The Unpopular Truth About Your Puppy’s "Teenage Phase"

As a

puppy

owner, you've probably noticed a lot of little training challenges arise along the way. And a very common training challenge is the

teenage

phase

. The good news is that this happens to almost all puppies. So you're not in a unique position, but the bad news is that if you don't know how to train through this situation, you can really improve

your

training in today's video. We're going to hear Kayl and Instructor Meg talk about Meg's one-year-old

puppy

named Highlight. They're going to talk about the fact that there are actually two times in

your

puppy's life where training naturally becomes a little more challenging.

By the end of this video, you will be able to identify what some of these challenges are and how to plan for them. And most importantly, how to train through them. I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann Dogs. Here at McCann dogs. We've helped over a hundred thousand dog owners overcome the same dog training challenges as you. So if this is your first time on the channel, be sure to hit the subscribe button so I can help you have a well-behaved four-legged family member. The stage of adolescence is a real thing. And there are a couple of times in your dog's life when he will probably go through that, sometimes around four months and then around seven months.

And today we're going to talk to Meg. She is one of our lead instructors and our online trainers here. And she actually she has a young Border Collie about 11 months old. And we're going to talk about some examples that you went through with her in those two particular

phase

s, what she did, how she handled it, and what our viewers at home can do to stop it with her dogs. Now, you guys might remember the highlight of her when she was a puppy because I actually borrowed her a few times to use in our video, and she was a great little puppy.

She was eager to work. I had her for about 10 or 11 weeks and she was also happy to do whatever I wanted for Meg. And then when she was probably about four or five months old, you started doing a little bit more with her. And what kinds of things did you notice different about her at that age compared to when she was a puppy? Yes. So the most important things would be when she was very young, it was usually just me and her, and the amount of stimulation, the amount of movement and even keeping the environment calm.

Everything was easier. She usually trained at my house or in environments with little distraction. And then all of a sudden it hit me and it was a great thing. Just one of the things I love about her. She started noticing things more and she liked it. She then noticed other people, she noticed other dogs and became very confident in new situations, but that actually made it more difficult to train because she wanted to look for all those things. Instead of just thinking that I was the most exciting thing in her world. Yes. I think it's very common for that to happen with everyone's puppy and one common thing that people do is they get carried away by the enthusiasm of the puppies, and then we do things like, let the puppies bring us closer to others. dogs, or we let our puppies do this.

And we let her puppies do that because we thought, Oh, look how bold they are. This is great. And then what happens is we start to develop or we allow the puppy to start to rehearse behaviors that we don't really want when they're older. We don't want, you know, a four-month-old puppy to be very different from a three-year-old dog. That still shows those same behaviors. So what kinds of things did you notice her doing and what did you do to fix them? Yes, so for her movement was the biggest distraction. She thought that anything that moved was what she needed to get involved with.

So when I took her to class for the first time, when she was about five months old, I noticed that she really lacked concentration since the other dogs in the class were moving around. And what I tried to do is make sure that even with those new distractions, I could still control her to bring her back to me. So I made a lot of decisions that some of our students wouldn't even think about making. When I was in class, I chose to sit at the back so I wouldn't be surrounded by other dogs. She probably brought five or six different kinds of candy.

And she also knew that food wasn't really what she liked most. That's why she always brought a toy to class. That's why I always tried to set myself up for success. So she had reinforcement number one of hers. Yes. And those types of tactics can also be applied when you take your puppy to a new setting, maybe taking him to the park for the first time, or taking him to a friend's house or whatever you're doing. . When you go to that new location, consider how many difficult challenges you could give your pup at once. Are they rounded in the environment of new people?

How much freedom are you giving them? Are they at leisure? Are they off leash? That is why it is very important to prepare them for success. I knew I was in a busy environment, something new. So I was armed with lots of reinforcements that I knew would help the dog make good decisions. So think about how to set your pup up for success and then make sure you're ready to change things up. If you have to, go to the park at the busiest times of the day, when there are kids running around and dogs running around, yes.

It may not be the best time to do your training sessions, maybe choose a quieter time, maybe go a little further away, bring your high value food so you can start taking advantage of the success instead of allowing the puppy learn. from the beginning to make bad decisions. Basically, you need to anticipate problems and be prepared to attack them. Now, it's very important for you to know that everyone goes through these phases of adolescence with their four-month-old, seven-month-old puppy, you know, they become a professional dog trainer. He has made some fantastic decisions with his dog, but he still went through small periods of time where he had to evaluate the situation and make some different decisions for his puppy.

And you will have to do exactly the same. Now we talked a little about four months, but we're also going to talk about the most challenging one. And that's when puppies reach about seven months or that threshold where the puppy started to be less of a puppy and more, you know, becoming an adult dog. And the hardest part about this is that he may have had a series of months where things have gone really well. And now what the puppies are going to do is deliberately test you, even though they may know how to make better decisions, they may start testing the limits a little more.

