Adolescent Dog Survival...Sharing Tips & Tails

[BrodiePup]

Moving on from the puppy survival thread, this is for anyone with a hormonal teenager 🤪

Brodie is just over 7 months now, and is a fun loving pup who is (mostly) a pleasure to be around. My main issue is still walking him which can either be almost a pleasure, or like having a Tasmanian Devil doing breast stroke and bunny hopping down the road 😡. There seems to be no reason for which dog gets attached to the end of the lead, but at least it shows he can do it if he's in the mood!

We've also had our first proper tummy upset this week 🤢 no doubt due to some rubbish he picked up and swallowed before I spotted it. Thankfully it seems to have passed now.

@CaptainBeanThief
😂 love the photo!

Not a good start to Brodies first groom... she'd forgotten to put it in her diary. I've to take him back at 5:15 🙄.

I'm half tempted to cancel and buy some clippers, it's only his legs I want doing.

Clippers ordered!
This should be interesting!!

Oh gosh, that's a bit rubbish (and slightly unprofessional) having to go back.

Good idea to get your own clippers.

@BrodiePup good luck with the clippers! Must have been annoying to get there with him at agreed time and find groomer hadnt diarised it. I hope it works out for best in long run and that it goes well. Hopefully could save a lot of money and time if you can diy.

Well, Lemon Dog had developed a crazy habit of trying to climb on top of my work desk to raid it for things to steal, chew or eat. Yesterday he managed to climbed up there 3 times (with all 4 paws on desktop while i was working) despite me being there. He must have made 100 attempts throughout day yesterday. Each time I told him to get "off" which he did, only to make new attempt 1 minute later. When I was distracted working he was eventually 'successful". I'd had enough and was not impressed to put it mildly. It is a seriously bad habit for a 35kg lab especially. He's been attempting this for weeks now. So for a couple of weeks now I've not left him alone in that room. This has meant leaving him alone in hall overnight to slerp, when I've popped out, gone to loo etc. I was worried that in itself could create problems e.g. that he could develop seperation anxiety or barking habit from frustration. Yesterday evening I was derermined to try to stop this behaviour. I put him on a long lead and every single time he tried to climb up I immediately silently removed him. It took about 30 'removals' (and some attempts by LemonDog to chew lead off) but it seems to have worked! He hasn't attempted to get up there once today which is brilliant.
Only thing is while he was wearing his long lead in house, un-beknown to me he must have 'successfully' chewed a bit of the lead threadbare. The lead snapped this morning while he was out for his 07:00 toilet break in carpark by my house which is close to a busy road. Yikes. Lemondog knew the lead was gone and got excited, bouncing with wagging tail. Thankfully I had a dog biscuit in my hand which he happily healed for and followed me back in to house beautifully and closely sans lead.
These are the things the puppy books never seem to portray. He's absolutely bonkers sometimes. I can't keep up with his antics.
He's been really good today though overall though and really loveable. He's 13mo now. Where does puppyhood go?! Im sure I read some where that Guide Dogs for Blind start their full time professional training with dogs when they at around 14mo. I wonder if the dogs become more receptive to advanced at that age?

I wonder whether dogs become more receptive to advanced training at around 14mo I mean?

@PyreneanAubrie beautiful photo, what gorgeous contented looking dogs. @captainbeanthief great photo of Milo refusing to go for walk. Looks like he's had all the fun and exercise he wants for one day and he's like 'nah, I'm good; happy, comfy and home'.
Wish my dog would say that for once!

I can confirm...
NO!
😂😂👀

Bill's bestie is a trainee assistance dog, I'll ask her guardian tonight. She's a very clever dog, with a highly refined sense of humour and mischief. I suspect the answer will be something like that's the age they're over the worst of the adolescent insanity but are still malleable. But I genuinely haven't a clue!

I got to be smug once when the 8 month old guide dog in training had to go on her lead to walk away from us, whilst my 8 month old just followed me when I said "this way".

DDog is 8 months now. His loose lead walking is not getting any better, perhaps even worse. Once he gets a scent it is nose down and pull pull pull. Sometimes I think the scents are cats but also maybe badgers, squirrels and I'm wondering if he can smell dogs in heat? Anyone else find walking getting worse rather than better?

Yes, walking is getting worse for me, pup is almost 7 months and the pulling is horrendous. She's also a lead biter.

@newusern9999 What breed is he? Eight months ish can be a tricky age – they've grown up enough to know a bit about who they are and what they're doing, but not quite grown up enough.

One problem at the moment I have is excitement barking. As soon as I open the front door even a crack, the barking starts and continues until the end of the road. I would bring him inside each time BUT it's terraced houses and I don't want the barking to go on longer than it must...
I'm going to try sticking a chew in his mouth tomorrow and see if that helps.

