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So Teddy is 5 months old and I’ve been doing reading that from 6-8 month is kinda the ‘teen’ phase. What does that mean exactly? What should I batten down the hatches for? I already have 2 human teens and now a dog teen!!
Teenager dog?
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Did you mean 6 -18 months?
I kind of think of 6-8 months as the bratty 7 year old phase. Overnight, your perfect puppy, who sits, walks nicely on leash, knows lots of tricks, and has a great recall and hangs on to every word... tests boundaries. It's the period where they are supposed to be learning to be more independent, and their brain is telling them to seek it EVeRYWHERe. The attitude feels like "I dont wanna and you cant make me". Outdoor offleash recalls go out the window, and there might be a resurgence of just plain annoying behaviour, nipping, jumping, wild child stuff that you need to patiently address as it pops up. They try fun new things, like wailing about wanting to get the birds in a store you have been to a thousand times and jumping up on the counter instead of sitting politely at your feet. They run the other direction when you say come, and steal socks from your drawer. They revert to bratty puppy behaviour, and there is often a second teething/chewing period, but their teeth are bigger and their jaws are stronger, so they destroy more things (I have heard of table legs, bicycles, gas meters, etc - Annie wanted to chew the baseboards!). Providing lots of allowed chews like raw bones, cardboard to shred, etc helps.
There is also often one or two fear periods where your normally confident dog has a week or two where familiar things are scary and need barking at (I recall a garbage can becoming TERRIFYING) , and to keep these fears from persisting long term, you need to respect the fear, allow them to a run away from the thing, give lots of treats to associate with good things, etc.
It tempers a bit, but the teenage period of 8-18 months is when most dogs get surrendered to the shelter. They are crazy, they arent cute any more and people think they should know better but their brains and their hormones are going wild. If you survive to 1.5-2 years with plenty of patience and lots of training, you will have your dog back
At 18 months, Annie isnt completely out of teenageness but is SO MUCH BETTER to live with than at 8 months or 12 months.
I kind of think of 6-8 months as the bratty 7 year old phase. Overnight, your perfect puppy, who sits, walks nicely on leash, knows lots of tricks, and has a great recall and hangs on to every word... tests boundaries. It's the period where they are supposed to be learning to be more independent, and their brain is telling them to seek it EVeRYWHERe. The attitude feels like "I dont wanna and you cant make me". Outdoor offleash recalls go out the window, and there might be a resurgence of just plain annoying behaviour, nipping, jumping, wild child stuff that you need to patiently address as it pops up. They try fun new things, like wailing about wanting to get the birds in a store you have been to a thousand times and jumping up on the counter instead of sitting politely at your feet. They run the other direction when you say come, and steal socks from your drawer. They revert to bratty puppy behaviour, and there is often a second teething/chewing period, but their teeth are bigger and their jaws are stronger, so they destroy more things (I have heard of table legs, bicycles, gas meters, etc - Annie wanted to chew the baseboards!). Providing lots of allowed chews like raw bones, cardboard to shred, etc helps.
There is also often one or two fear periods where your normally confident dog has a week or two where familiar things are scary and need barking at (I recall a garbage can becoming TERRIFYING) , and to keep these fears from persisting long term, you need to respect the fear, allow them to a run away from the thing, give lots of treats to associate with good things, etc.
It tempers a bit, but the teenage period of 8-18 months is when most dogs get surrendered to the shelter. They are crazy, they arent cute any more and people think they should know better but their brains and their hormones are going wild. If you survive to 1.5-2 years with plenty of patience and lots of training, you will have your dog back
At 18 months, Annie isnt completely out of teenageness but is SO MUCH BETTER to live with than at 8 months or 12 months.
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18!!😱
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Lawd give me strenf!!
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He’s been completely ignoring us when we ask for ‘come’ as if he doesn’t hear us at all. But if I crackle his treat bag BOOM ears work!
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Misha went through his 2nd teething phase at 6-7 months. That was incredibly bad. Relentless gnawing on one of my hands. He reached social adolescence between 9 and 10 months and discovered humping other dogs. That stopped within a couple months. He has had various epiphanies about how he might solve boredom which is often either very annoying or minorly destructive. Leash walking gets very frustrating during the teenage phase. Misha's still in it but he is good enough at 15 months that people always comment on how well behaved he is. Not really, but he probably is if you compare him to other dogs he's around. He still has a Then make me! streak where he tries to outwit me and get his way. I'm hoping that diminishes some as he ages.
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That's GREAT! That means you've trained him to come when he hears that cue. So now you need to really step it up and consistently pair "come" with a treat. To Teddy's ears, that word should be at least as enticing as a crinkling treat bag.
So never use it angrily.
Never use it without a big reward.
Never use it to end fun unless you can make the reward for coming to you even BETTER than the fun.
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And here's a good spot to find some support:
www.poodleforum.com
Peggy's adolescence is still going strong at a year old, and I know from past experiences that the maturity switch may not flip until 3 years old. But the good news is you'll also see loads of progress during that time. The key is to take it day by day, as Teddy really cannot help it when his brain turns off. Just be patient and consistent and you'll be rewarded the next day....or sometimes the next week. And maybe it will longer for certain things. And often you'll go two steps forward, one step back. But it WILL all pay off.
