Barney, Sarah’s 23 week old puppy, lay under the bed just out of her reach, growling at her. He’d stolen a sock from the laundry basket she was folding and when Sarah tried to get it back, he’d jumped away from her, ran upstairs and secreted himself in his hidey hole. Again. For the third time this week.
Sarah was flummoxed. To be honest, she was a bit afraid of Barney growling. But her friend had told her she mustn’t let Barney win – she must show him who’s boss. What should she do?
Such a common problem. The cute, cuddly puppy you got 15 weeks ago has turned into a gangly, obnoxious monster who seems to spend their time just doing things to annoy you.
Just like humans, puppies go through a sulky teenage phase. It can
start any time from around 18 weeks onwards and lasts until your pup becomes an
adult, at perhaps 18 months or even 2 years old.
Your pup goes through a maelstrom of hormonal surges and can test your patience
to the limit at this stage.
They’ll often forget things they’d previously aced:
– you ask them to sit and they look at you as if they’ve never heard the word
before
– you call them back on the beach and they look – then decide to run off
– you find your precious belongings stolen and chewed, just when you thought
things were safer
– you feel like they’re testing you every step of the way
– they have the attention span of a goldfish – and can easily get bored
When my children were teenagers I still loved them to bits – but I often didn’t like them very much. Sulky tantrums are very wearing and test your patience to the limit.
You need oil well depths of patience to deal with your teenage pooch.
Tempting though it is, there’s no point shouting and swearing. You need to use your clever human brain to work out better strategies:
– several short (5 minute) training sessions rather than long ones
– use play to train and build in lots of scent games and tricks
– teach them that “leave” and “fetch” bring wonderful rewards
For example, Sarah could call Barney and reward his obedience with some tasty treats – then go and collect the stolen sock later on.
Keep training!
Carol