Nelly is 9 and 1/2 months old now which I cannot believe! She is so lovely a lot of the time but she is really testing me at the moment. Is it normal for dogs to be like this around this age. Is adolescence and hormones etc a real thing in dogs and does it affect their behaviour? Will I turn this corner? How can I make it easier and less stressful? I'm struggling with her barking at me, jumping up and biting occasionally on walks, stealing EVERYTHING, running from sofa to sofa, ignoring my instructions. *sigh* I love her but I am really having an awful time with her at the minute. Any advice is welcomed!? X
Things will get better! Last week I read through the posts I made on this forum when Molly was around 7 to 15 months and I was so surprised as I'd completely forgotten about some of the problems we'd had. One of the best pieces advice I was given was to play with my dog when out walking. It really worked as a way of engaging Molly with me, focusing her attention and making me the centre of her world. She is now sometimes willing to play with other dogs if they instigate it (and is never aggressive) but really prefers to play with me. I also tried a few different dog activities - I did some gundog training and a short period of flyball (which didn't really appeal to Molly) as well as obedience classes. I think the jumping up and grabbing at you is likely to be a bid for attention and so by planning some activities to do together perhaps you can preempt it. I do think it is very common at this age - if you browse through posts you'll see lots of people have had the same experience. As regards the stealing, I worked regularly at 'leave it' as a planned exercise and when Molly took things she shouldn't have I swapped them for a treat. She did grow out of it - I can now leave my tea towels hanging within reach again!
Yes, you will turn this corner. I agree with @Joy about getting their attention on walks, I've recently been applying this with Cassie and seeing the difference. How about teaching boundary games? I don't know if you have heard of Absolute Dogs training, but they have a training video/ebook showing how to basically learn self control and remain on their bed, mat or whatever until given the release cue. I can't do links and things but someone on here my be along to help.
Thankyou for your reassurance. I've been practicing keeping her on her mat untill I tell her she can get off, so I'll continue that.
I'll continue to try and make her walks more interesting, I'll have a read through others threads. Thankyou
Her hormones are definately raging. It is the adolescent phase and you might need to Ho back to basics for some things as she may forget what she has been taught. Keeping her mind busy with puzzles games, hiding treats etc will help. This phase will pass.........the when can vary from dog to dog!
