Rebels with Paws
Those weeks of careful monitoring have finally paid off - you're now the
proud caretaker of a housebroken pup! But wait, is that a yellow stain partway
up the drapes? And after you unclip Rex's leash in the dog run, and he
maniacally bounds around for 45 minutes, it still takes a 10-minute game of
"Catch Me If You Can" to get him back on-leash to go home. What
gives? Your puppy has grown into a teenager.
The wide world of Spot's
From the age of 6 to 18 months, your dog undergoes adolescence - that gawky
stage between puppyhood and adulthood. Physically, your dog has his adult
teeth but still needs to chew on hard toys to properly set the teeth in his
jawbone. That cottony puppy coat is falling out during one tremendous shedding
cycle, allowing the adult coat to grow in. He has almost reached his adult
height, but for now is all loose elbows and gangly movement.
And what movement! During adolescence, the domestic canine resembles a
perpetual-motion machine that requires super-human stamina to wear out. It's a
good idea to find your pup a friendly pack of other canine adolescents to run
with in the safety of an urban dog run or suburban fenced-in yard. If your dog
lacks canine friends, send him or her out with your resident human teen to
fetch a frisbee or go in-line skating.
Tiring out your canine teen will also save wear and tear on your abode.
Chewing often results when a bored, anxious or curious dog is allowed the run
of the house. For the canine adolescent, boredom and curiosity can lead to
major household damage via chewing, digging and general re-organization. This
damage could largely be avoided if caretakers would simply continue to confine
their dog in a training crate or dog-proof room whenever no one is around to
monitor canine investigations. Canine teens are not yet capable of the
consistency it takes to earn the run of the place unsupervised.
Those paws, those eyes...that smell!
Hormones also play a major role in your canine's adolescence. Most dogs
become sexually mature at 8 to 12 months of age; at this time, females will
experience their first estrus (heat) cycle and males will begin to lift their
legs and show interest in "the ladies." By spaying or neutering
early (usually before the dog is 7 months old), you can save yourself and your
dog such varied experiences as increased indoor urination (females in heat
will do this to advertise for suitors; for intact males it's a way of marking
territory), inter-dog aggression (primarily between dogs of the same sex who
are compelled to 'fight off the competition'), and the complete loss of
attention span that attends raging hormones. This is not to mention accidental
matings, false pregnancies and the male teen's need to taste-test female
urine...
Remedying Rover's memory loss
An adolescent, even a neutered one, will experience occasional lapses in
attention. At times he may look at you as though you just addressed him in
Mandarin, trying to convince you that you have never before in his lifetime
uttered "SIT!" Handle these lapses the same way you would with an
untrained dog. Take a step or two backward in your training program and
re-teach him the command by luring or placing him into the requested position.
Be sure to make it worth his while with the use of positive reinforcement.
Keep his focus on you, using favorite toys and treats as lures. And keep your
training sessions short and functional, always ending with a game or playtime.
If you take away the fun, he or she will show even less interest.
In order to get through your dog's adolescence, remember to
provide plenty of exercise, continue to crate/confine when he or she is
unattended, spay or neuter, and keep your training sessions fun. And by all
means, hang on to your sense of humor at all times. Though your pup may try
your patience, take heart - adolescence is one thing your dog is guaranteed to
outgrow!
