Adolescent Dog Problems: Heeling, Bullying, Fighting
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The hardest time for most puppy owners is when their dog enters the FEAR stage at 6 months, or the CRAZY stage at 9-10 months. Most people are unprepared for the emotional turmoil their dog will go through.
The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath. We’ve all been there. It will pass. Now that you are calm we can start taking a practical look at the problem.
- Puppies will do what they get away with
- Puppies mimic what they see and hear
- Puppies are full of energy that must be burned off
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[one_half]We have uploaded a series of tutorials that you can download and print off. Put them where you can see them. The tutorials are not complete lessons, but are designed to give you a direction to go in.
If you are in any of our courses you have the rest of the information in your course.
- Puppies need daily impulse control lessons
- Puppies need daily frustration control lessons
- Bored puppies are annoying puppies
- Frustrated puppies are energetic [/one_half]
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The problem with many adolescent dogs is that we treated them like cuddle toys, and amusements when they were 8 weeks to 6 months. We didn’t teach them the basic skills. Then we wanted them to suddenly act ‘grown up.’ Where were they suppose to learn the skills needed? What you need to teach an adolescent dog:[columns]
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- Manners
- Patience
- Calm
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- Impulse Control
- Frustration Tolerance
- Self Relaxation
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- Respect
- Deference
- Waiting
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[/columns]After obedience class these are the things you need to teach. These are to be a part of the dog’s daily routine. As I write this my Hemmi and Carlos are laying down at my feet. They need to be calm and relaxed or they cannot stay with me.
Look at it this way, if you wouldn’t tolerate a behavior from your child, a boyfriend, or work colleague – then don’t tolerate it from your dog. The difference is, you cannot talk to a dog. And, a dog cannot understand the difference between rude and polite. In fact, a lot of behaviors that we find annoying and dangerous are ‘friendly’ and ‘acceptable’ between dogs.
Here are a few tutorials to help answer ‘Why does my dog do this’, ‘What is wrong with my dog’, ‘Why doesn’t training work?’ and others.
Click to download the tutorials
(More tutorials to come)