Adolescent Dogs

Do you have a puppy or adolescent dog?

Welcoming a puppy into the home is such an exciting time, especially as they learn about their world around them! As they start to mature, they are entering the adolescent phase, which can begin at around 6 months of age. Like teenagers, this phase involves hormonal changes and brain development, which can affect decision making and impulsivity. This can make everyday life a lot more challenging for them (and the family!) Like humans, they can struggle to regulate their own emotions as they can perceive stimulus differently. This can show in not responding to cues they use to, fear responses to things like noises, dogs or strangers and even not being able to cope in environments they previously used to.

This phase can play a huge part in training as it can affect the path you take. It’s not uncommon to hear from families that once adolescence started, they noticed undesired behaviours developing.

Why does it seem like responsiveness has declined?

It can seem like all of a sudden your dog is not responding to cues they use to, such as coming back when called. So why is this? During this part in development, they experience increased independence and a stronger desire to explore. The part of the brain responsible for decision making, the prefrontal cortex, is still developing, while the part of their brain responsible for regulating emotions, the amygdala, is developed, causing an imbalance in the brain.

What we want to help our adolescent dogs learn, especially during this time, includes:

Confidence growth
Relationship building
Disengagement skills
Self-regulation

How do we do this:

We try to help them practice calm and desired behaviours and reduce rehearsal of undesired behaviours
Meeting their biological needs, this also involves breed specific needs
Ensuring they have appropriate physical activity each day
Incorporate management where necessary
Incorporate confidence-building activities into their routine through positive training, games and nose works for example
Introduce opportunities for your dog to practice self-regulation
One of the most important things we can do is have some compassion for them! They are not being ‘stubborn’, their brain is going through a normal part of development, where they explore independence. Keep working on your bond, this is extremely important in helping them through.

Adolescence can be a challenging time for families and often a time where new behaviour struggles pop up, but you are not alone!

Dogs learn best when they’re under threshold and calm enough to take in new information. That’s why we start training in familiar environments, building on skills and confidence there before introducing new places with different smells and sounds, as it can be quite overwhelming for them.

While this phase can be challenging at times, try not to be disheartened, it is completely normal to have your bad days, we all do! If we can start to understand that our dogs are going through some pretty massive developmental changes, it can help us have a better understanding of the behaviours we are seeing and how we can best help them.

Please reach out to seek further guidance and support!