Brodie is 8 months on Sunday, and I'm sure he'll have periods of regression, but at the mo (touches everything in the house that's wood) he's really improving on the lead. We had some extra training a couple of weeks ago and we're sticking to it rigidly. We were also told that this is the worst time of year for scent trails, so it can be harder going.
We've taught him a "go sniff" cue, so if we get to something interesting, he's allowed the full length of his lead to do what he likes. When we want to move on we say "enough" and he's to walk properly again.
He does get plenty of off lead sniffy walks too, we're not complete tyrants 🤣.

A cavapoo but only 25% poodle. He’s currently obsessed with scent marking when out and a bit confused as he keeps trying to cock his leg to poo and has to poo on something like a plant. It makes it very hard to pick up!

Ours gets no off lead sniffy walks (except in the garden). He goes crazy off lead running here, there and everywhere and recall isn’t good enough. The lead isn’t very long. If we use a long line it gets tangled around trees etc and on the roads my husband likes a short lead to stop him darting out into the road chasing leaves.

My lab definately got worse at lead walking at around 11mo (now 13mo). He became much bigger, stronger and so more desperate to sniff places other dogs had been (which I put down to hormones). This coincided with a change in his routine though, where his exercise levels reduced, so it's hard to tell how much of his lead pulling behaviour change was age related and how much was due to change in his routine. All I know is 2 months ago I happily walked him on streets on lead daily. Now I'd dread the exceptionally strong pulling and fear for both our safety (he's pulled me over once which injured me). So I tend to prefer now driving him to a spot in park where he can be let off lead immediately from the car. He gets fewer on lead street walks which is a vicious circle because although running around in empty field at park gives him physical exercise, it's less mental stimulation with fewer opportunities for him to meet and greet people and dogs and to stay well socialised to street walking. I suppose I lost a bit of confidence when he pulled me over that I need to regain!

Hey @cavalierchaos that sounds tough. I also have close neighbours, so I also prioritise keeping Lemon Dog quiet above almost every other behaviour too. For this reason have zero tolerance approach to it. If he barks or whines because he wants something he doesn't get it. If he barked when door opened a crack, I would close the door and wait at least 10 seconds after all sounds from him stopped before opening it again. If he barked again, I would close it again as many times as it took. If needs be I'd even go and sit down again to underline the point - if he barks or whines for something, he doesn't get it. Lemon Dog very occassionally goes through spells of trying whining for things. This month he started whining as my car pulled into park for his off lead run. Whenever he whined I stopped car immediately, sat expessionlesss and ignored him for at least 10 seconds after he was silent. Only then I continued with drive to his walk. If when I started driving again he whined again I would stop again immediately and repeat. I know all dogs are different, some bark more, and are more excitable than others. I fully appreciate it may not work for your dog. But so far my "bark or whine and you don't get" has definately worked for Lemon Dog. He's become really quiet. I asked my close neighbour the other day if she ever hears him and she said she'd never heard a peep from hom.
The exceptions I make are if he whines because he needs loo (then of course let him out. He only does that about once every couple of months so I know to trust it when he does). Also, when he was new puppy and he whined from bewilderment or from missing his litter mates I comforted him. But now he's older he knows noise never gets desired effect of speeding things up, infact it has completely the opposite effect of slowing everything right down.
Sorry if you've tried it. I know this training malarky is nowhere near as syraightforward for me as it seems to be for most people. Lots of things that work for other people's dogs don't work for mine. So I fully appreciate it may not help at all!

@newusern9999 Have you nowhere you can let him off safely or that is suitable for a long line (ie no pesky trees) so you can practice recall? Absolutely no judgement intended and every dog/situation is different of course. I just loathe lead walks and watching my dog do her thing offlead gives me the most joy in the world.

Bless him with his scent marking! Does he look very cav-like if only a quarter poodle? The only cavapoo I've met looked so poodle-ish that I can't imagine it!

@BrodiePup I love the idea of a sniff command on lead, that's fun! So glad things are going well for you all. We've had some young pheasants in the garden lately and you can just imagine how keen she is to follow every single track in the morning. It must be torturous for her.

@Cavalierchaos hope you're doing ok.
That seems like a sensible idea @LemonPalmz tried with her dog if you haven't already given it a go.

@brushingboots thank you 😊.
I almost hate posting when things are going well...tempting fate and all that! I dare say there's something lurking around the corner waiting to bite me on the bum 🤣.
B would go bonkers if he saw a pheasant, pigeons and blackbirds are his nemesis. If he sees a cat he sits down and watches...weird dog!

We're going to the coast for a week today. Hopefully for lots of fun runs on the beach...in the rain and wind...

Oooh, have a lovely week @BrodiePup

I'm glad that Brodie is making so much progress with his training and long may it continue!!!

@PyreneanAubrie Thank you 😊.
I dare say I'll be posting soggy spaniel photos at some point.
I'm really not holding my breath with his progress 🤣

Sounds idylic to me @BrodiePup enjoy it all. Good to hear Brodie's training going well. I honestly cannot imagine a better holiday for a dog than a week by coast with his family espescially when he's fitting in so well :-)