Episode #34 Thriving In or Surviving Adolescence?

Puppies grow into teenagers quite quickly! You'll notice when your puppy's entered this phase based on his sudden new interests, trying new behaviors and increase in energy. Here are a few tips on surviving - I mean - thriving in adolescence! 

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speaker 0:   0:00
This is The Puppy Training Podcast Episode #34: Thriving In Or Surviving Adolescence? This podcast is for those looking to train their own dog, whether as a family companion, a service, or a therapy dog, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is The Puppy Training Podcast, and I'm your host, Amy Jensen.  

speaker 0:   0:23
Hello, how's your week going everyone? I hope you're having a great week and I hope your dogs are happy and that you're doing well with training. I'm excited to talk about adolescents today. This is something that we all go through if we are raising a puppy and it can be a little bit challenging and a little bit of a patience tester, so I'm going to give you a few tips today on either surviving and hopefully thriving through the adolescent phase of your dog. But first I wanna give a shout out to some of my new members of our Online Puppy School. I know their podcast listeners, so I want to tell Anna, Kirstie, Bailey, Shaina, and Mandy, welcome. I'm super excited to meet you guys, and I hope to see you during office hours soon. If you haven't signed up for those yet, get on that. I would love to meet you and your puppies and work with you via video. So if you are interested in getting some puppy training, help check out our site, www.BaxterandBella.com. That's where we run our Online Puppy  School, and we teach you everything we do with puppies on a daily basis via written lesson plans, some homework, video how-to's, classes, and more. So, if you're interested in puppy training, help check that out. I would love to have more of you in our Online Puppy School.  

speaker 0:   1:36
All right, let's get into adolescence. This is a topic that is very easy to talk about for me today, because Boots, our sweet, little service dog in training is seven months old this week, and he is definitely in the thick of adolescence. I shouldn't say the thick of it. He really is just starting out in that phase, but it is very evident that were there. We have reached it, so I'm gonna share with you some of the things that I do with him on a daily basis that just helps manage the situation but also keep our training going along so that he's learning new things, and that we're strengthening things that he's been taught, but then some of these behaviors that are new that are cropping up, we put an end to them the second they start. Let's get into that. How is an adolescent dog different than a puppy? What are the behaviors that suddenly I can tell Boots is an adolescent? How do I know this? A few things are different.  

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Number one: territory suddenly matters. Before, when he was a brand new puppy, people would come to our home, he was just happy, go lucky, didn't really care that anyone was here, just happy to see people. But now he's very alert. If somebody knocks on the door suddenly he's like, 'Who's at my house? Somebody's here', and he wants to let us know someone's here so barking starts in this phase. A lot of times people will tell me 'O my dog doesn't bark', and then that puppy hits adolescence and they're like 'my dog is barking all of a sudden', so that vocalization sometimes waits to show its face until the adolescent period, but it's because things like this start happening to the dog. The territory suddenly matters.  

speaker 0:   3:08
Also in adolescence, sexual maturity has reached, so it's very evident to me that Boots is getting there. He gets aroused very easily, and his hormone levels, his excitement levels, all of these things kind of surface together, and you could almost just tell when he just can't even focus. He's just beyond the point of focusing, because his arousal state is so high. That, again, is not always sexual. Sometimes it's just a stress level or an emotional state, but his arousal levels get higher and higher, and part of this is due to his sexual maturity; there is that hormone issue as well.  Depending on the day in the time, he's probably experiencing different emotions and feelings, but much like teenage humans, where we all go through days of highs and lows, and we are excited or not excited, or we're sad, or were really happy, and we're just kind of all over the place, a little bit like a roller coaster, you can tell that the dogs go through this a little bit as well.  

speaker 0:   4:01
Another part of adolescence is that the dogs are suddenly interested in other things besides you. You used to be your puppy's favorite thing. If you disappeared, the puppy would almost panic and say, 'Hey, word she go?' and try to find you. You're out on a off leash walk and you disappear behind a tree, the puppies like 'Oh, no, where did she go? Let's go find her.' But now, as they mature into this adolescent phase, they might be more interested in sniffing the tree or the bush, or chasing the bird of the squirrel than paying attention to where you are. That's going to be a big game changer as well when we talk about the recall.  

