Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 14

Thread: Teenager

  1. #1
    House Broken
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Northern Virginia
    Posts
    65
    Thanked: 15

    Teenager

    Ugh. Stella is a beautiful and mostly sweet 7mo old....until she morphs into devil dog. The dog who placed first in the puppy Olympics at the end of basic obedience class a few weeks ago now seems to have a hard time remembering what the words sit and down mean. She's grabbing everything in sight - my daughter's toys or crayons off her art table, forks and napkins off the table as we prep for dinner, shoes out of the closet if it isn't firmly shut. She got the zoomies earlier today and grabbed my arm at one point as she raced by. Ouch!!! Today feels especially bad likely because she's had no walk or outside playtime this afternoon or evening due to all the storms rolling through, but right now I'm feeling really dejected as if our hard work training her isn't paying off.

    Remind me that, like humans, adolescent puppies can be a PITA. And, any advice welcome.
    Last edited by NoVA Lab Mama; 06-21-2016 at 09:07 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    3,947
    Thanked: 2421
    Just train through it. It happens to every dog, just different extremes. I can't remember my past dogs at all during that stage. Sam was awful, just crazy! Linus went from Mr. Perfect to a total space cadet. Luckily, it hadn't been that long since Sam was in that stage and I remembered that it was normal and just to power through and it seemed like we were through the other side within a month or two.

    As far as training, it's not a great time to teach anything new. Just keep training sessions short, frequent and fairly simple without too many distractions. For example, it's probably not a great time to train in Home Depot right now. Increase exercise if you can.

    Good luck!

  3. #3
    Senior Dog BaconsMom's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    MN
    Posts
    2,636
    Thanked: 1369
    You are definitely experiencing a lot of what I did when Bacon was that age. A lot of the time, I felt like Bacon was giving me the "puppy finger" and saying I'm choosing not to listen to you. He really was testing his boundaries. He always listened to his dad, but would ignore me. With a lot of continued practice, reinforcing training, a little more exercise and we finally got to a good place. I would add some extra play time, and put in some short training sessions each day. It will get better, I promise. I have a wonderful almost 3 year old who listens very well, you will get there, sooner than you think.
    Julie & Jake, Bacon's Humans

    Instagram: @mrbaconthelab


    Born: 9/02/13

    Gotcha: 11/08/13

    Hidden Content

    In memory of Lily 1/1995 - 2/2/2012

    Hidden Content


  4. The Following User Says Thank You to BaconsMom For This Useful Post:

    NoVA Lab Mama (06-29-2016)

  5. #4
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    10,985
    Thanked: 6722
    Sending you patience, patience and more patience. This too will pass.
    Hidden Content
    Kissing Bandit

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to POPTOP For This Useful Post:

    NoVA Lab Mama (06-29-2016)

  7. #5
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Bend, Oregon
    Posts
    2,024
    Thanked: 3035
    That's about the exact age where Thor went from the most wonderfully behaved and obedient puppy to devil teenager as well. Luckily it only lasted a few months and he settled back down by the time he was 12-14 months old. But he's now 2.5 and there are still a few teenage behaviors that he never got over (even though he didn't do them as a smaller puppy) namely the zoomies straight into me. When he gets really wound up he loves to run right at me and 'crash' (I think he learned it from playing with his boxer buddy since they do that a lot) so I have to stay nimble on my feet because he won't listen. It doesn't happen every time he gets the zoomies, only when they are *really* crazy. Just yesterday he nearly knocked me into our pond during a sudden puppy-style zoomie outburst after a long walk.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

    Hidden Content

  8. #6
    Senior Dog zd262's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Posts
    1,280
    Thanked: 760
    Yep, teenagers. Keep training, up the exercise, and how that it will end soon! Bubba is on the back end of this. He still has some teenager tendencies, but gone are the days where he would look me in the eyes while opening his mouth to chew on the tv remote.
    Hidden Content

    Hidden Content

    Bubba's instagram: @thebubbinator

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to zd262 For This Useful Post:

    NoVA Lab Mama (06-29-2016)

  10. #7
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    C. WA
    Posts
    1,624
    Thanked: 1235
    8 mos is generally my pups' turning point. I'd suggest varying your sports if possible. This is when I want mine doing some field work and/or tracking-- something physical as well as mental. Continue w/ the obedience. Work on Stays, things like that.
    I watched a friend compete a 8mo old in BN and RN this spring, and it was a wreck imo. She had a good working dog just 1-2 mos before that. You do need to know when to step back, but I'd say it won't be pretty for a few more months. It's not permanent though!!!
    Hidden Content
    The WindyCanyon Girls (taken Summer 2018)
    IntCH WindyCanyon's Northern Spy CDX RA JH OA OAJ CC (14.5 yrs)
    IntCH WindyCanyon's Ruby Pink BN CD RA CC (4.5 yrs)
    IntCH WindyCanyon's Kanzi BN CDX RE JH (5 yrs)
    IntCH WindyCanyon ItsOnlyMoneyHoneycrisp BN RN CC (16mos)
    IntCH WindyCanyon's Pippin BN RI CC (2.5 yrs)
    IntCH WindyCanyon's Envy CDX RE JH CC (10.5 yrs)
    IntCH HIT WindyCanyon's Kiku A Fuji Too CDX RE JH CC (10 yrs)







  11. #8
    Senior Dog
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Williamsburg, Virginia
    Posts
    2,610
    Thanked: 2964
    Do you practice "nothing in life is free?" That technique was VERY effective when Kimber went through her testing phases. In an a nutshell, before you give the dog anything (food, treat, attention), she must perform a command. This could be a sit-stay before being leashed, practicing shake before getting a treat, etc. I would hand feed Kimber her dinner, one piece of kibble at a time, rotating through "sit", "stay", "shake". Boy oh boy, did that focus her. Here's more on NILF:Nothing in Life is Free
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
    Hidden Content

    Miss Kimber, CGC, 6/15/2005-1/27/2018 forever in our hearts



  12. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to kimbersmom For This Useful Post:

    BaconsMom (06-22-2016), NoVA Lab Mama (06-29-2016)

  13. #9
    Senior Dog Macy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Nebraska
    Posts
    1,362
    Thanked: 785
    A second vote for NILF.
    Plus " a tired puppy is a good puppy" Can you incorporate more physical and mental exercise? Getting Macy off leash to run helped her a lot at that age because a leashed walk was just a little sissy warm up for her.

  14. #10
    House Broken
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Northern Virginia
    Posts
    65
    Thanked: 15
    Thank you all for the advice and support! We've definitely started upping the exercise, it would hugely help if she actually liked to play fetch instead of "retrieve once and lay down"! lol

    And, I've been hand feeding some of each meal for the last few days as well and working on super reinforcing all sorts of commands including NILF-type approach.

    This too shall pass. This too shall pass. This too shall pass.

 



Not a Member of the Labrador Retriever Chat Forums Yet?
Register for Free and Share Your Labrador Retriever Photos

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •