! I am thinking of starting scent classes in the new year to expand on it and give her more of what she obviously loves.

Thanks - I’ll do the glove game next time I’m out with him. He gets kibble for his breakfast so I hate that around the house (garden in better weather) and he has to sniff it out. I also hide red Kong bits (this came from a scent work course we did, apparently the red ones have a distinct smell) and other things for him to sniff out. He absolutely loves it.