- Go_Fetch_It: Minimise the chances your dog has to pracitise the wrong behaviour, & maximise his chances of practising good behaviour that can b rewarded.
(about 12 hours ago)
Click here to search our siteA is for Adolescence !
Well seeing a
s it has been nearly a whole year since I wrote a blog post I thought it was about time!!! An why not tackle the rather topical subject of canine adolescence, whilst my own, young Mac, is seemingly going through the very worst of it!
In the last few months family, friends and fellow dog trainers have noticed some rather bizarre and uncharacteristic behaviour coming from Mac. The once obedient, loyal and sensible puppy has transformed into a brainless, fumbling, sniffing obsessed, sometimes anti-social (loves to wee on everything..) fool.
What happened you may ask… Mac is now approaching the grand old age of 1 and a half… and in Dobermann years (who I have been told don’t grow up until they are at least 3) is in the midst of Adolescence. What does that mean for rather large, entire male dog? See below bullet points and if you can recognise any or all of the behaviour in your young male dog then perhaps you too need to swat up on dealing with canine adolescence:
- Sniffing is now the most enjoyable thing to do- especially if lady dogs have left their mark.
- Sniffing is often accompanied by chit chat noises with the teeth, then followed by drooling and salivating.
- Any lamp post/wall/bush/tree is now a designated toilet unless otherwise told so.
- Selective hearing when lady dogs are about, or when he is otherwise consumed in another dogs bottom.
- Likes to show his size and stature off to approaching dogs, then whimpers away when he realises he is not so brave.
- We have days, sometimes weeks where everything is once again scary despite seeing it all before.
- He loons around as if someone has extracted all his brains and replaced them with sawdust.
- He daily tries his luck on getting up on the Sofa without me seeing, then pretends he can’t hear me when I tell him to get off.
- He has decided that human bottoms are also worth a sniff which makes for embarrassing walks and greetings with friends.
- He has forgotten what it means to walk on a loose lead- opting for pulling instead.. not so quick mate.. we are now having headcollar walks.
- I could go on but you would be bored to death!!!
How does all this make me feel? Frustrated, tired and sometimes putting him into the local paper in the ‘free to a good home’ section (jokes).. I am sure any of you reading this with teenage children can perhaps also relate to it (perhaps not the nose up dogs bottoms bit..!!). What am I going to do about it I hear you cry.. simply back to basics. Back to foundations of training, focus work, making him earn a few more of his privileges and training, training, training!!!