speaker 0:   4:34
Puppies in this phase also start to test some boundaries. They might try some new behaviors that they've never tried before. Barking is one of them that we already mentioned. They might try to bark for things. They might try to counter surf. That's where your puppy puts his paws up on a counter or a table and tries to steal food. If that dog can steal something and he gets heavily rewarded for that, or even just a little bit rewarded for that, that behavior will continue. Unfortunately, that's one of those behaviors that becomes very addictive because it's only rewarded some of the time. That intermittent reinforcement schedule, unfortunately, does not play to our advantage here for us, because if our puppy gets something off the counter once and then maybe 10 times, he gets nothing, he will continue to try for that one time that he got something. So again, testing boundaries, trying to figure out if they can get away with certain behaviors, that also surfaces in this adolescent phase.  

speaker 0:   5:31
Lastly, more energy. You'll notice your dog has more energy during the day, he sleeps less, he's he's really just a busy body, and he's into things if we don't manage his day and give him a really good schedule. All of these things are changes that your dog's going through. He's going to grow out of this. This is a phase just like the puppy biting/mouthing phase. Our teenage kids go through this phase, much like the toddlers go through the toddler phase or the terrible twos. So remember that and keep that in your mind as your puppy hits this phase because this can be one of those really trying phases. It tests our patience. A lot of us start to question why we got a dog in the first place. More dogs air surrendered in the adolescent phase in any other phase of a dog's life. Keep that in the back of your mind that it is a phase. Your dog will grow out of this. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and life will get better. I don't want you to think that's all terrible either. Adolescents are so much fun. Think of teenage kids if you have them in your home. Some of those are my favorite experiences, having the teenagers over. They're so fun to be around, they're so lively. There's so many good things about teenagers as well. So same thing with the dog phase. Your dog is a teenager. There are so many good things about him as well. There's just some things that start to change and maybe test our patience a little more than we like.  

speaker 0:   6:47
What can we do about it? First of all, I go to management. While I'm training new behaviors or while I'm strengthening behaviors that I like my dog to have, it's very important that I'm managing his behavior so that he's not practicing things that I don't want to get stronger. For example, I don't want counter surfing to become something that he regularly does. If I have a puppy that's regularly jumping on the counter or putting his paws up to try to steal something, I need to manage that situation while I continue to train a stronger leave-it, a go-to-bed, or a wait so that he's staying out of my kitchen, whatever I choose to do or however I choose to train that, I need to be managing it at the same time as I'm training the new behavior. If we don't manage it, if we just keep training, then he's going to keep practicing this and it's going to get stronger and stronger, and even though we're training on the other end, it's kind of going to be a mess. So it's really important when we're working on teaching behaviors, like a leave-it, an off or a go-to-bed, et cetera, we want to make sure that we're limiting and really managing his behaviors, so he's not able to practice the unwanted behavior.  

speaker 0:   7:59
We're also gonna talk about keeping up training, because there are really good behaviors that we can continue to strengthen and lengthen for our dogs as they move into that adolescent phase. The benefit is that they have a longer attention span. They're able to do things for longer. There stays are going to be longer than seconds now, which is great news. We can tell him to go-to-bed or do some of that mat work, and he's going to be able to stay on the mat and the bed longer than he was in the puppy phase. There are benefits, but make sure that we have a way to reinforce what we're asking our dog to do, and we'll touch on that a little bit.  

speaker 0:   8:34
The last one we're gonna touch on is keeping them busy. It's really important that we give them a daily schedule.  

