Ten month old puppy has turned into a twat overnight

[NorwichMom]

I guess this is the teenage stage. 🤷‍♀️

He was quite a good puppy, slept through the night from day one, never chewed anything in the house, is fine being in a crate, ok to be left in the house.

The last week he has started barking in the evening for no particular reason. Apart from wanting attention I guess. I’m trying to ignore so he isn’t rewarded for barking and then if he’s quiet for a bit have been trying to make a fuss. But a while later he’s barking again. Will literally stand in the middle of the living room barking at me or dh. Doesn’t seem to want a stroke/fuss so no idea what he wants.

or if i go upstairs for a shower he is at the stair gate barking even though dh is downstairs. If im downstairs and dh goes upstairs he’s at the stair gate barking again.

he isn’t left in the day, someone is here all the time. He’s walked for a bit over an hour off lead with multiple other dogs over the fields every morning, so loads of running around and playing. He goes out for a shorter 15 min walk before tea. We have a large garden and I have an older dog so they’re outside playing in the garden a lot. I do a bit of recall training in the garden most afternoons. He’s got a lot,of,toys, chews, etc. has a rabbit ear every afternoon. I found an old puzzle toy this evening and hid treats in it.

he’s still sleeping through the night fine thankfully. We don’t use the crate anymore so he’s on a sofa with the older dog.

is his second walk too short? He’s a terrier so I guess he has more energy than my bichon frise who has never wanted a second walk in her life! Any other suggestions- scent training, agility, just more obedience training to get him thinking? Typical this happens as the nights are getting darker and colder!

Definitely scent stuff for a terrier. They're not a breed that I have any experience of though so i'm sure somebody will be along who will know more!

Terriers are twats, usually noisy barking twats.

Good luck! No ideas sorry. But my terrier twat is a lot quieter now she is 13 and sleeps soundly.

I did see a video about how to train any dog to hunt for truffles by starting with truffle scent work at home. Maybe I’ll do that as it’ll be useful 🤣

i hope he quietens down before 13! 🙈

We have a 7 month old puppy here and she is testing those boundaries to their limit. She's a show cocker spaniel so needs a lot of mental stimulation as well as physical exercise. When she is full of beans in the evening I do a snuffle mat for her which helps get her calm for bed.
I think you do need to work on yours being left alone during the day as it sounds like a bit of separation anxiety is kicking in. I tell mine to wait and that I'll be back soon and leave her in our living room as it's the only room I can shut her in safely. Not left her completely home alone yet as the last time I did she ate through a, thankfully unplugged, light cable, but we do need to be able to go out and leave her safely whilst we go to appointments etc
Good luck @NorwichMom they don't half test you, but there is light at the end of the tunnel

Mine was a perfect little puppy and then turned into a twat around 7 months. He reached peak twat at 16 months, and then things started to get better. He's just over 2 and a half now and absolutely lovely, but there were some nights I wondered what the fuck I'd done!
We kept firm boundaries, introduced trick training, gave him toilet roll tubes and cardboard boxes to destroy and he has 5 walks a day (border collie!) which keeps him calm and satisfied.

@longtompot we have a puppy pen which I use if I go out during the day. He’s fine in there if I leave the house. If I put him in it and I’m in the house he barks.

@Toastersandkettles omg another year plus of this! 🙈😂. We are definitely at the cardboard box destroying stage and I’m letting him for 5 mins of relative peace.

Sounds familiar to me! My pup is just past 1 year old now and is better than he was at 10 months but still has moment when we’re like ‘WTF’. I think the hot weather dampened his teenage behaviour a bit too.

Yea terriers are twats. You will soon be ‘conditioned’ by him into minimising his behaviour and be referring to him affectionately as ‘my twat’. Welcome to the club.

I’ve never met a quiet terrier in my life 😂

I would say however to be careful when it comes to chews and food toys - while they do keep them busy for a while, you’re also giving them fuel which often makes them more hyper in the long run.

I would also say that 15 minutes in the evening probably isn’t enough for a young, high energy dog.

Yes I think he will start answering to Twatface before long. 😂

I was promised that of all the terriers Norwich and Norfolk terriers were the calmest. God help anyone else with a less calm breed of terrier! It’s a good job he’s adorable 🥰

looks like butter wouldn’t melt. 😂

My Jack Russell terrier was a twat too and he completely played me. He would bark at the back door so I would let him out, I’d let him out and he would start barking in the garden. I called him in and gave him a treat for coming in. Played 🤷‍♀️

I do know we had to walk the legs off him though to make sure he’d be calmer at home. More like an hour morning and evening then long, long walks at the weekend. Good luck.

I will definitely increase the evening walk. Thought I was getting away with it but blatantly not!

If it’s any consolation my beagle only needed an evening walk for about 6-7 months, then he went back to one a day and has stayed like that ever since!

Going against the grain but it sounds to me like he needs to learn to settle rather than more exercise/stimulation. Look up Karen overall’s relaxation protocol

Is he definitely ok health wise? No sensitive stomach or signs of allergies / itching?

Mine is nearly 2. He’s a twat as well. He’s like a land shark.

This
Walking the legs off a terrier leads to a fit, over-stimulated dog.

Nobody’s talking about walking the legs off him, but a young, fit terrier should be getting more than 75 minutes of exercise a day.

I also think there’s too much of a trend towards teaching dogs to settle and using “brain games” when really what they need is exercise and breed-appropriate outlets.

Well they were because I was actually quoting another poster who was admittedly talking about her own dog.
I don't think you should assume he's fit either. His behaviour sounds like there might be something else that needs addressing rather than just upping his exercise. Although I do agree that 15mins in the evening doesn't sound enough.
I wouldn't necessarily advocate for brain games but dogs very much need to learn to settle and to use their brains imo.

We taught dpuppy Sit Quiet.

Beyond stunned it works...
Any periods of quiet Sit Quiet command.
Long slow strokes
.
She is 10 months and just finished her first heat. Coild your boy be -ahem -at the puberty stage ???

They do need to learn to settle but that’s much easier to do if their physical needs are being met.

I just see a lot of stuff on social media from people who constantly advocate teaching dogs to do nothing while simultaneously ignoring the fact that they still need to go out for walks.

I have a 12 month old staffy who turned into a twat a couple of months ago. Luckily he's a quiet twat and very rarely barks and he has a beautiful temperament. But he suddenly decided he didnt need to walk nicely anymore, didn't need to sleep and became more mouthy. I think we were doing too much with him like enrichment, puzzles and so on so have pulled it in a bit and ignore him more so he realises being bored is good. Lots of training walks and he is now much better on the lead and not a twat trying to say hello to everybody. Settle training still ongoing but improving. Scent work has worked really well for him, he enjoys it and it tires him out. We are starting a scentwork class tonight (unfortunately at 7pm which is his most twatlike time of day!) so hoping we get on with that as kennel club obedience classes have had to stop as I was feeling more and more anxious with being told off by the trainer all the time.

Ha, my Labrador turned in to a twat overnight when he was about 9 months old and got slowly worse 😂 he is nearly 17 months old now and I feel like a can see a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Well we had an hour walk this morning, 40 min walk this afternoon . Got him a toy that you can fill with treats and he has to knock it about to get them to come out, put some of his kibble in there at tea time. New yak chews have arrived today and he’s had one. Guess what? Still being a twat barking at me 🙈😂