So let's talk a little about what that period is like and what you can do to get through it successfully. She is about to turn one year old. So she's been in and out and she may be back in, in a bit of a

teenage

phase. So what, some of the things you noticed most about her when she entered that kind of irritable adolescent phase, yeah. For her, she is exceptionally friendly if you realize that. And that's actually with people and dogs, and that's one of the things I love most about it, but I know it's also going to become one of my challenges.

She probably started walking with my children when she was seven or eight months old. Because until that moment, she did everything herself. And she started fabulously. She was great, everything was wonderful. She was listening. I had a long line on her for the first moment. And then it seemed like every time he called her in response to her name, come command, she went crazy every time. And I got a little confident and took the line off completely. And she suddenly she reached this phase. And the next thing you know, I called her and, in the middle of the road, I'll never forget this.

She literally looked at me, looked back, saw the boys running and gave me peace. Mom ran down the trail and blew me away. And it was probably the first time this preparation had a chance to get it wrong. She had been right. Many times I thought she didn't know that ignoring her name was an option, but apparently she did. And she did it again with a squirrel in the backyard. And at that point she could have let that go on and on for weeks and weeks and weeks. And then it probably would have become a big problem.

Instead, the line was back up and running and I actually trained it for a while with just my old dog. That's a little less exciting. It doesn't move that fast. Don't act so stupid. And when I saw that she could respond wonderfully with Swift at age 13, I started including a different dog. And finally, she has now reintegrated back into the pack. The three of them can walk together. No problem. And her answers are to blow this up, Lou. Yes. One of the things that makes this seem very normal to us as dog trainers, but is actually quite unique, is that you didn't actually have your dog walk, run, play, and walk with your older dogs until The dog was eight months old. .

So, it was seven months or five months of non-stop stuff between the puppy and Meg, so initially when he started integrating the dogs, the puppy was making big decisions because that's all he ever knew. And then what happens sometimes is that everything goes smoothly for a while? And then the puppy starts to leave, he waits a second. There are other dogs here, he waits a second. There are squirrels. And then they start making bad decisions. And this is what makes sense. This is where many people get it wrong. They let those bad decisions happen over and over again.

And now all those wonderful things that happened for a while have disappeared because we have allowed the dog to seek reinforcement in other areas. So there's a good lesson here and that is that once we see a hint of a problem, we need to reduce it, get back on track, get back to some of our training so that things don't end up getting worse. So we talked about the recall and some outside control and how that is resolved. But what about things like being in the house, you have a toddler, there's probably a lot going on in the house with a teenage dog?

What are some of the things you struggled with? And of course, how did you work through those things to make sure she was making good decisions? Yes. The biggest thing I noticed was that she was in a cage a lot more when she was younger. And then generally she started giving my dogs more and more free time at home. However, I still have expectations that they won't go crazy. That's just not something you can do. And one of the things I discovered was that when my son ran and played, he could handle a little less exciting situations.

So, for example, she did a lot of work lying on a dog bed, for example, while he and I were working on some puzzles, maybe he was doing some art at the table. Maybe we were just sitting around reading a book, things that were a little less exciting. If he was bombing my house with a cape on and screaming at the top of his lungs, being a typical three-year-old, which is what happens in my house, then I found that in those situations she struggled to make the right decision. option to stay in bed or stay calm and choose not to chase him and join in all the fun.

So this makes the kids and dogs example something I'm sure many of you can relate to, but maybe your teenage phases, you know, result in other behaviors that don't go as well at home. . Like, you know, maybe having accidents around the house again or chewing on your things, your shoes, whatever. You actually have a story about your brother's dog that came up recently. Yes absolutely. He was complaining to me that the day he was off due to COVID and worked from home longer for months. And he started giving his Husky more and more freedom in the house, mainly because he was there a lot and she could suddenly keep an eye on him now that he's back to work and that dog he had a lot more. freedom and he thought he was capable of handling that freedom, he has since proven that he cannot.

And one day he came home from work and the dog had chewed the baseboards while he was at work. I think he was chewing on some of the shoes in the hall closet, we're actually in the hallway, maybe he didn't put them in the closet, but anyway, they discovered then that this Husky had to be put back in the box . again. And he hasn't been in a cage in months, but unfortunately for his safety and the safety of his home, they've had to reestablish some new rules and some new routines. Again. I think it's also important to remember that, you know, sometimes people think, "Oh my God, I had to put my dog ​​back in the crate and I'm going backwards in my training," but that's not really what you have to do. think.

I think there will be many phases in your dog's life where you will give him a little freedom, things that will go well for you, and then he will make a mistake and then you will have to take that freedom away from him and then offer it again in a moment. And you might end up going back and forth and backtracking until, you know, you can't remember the last time they picked up shoes when they weren't supposed to, or you can't remember the last time they had them. an accident and the house telling you that they are ready for something like thatfreedom.

But I think people are also too eager to give their young dogs freedom and opportunities. And then you end up getting more bugs instead of them earning their freedom in the first place, or do you? Giving too much too quickly. We often hear about students who, for the first time, dropped off their dog and left it for an eight-hour period. Instead of the typical thing, what we would do is, okay, I'll try to leave my dog. They have never chewed anything. They haven't had any accidents in the house for a long time. Why don't I leave them loose while I shower?