speaker 0:   8:39
Let's go back to management for just a second. Those of the three that were going to kind of walk through for today. But management, one of my favorite things for an adolescent dog is to just tether him to me. At this point, he has some really good leash skills. We've been working really hard the past few months on loose leash walking. We've tried it inside the home. We've done it outside the home, Boots is a service dog in training, so we've gone to many public places. We've gone in stores, elementary schools, colleges, all over the place, just practicing this loose leash walking. I wouldn't say he's a master at it, but he's pretty darn good. Because of that, now I can tether him to me. I like to just use a really thin, half inch leash, lightweight, with a small carabiner that I can clip to the buckle on my Levi's or my jeans, and then he's just attached to me. They also make some really nice leashes where you buckle it around you and then like a bungee leash is attached to you so that you don't have to hold the leash as you move, and then as your dog circles around you, it just rotates around you. So the carabiner's kind of fixed, and sometimes you get a little more tangled up, but if you like to save money than that, might be a great a great option. But you can go purchase the leash that goes around your waist, and then it just kind of circles if your dog tends to circle around you. Either way, it's a great management tool. It does a couple things. Number one, it's going to prevent any kind of behavior that your dog was recently practicing. By having them tether to you, he is a foot to two feet away from you all day long or however long that he's being tethered to you. As you move, he moves. When you stop, he can sit or lie down. It's really beneficial because if he goes to put his paws on the counter, you can interrupt it the second it happens, or even before he does it. If you can tell that he's going to do it or you can see that he's thinking about it, you can interrupt it before it actually even happens. It also helps with the loose leash walking, because he just becomes aware of you. He knows when you're starting, when you're stopping, he's gonna pay attention and become so fine tuned into your minute body movements that you'll notice as you take him out on a regular leash walk, it will be better. He's just used to going and following your paces, how fast or slow you're moving, when you're sitting down, when you're standing up, he will be very in tune with you. So I love this management tool. It also helps for things like humping. Let's say that your dog is highly aroused lately and you have guests coming over, and that's the first thing he wants to do. That's a pretty embarrassing problem for some of us, and we don't want that to happen. We don't want our doctor continue to do that whenever somebody comes over, so having him tethered to you and that doorbell rings, he's not able to dash to the door and bark. He's not able to hump your guest. He's not able to do anything that you're not wanting him to do, he's literally right by you. It's almost like you're a team, but you're one. You're walking together wherever you go, and you're able to really manage the things that he gets into. Lastly, about tethering, I love it also because in this phase they are such busybodies, and they're they're testing things, and they're trying to find things to entertain themselves with. This is a lot of times they're getting into our laundry, they're getting into whatever's lying around that they're not supposed to have and they'll steal something, and then they'll take off and run and try to chew it somewhere where we can't see them, so tethering them to you prevent all of that as well. It's just a really good tool that I use a lot when it's adolescence.  Marking is another behavior that sometimes crops up in adolescence, where even females will do this. If they're tethered to you, that likelihood goes down. That usually is a quick phase as well, they'll try it a couple times and then they're done. but tethering them to you and just keeping that really close eye on them during adolescence is really important so they don't start to get some unwanted behaviors and undo all of that house training that you've been so diligently working on with these young puppies, so tether, you guys. I promise it's a great method and has more benefits than just managing the adolescent behaviors.  

speaker 0:   12:43
Keep training. Your puppy by now has some really good foundational skills, and this is the phase where we can start to lengthen and strengthen all of those behaviors. What used to be a 20 second stay now is minutes, and we can start adding all of those four D's. The distance, the duration, that distractions, the difficulties. We can really up the game in these areas, making things harder, continually just trying to test our puppy and see how well he can stay in place or in a stay or in his crate without coming through the doorway, or in await command, all of these things can get stronger and better, and your puppies able to handle it, so keep training. Anything that you've started with him as a puppy, make it part of your day to go through his routine and then start to incorporate that training into everyday life. As a puppy, sometimes we get focused on doing just three training sessions a day. Let's do sit down, stay, come, touch, all of these things, but now, as they get older and they're better, let's really challenge ourselves to say, 'How can I train throughout the day? What kinds of things can I get my dog to do while I make my bed, while I brush my teeth, while I eat my breakfast, while I answer emails?', and mix it up for them. Really incorporate them into part of your day. The best part of that is because they're adolescents, they have more energy, they're not sleeping as much of the day, and they are busy, we're wearing them out mentally and physically, by asking them to do obedient things throughout the day. We're giving them cues of things we want them to do, and by giving them those cues were actually giving them a job to do throughout the day. They're not just sitting around wondering what to do it themselves, they're not able to really even get into trouble because they're occupied, their mind is occupied, their body is occupied, and they're working with you. It's beautiful. It's really a fun experience for Boots and I had to go through the day together, and when I sit down to do things, he'll just lay at my feet. I always give my dogs, especially if they're tethered to you, give them some awareness of using verbal cues so that it's not such a surprise when you stand up. If they're lying on the floor say, 'Hey, are you ready to go Boots?' or 'Hey, let's go!', just so that they know we're standing up. Give them a second to stand up, be very respectful about it, but you really do become a team and it's a really fun experience to go through your day as a team.  