Poodle Adolescence - Support Group
Tips? Tricks? Commiseration? Bring it on! I wasn't expecting it quite so soon, but Peggy's 26th week has brought us a whole new level of dog. Eeek! It kicked off with the worst puppy class we've ever had. Usually after a rocky start, she settles right in. But she was wild-eyed from the first...
www.poodleforum.com
Peggy's adolescence is still going strong at a year old, and I know from past experiences that the maturity switch may not flip until 3 years old. But the good news is you'll also see loads of progress during that time. The key is to take it day by day, as Teddy really cannot help it when his brain turns off. Just be patient and consistent and you'll be rewarded the next day....or sometimes the next week. And maybe it will longer for certain things. And often you'll go two steps forward, one step back. But it WILL all pay off.
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LOL, Renn improved at a little over 2. Now at 2 1/2 he still has his moments but definitely a good boy now. He is still very bouncy and overly excitable at times, but I think thats just going to be him, but at least I can rein in his behavior now. He will be 3 in December, we still work on training each day thougSince my knees are bad this has been a slow process for us and he anticipates my nervousness. So I don't usually walk him as I should however my daughter has stepped up and is now walking him every evening, she can now walk him and the terrier together. Last night he greeted a neighbor and was very good. I am noticing he is only excitable with me. When they are in and he saw me he went bonkers and couldn't wait to get to me. I turned away, made him sit then allowed him over. It get better all the time.
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It's like your sons - you have to plan ahead and avoid head-to-head confrontations unless you know you can win.
Normie's about 9 months, and a month or so ago he discovered the 'dance just out of reach' game.
I ignore him. At walk time as he joyfully bounces around hoping we can start with a chase, I just sit on the sofa with the leash and talk to my husband, ignoring Norm. He's learned to quickly jump up on the sofa and calmly wait.
I think that Mufar's right. You can encourage them to be calm and gentle.
Normie's about 9 months, and a month or so ago he discovered the 'dance just out of reach' game.
I ignore him. At walk time as he joyfully bounces around hoping we can start with a chase, I just sit on the sofa with the leash and talk to my husband, ignoring Norm. He's learned to quickly jump up on the sofa and calmly wait.
I think that Mufar's right. You can encourage them to be calm and gentle.
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This morning I jogged with Teddy instead of walking. He loved it! Be honest I could use the exercise! But a simple walk does not drain his energy enough. We start out walking and work way up and by the time we get back home we work our way down to walking. I almost fell over him a couple times with him being playful and goofy. Same distance just add jogging to it. Teddy was at our dog sitters farm and he got to run and run. We live in the city but wanna give him that maybe just in different ways. I gotta stay on top of future behavior. Cause the past 3 months has kicked my butt. But apparently I’m really in for it 😬
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I know what you mean about a walk not being enough, especially if it's a training walk, where you're more focused on keeping the leash consistently loose than covering great distance. But letting him sniff a lot and "noodle" around can really drain puppy energy. So can exploring new places.
The parking lots of big box stores were lifesavers when Peggy was a puppy. We went almost every day and just let her sniff around and soak up all the sights and sounds. Half an hour of that and she was ready for a snooze. Fun backyard training sessions and puppy classes had a similar effect. Same with gentle hikes on a 15-foot leash, always letting Peggy dictate the pace.
Rule of thumb (from Puppy Culture) is no running/jogging until 18 months of age, unless it's puppy-directed.
So you can scamper about together in short spurts, and Teddy can run all he likes in the yard, etc. but no leashing him up and enforcing sustained forward momentum, especially not on hard surfaces.
The parking lots of big box stores were lifesavers when Peggy was a puppy. We went almost every day and just let her sniff around and soak up all the sights and sounds. Half an hour of that and she was ready for a snooze. Fun backyard training sessions and puppy classes had a similar effect. Same with gentle hikes on a 15-foot leash, always letting Peggy dictate the pace.
Rule of thumb (from Puppy Culture) is no running/jogging until 18 months of age, unless it's puppy-directed.
So you can scamper about together in short spurts, and Teddy can run all he likes in the yard, etc. but no leashing him up and enforcing sustained forward momentum, especially not on hard surfaces.
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Galen at 5 months became very selective about coming when called. Part of it is testing us: he is at a stage where he wants to be more independent, but he isn't quite sure how far he can push us. He therefore does naughty things like running away while peeking over his shoulder simply to gauge our reaction. Typical adolescent behavior.
Galen hasn't entered his chewing stage yet. I'm not looking forward to it. Snarky used to climb into one of our chairs and sooth himself to sleep by running his teeth up and down the arm. He grew out of it, but the chair never recovered.
![468025]()
Galen hasn't entered his chewing stage yet. I'm not looking forward to it. Snarky used to climb into one of our chairs and sooth himself to sleep by running his teeth up and down the arm. He grew out of it, but the chair never recovered.
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I actually love those little teethmarks! Looks like the kind of "distressing" that people pay big bucks for. And it's nice to think these puppy days will eventually be just a fond memory.
Our childhood Pointer did a number on our laundry room baseboards. It was sad when my parents eventually renovated the house and those puppy souvenirs disappeared.
Our childhood Pointer did a number on our laundry room baseboards. It was sad when my parents eventually renovated the house and those puppy souvenirs disappeared.
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I know. My husband was wondering about sanding out the tooth marks. I told him I'd be sad if he did. We have a place in our cellar where two of our cats walked across a freshly painted floor. I don't want to paint over the footprints either.
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Teddy wants to go then stop then go 😂😂runs from things to thing but it’s a pretty decent jog by the end. Which works for me cause I’m out of shape and gives me time to catch my breath! 🤣 Ever since he got back from my dog sitters farm where he could run all he has wanted to do is run. It’s probably looks ridiculous to the neighbors stop go trip do circles 🤣 but hey we r both tired by the end. Evening time try to do more leash training and calmer walks with burst of puppiness here and there. 🥰
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