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🐾 10 TIPS FOR SURVIVING YOUR 'NAUGHTY' ADOLESCENT DOG! 🐾

If you have an adolescent dog, you may sometimes wonder where your lovely puppy disappeared to.

Suddenly they are distracted by everything, selective about whether they heard you, overflowing with enthusiasm, and seemingly capable of forgetting things they knew perfectly well last week!

Welcome to adolescence.

This isn't your dog deliberately being difficult. Adolescence is a period of significant behavioural and neurological development. Independence increases, emotional responses can become more intense, social motivation changes and self-control is still developing.

That doesn't mean you simply have to put up with unwanted behaviour.

It means you need to change how you support your dog while their brain is still developing.

Here are 10 things that can make adolescence considerably easier.

1️⃣ REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE AN ADOLESCENT

Your dog isn't a finished adult in a smaller body.

Expecting mature impulse control, emotional regulation and decision-making from an adolescent simply because they have learned the behaviour before can set both of you up for frustration.

Keep teaching. Keep practising. Keep your expectations realistic.

Most importantly, don't allow unwanted behaviours to become well-rehearsed habits while you wait for maturity to arrive.

2️⃣ GIVE THEM TIME TO THINK

If you give a cue once and immediately repeat it several times, your dog doesn't necessarily learn to respond faster. They may simply learn that the first few repetitions don't matter.

Ask once, then give your dog a moment to process.

If they can't respond, ask yourself why.

Are they distracted? Overexcited? Tired? Unsure what you are asking? Has the environment become too difficult?

Training isn't about proving that your dog will obey you anywhere. It is about progressively teaching them to succeed in increasingly challenging situations.

3️⃣ DON'T TRAIN THROUGH FRUSTRATION

This applies to you as much as your dog.

If either of you is becoming frustrated, stop.

Take a break. Lower the difficulty. Go for a sniff. Do something easy that your dog knows well.

Learning is much harder when arousal and frustration are getting in the way.

4️⃣ TEACH THEM THAT IGNORING OTHER DOGS IS A SKILL

Your adolescent dog does not need to greet every dog they see.

In fact, learning that another dog can exist nearby without requiring interaction is one of the most useful social skills you can teach.

Calm observation, disengagement and moving on are valuable behaviours.

Your dog doesn't need to love every dog.

They need to be able to cope with them.

5️⃣ TRAIN WHERE YOUR DOG CAN SUCCEED

Your home is an excellent training environment because there are fewer competing distractions.

Reward the behaviour you want to see.

Your dog lying quietly while you make dinner? That's worth noticing.

Choosing to come away from something interesting? Reward it.

Settling beside you? Reinforce it.

Don't wait until your adolescent does something wrong before you pay attention.

The behaviours you consistently reinforce are the behaviours you are helping to build.

6️⃣ USE MANAGEMENT, NOT JUST TRAINING

Management isn't failure.

Pens, crates, gates, long lines and appropriate confinement can prevent your adolescent from rehearsing behaviours while they are still learning.

Every time a behaviour is successfully practised, it can become more established.

Don't give your adolescent unlimited freedom simply because you wish they were ready for it.

Freedom should expand as their skills and self-control develop.

7️⃣ MAKE THE TASK EASIER WHEN THEY STRUGGLE

If your dog can't perform a behaviour, don't automatically assume they are being stubborn.

The task may simply be too difficult.

Increase distance from the distraction.

Reduce the duration.

Lower the level of stimulation.

Break the behaviour into smaller steps.

Then build the difficulty again gradually.

Good training isn't about asking for more and more.

It's about finding the level at which your dog can learn successfully and then progressing from there.

8️⃣ PLAY WITH YOUR DOG

Play is not just entertainment.

Appropriate play provides opportunities for interaction, communication, movement and learning, while strengthening your relationship with your dog.

Tug, retrieving, chasing appropriate toys, scent games and interactive games can all be valuable.

But remember that play should have an off-switch too.

An adolescent dog also needs to learn how to stop, settle and recover after excitement.

9️⃣ CHECK YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Your adolescent dog isn't a reflection of your worth as an owner.

They don't need to perform perfectly in public to prove that you've trained them well.

And you don't need to win every interaction.

Your job is to help your dog develop the skills they will need as an adult, not to demonstrate that you can control them in every situation.

🔟 ASK FOR HELP EARLY

You don't have to wait until there is a major behavioural problem before seeking professional help.

Good training is an ongoing process, and adolescence can expose gaps in a dog's skills that weren't obvious during puppyhood.

If you're struggling, get help from an appropriately qualified professional who can look at what is actually happening and give you a plan suited to your individual dog.

Most importantly, remember this:

Adolescence is a stage of development.

It isn't an excuse for unwanted behaviour, but neither is it evidence that your puppy has suddenly become a "bad dog".

Your adolescent is still learning how to regulate emotions, make decisions, cope with distractions and navigate an increasingly complicated world.

Your job is to provide the structure, guidance, management and opportunities for learning that help them get there.

And yes ...

Sometimes a sense of humour helps too. 😄🐾

Donna Williams,
Emerald Park Border Collies.
www.emeraldparkbc.com

If you are a discerning person wanting to learn more about raising your puppy and turning them into the dog of your dreams, this is the place for you. 👇

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🐾 PLEASE DON'T USE LASER LIGHTS AS A DOG TOY 🔴

A laser pointer might seem like an easy way to give your dog a bit of exercise.

The problem is that your dog can chase the light, but can never catch it.

For a dog with a strong chase response, that means the behaviour can be repeated again and again without the opportunity to actually capture, grab or interact with the thing being chased.

And for some dogs, the behaviour doesn't necessarily end when you put the laser away.

It can generalise.

A dog that has become highly focused on chasing the light may start watching for other moving or reflected light around the home. Sunlight reflecting from a watch or phone, glints from windows or shiny surfaces, moving shadows and reflections on walls or floors can potentially become interesting too.

The dog may begin scanning the environment for something to chase, staring at floors and walls, chasing reflections or repeatedly checking places where the stimulus has appeared before.

This is where laser play can become a genuine behavioural problem.

Once a dog has developed a strong, repeatedly practised pattern of searching and chasing, it can be surprisingly difficult to stop. You aren't simply trying to teach the dog not to chase a particular red dot anymore. You may be trying to change a highly rehearsed response to movement and light throughout its environment.

That can be stressful for the dog and extremely frustrating for the owner.

This doesn't mean every dog exposed to a laser will develop a problem. Dogs differ, and we shouldn't claim that laser play inevitably causes compulsive behaviour.

But there is also no need to take the risk.

There are so many better ways to provide physical and mental enrichment that give dogs something real to chase, catch, carry, chew, search for or solve.

🐾 Play with toys that can actually be caught.

🐾 Play tug.

🐾 Encourage sniffing and searching.

🐾 Use food-based enrichment.

🐾 Give your dog opportunities to explore.

🐾 Teach tricks and problem-solving behaviours.

🐾 Provide appropriate chewing activities.

Good enrichment isn't simply about making a dog run around.

It should give the dog an opportunity to engage in natural behaviours and then switch off and settle when the activity is finished.

So please don't use laser lights as a puppy or dog toy.

The potential behavioural downside simply isn't worth it when there are so many better ways to play.

🐾 Donna Williams,
Emerald Park Border Collies.
www.emeraldparkbc.com

"My mission is to make life better for at least one dog today!"

For sale.

Used for a short while, in pawfect 🐾🐾 condition.

€60