speaker 0:   15:12
Along with the training, make sure that you have this way to reinforce things you're asking for. Going back to that concept of adolescence, maybe don't necessarily care as much about where you are or what you're doing as they did when they were a young puppy, so if you're practicing recalls, if you have a dog that's out in the yard, and there's no way that you have to reinforce that recall, such as a leash or a long line, then you have to be pretty careful about when you ask your puppy to come. If he's more interested in something else and you're not as motivating as whatever else you're competing with, he'll probably choose the other route. So I like to, when I'm working on recalls, put my dog on a long line. I'll put them on a 20 foot 30 foot lead, usually just really small, 1/2 inch thick, so it's a lightweight thing they can drag around, then, when I want to call them back to meal, step on one end of it, give them the recall, act exciting, turn my body sideways, do all of the things that we've talked about previously on getting your puppy to want to come to you, and then when they come to you can reward them. At this point, you can use praise, you can use a game, you can use a squeaky toy, whatever your puppy loves. Some dogs love a belly rub. Some dogs like their ears rubbed. You can really start to mix it up in this phase, you don't have to use food rewards every single time. Give your puppy what do he loves and then say, 'You know what? Awesome job things for coming. Go back and play, release'. Whatever you say for your release word, and do that over and over and over again, where they come in and check in with you, you give them a reward, they get to go off and play again. That 10 to 1 rule is really important. But by all means and his adolescent phase. Keep training, set some goals. How long can I get the down-stay to be by the end of this week? How long can I get my dog to lay on his mat by the end of the week? Set some really concrete goals that you can measure, write the times down, and then each day you'll have something to work on and that will give you focus for your day.  

speaker 0:   17:07
Lastly, let's keep them busy. Give them something to do. Dogs need a job to do. They need to have fulfillment in their day, so boredom busters, puzzles, making sure that you're staying on a routine. Getting up in the morning, maybe you go on a walk first thing in the mornings. That's the other thing in this phase is walks can be a little longer. Now they can tolerate more. Not too long, remember, their joins aren't fully developed until about 18 months, so we don't want to push them too far. But you can go on longer walks. Before, with a young puppy on loose leash walking, we're zigzagging, we're happy if we make it 20 feet in one direction and then 20 feet it in the other direction. Now you're leash skills are probably pretty good that you can go on some longer walks. Play dates. Have some neighbor dogs over that are friendly. Make sure that they meet with a barrier first, and you can see how they interact with each other and make sure that it's going to be a safe play date, but find dogs in your neighborhood who are friendly and maybe the same age who would want to run around and play and get some of that extra energy out with your dog. Chews, toys, giving them some regular crate time. I continue to use the crate daily for the life of my dog. If I'm in the kitchen, I want my dog to be able to go in his crate, lie down, and relax. I don't want a dog that will sit and bark at me or wine at me because he's in his crate. My dogs love their crates. When they have nap time or downtime, they find their crate and go in it on their own, so I keep that up. That's something that I give my dogs every day. We have some crate time, they go in there, they chew a bone, they relax, they sleep, and they know I'll be back to let them out later. That routine is really important.  

speaker 0:   18:47
All right, so using those things: management, keep training, and set those goals like we talked about, and then keep them busy. Give them things to do. Having structure to your day will really help you guys thrive in adolescence, and you won't feel just like your surviving. If you guys have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. You can find me on Instagram, I'm on Facebook, you can also go to my site. Send me an email to info at BaxterandBella.com and put podcast question in the subject line, and I'll see it pretty quickly. Happy training, and I'll talk to you next week. If you have a question about anything you've heard on this podcast or any other puppy training questions, visit my site BaxterandBella.com to contact me.