How to manage your teenage dog
Have you noticed that your beloved puppy (who you’ve worked so hard to train) has now started:
Being stubborn or moody?
Wandering further away from you to explore new places when off leash?
Ignoring your commands, from the simple commands like “sit” through to the more complex like “Recall”?
To have more energy and is being destructive again?
Having broken sleeps or is sleeping all evening and then wanting to party at bed time?
Becoming wary of people, situations or other dogs that they previously had no issue with?
Then your puppy has hit their teenage phase. Eeek!
Why and when does it happen?
Your puppy’s teenage phase usually happens around 6 – 8 months of age and may continue til they’re about 2 years old. Every dog is different.
Hormonal fluctuations can cause this, even if your pup is spayed/neutered. Their brain is developing and the hormones are causing some internal mayhem – just like with us during our teenage years!
Were you a ghastly teenager? I certainly was...
What to do when it happens
Go back to basic command training and remind your puppy how awesome it is to listen to you and to focus on you.
Schedule in multiple short training sessions a week and start from the beginning again. Because they aren’t learning it for the first time, they’ll progress quickly, so you can make the exercises more challenging.
Sometimes dogs get bored, so adding in some extra challenges can make things more interesting for them.
In addition to basic commands like “watch”, “sit”, “wait”, & “leave it”, if you’ve noticed your dog has stopped coming back when called, you’ll need to attach a long leash to them and go right back to the beginning of recall training.
Amelia was an adult when I adopted her but I used the same techniques that I teach my Calm Puppy students because she was new to me , new to my home and she didn’t know anything about living in civilization.
So if you haven’t already been through my Calm Puppy course, it’s never too late to start!
Because it’s online and you have life time access, you can go back and repeat modules whenever your dog throws you a curve ball, which they will do from time to time.
The content of the course will help you raise your dog from puppyhood through to their golden years.
During this teenage phase you’ll need to be patient and calm.
Remind yourself that your puppy is just going a bit batty at the moment. They’re not being deliberately naughty, they just need you to remind them of why and how to behave.
If your dog is reacting to something or someone negatively, work at a distance to give them space from whatever is bothering them.
Distance and kindness goes a long way when teaching your dog to enjoy things again. Your dog doesn’t have to be the life of the party during this stage, give them space to figure things out.
For more puppy raising tactics, save your seat in my free masterclass
“3 Simple Tactics for Raising a Well-Behaved Dog”