Why don't I let them loose while I go down the street to get the mail? We do shorter increments of time. And we prepare for that instead of giving them a lot of time where they can be really creative with what they do while saying, well, I hope they're okay. Yes I hope. I have a coach when I get home. Yes absolutely. Definitely. Being able to make better decisions like that is important. And then being able to take away their freedom, which is not a fun thing to do, but like kids, sometimes you have to go back and offer it to them one more time, once you feel like they're making better decisions.

Another common topic we often hear from our online students is about a dog. That has been given a little more freedom in the house. Things like climbing on couches, climbing on beds sometimes without permission or sometimes once they are there, owners find it difficult to part with them again. And I'm not really sure how to deal with that because it's the first time the dog thinks he can make the decisions about some of these types of gifts around the house. And I think sometimes teenagers have a more natural curiosity, maybe they're taller and can see a little bit more of what's up there.

But I think it's also common for them to say, Oh, well, they actually didn't let me do this when I was four months old. But what about when he's seven months old? Do the rules still apply? So figuring those things out is really important for problems like that. Specifically jumping on the bed, jumping on the couch, maybe counter surfing, jumping to see what's on the counter. One of the things we really recommend that people do is get the dog back on a leash or cord in the house because those particular behaviors, among others, are very rewarding behaviors, which means that if you're not there to catch them in The act of doing so will be repeated over and over again, especially if they get up and take a nice nap on the couch or they may get up and steal a loaf of bread and grab it while you're not paying attention.

So having a leash on is going to be very, very important as supervision will obviously come in a busy household. I know that when we have a lot of things to do, there are certain things we use around the house to make supervision easier. What are some things you do at home to make your life easier? So you don't have to watch the dog all the time. Sure. My son's room is a hot topic right now. Overall, it's like a bomb went off in his playroom. Many times the game room and his bedroom. Sometimes I close those doors because I don't want to see what's there, but also because there are so many more temptations there than in any other room.

And I find that if I'm downstairs, I want to know that there's no chance she's going to climb into her bed to see what a stuffed animal tastes like. I don't think she would do any of those things, but I don't want to give her the chance to find out. So I restrict access to an entire floor of my house. I basically close all the bedroom doors, so safe. I could run up the stairs and see what's up there. She will find an empty hallway and usually go back down when she was a puppy, I just put a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs.

I didn't even let her go up and down the stairs. Yes, we do it somewhere. We use a lot of Baby Gates. We have a crate in a really central area of ​​our house so that if the puppy is being raised, the young dog is being created and things are happening in the house. They don't feel like they are being banished to the bedroom or the basement. They're still, you know, with the family and seeing how things happen. But they are in a controlled environment. The baby gets her lines super useful and her leash is super useful.

So if they grab something, the worst thing you can do is chase the dog. And the dog starts learning like it's a big game, catch me, which means you better believe they'll do it again. So being able to stop those things quickly and efficiently without getting angry, without raising your voice, and without chasing the dog will be a waste, showing leadership in a little more assertive and common way. And then, of course, you can redirect the dog to better options, but the goal is to adapt your house and adapt your structure so that it doesn't get into trouble.

And then you say, no, don't do that. And then they try this and you're like, no, don't make your day shouldn't be made up of a bunch of no, no, no, it should be more like, wow, what a great choice. Look, you offered to go lie down on your bed or sit quietly. You said something great earlier about training the dog on couches and beds and instead of waiting for him to make a mistake, what would you do differently? Yes absolutely. And in fact, the other day I was helping one of our online students with this: the puppy would jump on the couch every time he had a chance to walk by the living room.

And what we were really working on was getting the line on. And at first, we literally just walked by the couch and every time the puppy looked at the couch and decided not to jump up with just her, we would praise and reward him. And then we redirect them to a more appropriate place. We then redirected the puppy with that line, simply dragging him across the floor, toward the dog bed, at which point he was given a Kong or the next time he was given a bone. And I actually said, keep some, a little Tupperware or something close to that bed.

So every time his pup chooses to make that decision there, he will be reinforced for it. Yes. Basically, you take the reinforcement, which was originally naturally from the dog's perspective, jumping on the couch. And we're basically saying that that's not really rewarding. Following the bed is rewarding. That's where all the reinforcement comes from, our dogs in general always do things that are rewarding for them. And if you're not there to stop some of those things, not fun things for us, like jumping on the couch. If you're not there to stop things, your dog will naturally find them rewarding.

So the training we do needs to change the narrative, it needs to teach your dogs that by making other decisions that they may not consider well, by reinforcing them a lot, the dogs will tend to gravitate to improving them. options, which means going back to what I said before, you spend more time saying wild puppy, what a great choice and less time tearing your hair out and getting frustrated with your spoiled teenage dog. Good leadership can help you overcome this phase of adolescence. If you want to learn more about how to be a great leader for your pup, check out the card there.

If you have an adolescent dog at home and want a little more guidance on what to do, you can work with Meg and me online in our life skills program. The link is in the description below. And in that sense, I'm Kayl, I'm Meg. This is Highlight Happy Training.