Two of my clients asked me this same question. Both have adolescent rescue dogs that are driving them crazy! One dog claws at doors and gates, trying to shove through them, demand barks, surfs the low tables, and steals stuff, not wanting to give it up. The other dog HATES the crate and fights being in there, barking and screaming at the top of her lungs. If she's not in her crate though, she races around the room, literally climbs the walls and furniture knocking things over, biting like an alligator at hands/feet/arms that try to intervene to stop her from hurting herself. She, too, surfs surfaces, steals items, and can't be trusted alone for a second. Both owners were worried their dogs might be intellectually challenged and one thought her dog might even be deaf! For the record, neither dog is intellectually challenged and neither is deaf. They do, however, have selective hearing. Not uncommon for an adolescent dog!
Training an adolescent dog is all about the 3 P's; patience, persistence/perseverance, and positivity. If you get frustrated, give up before you've given the dog a chance to see that the rules you've established are in place for a reason, or routinely punish the dog, you'll lose them. It will indeed appear that they are unable to learn. Adolescent dogs, much like adolescent humans, need rules, structure, and a firm no-nonsense approach for best success. Here's what I told my clients to do and hopefully this will work for you too if you are at your wit's end with an adolescent dog!
1. Take a step back. Adolescent dogs may seem older and more self-sufficient, but they are still young and can easily get into trouble. They should be crated or confined if they can't be supervised. Don't leave them alone in the yard until they can use the yard properly (no jumping fences, digging inappropriately, eating plants, etc.) If your adolescent dog balks at the crate, consider a bigger crate, an exercise pen, or an outdoor run instead. And if that fails, tether them to you using the leash.
2. Keep them busy: A busy dog is a happy, tired dog. Don't feed adolescent dogs in a bowl. Make them work for their meals using interactive feeding toys like those from Busy Buddy, Starmark, Outward Hound, or Kong. If you like giving your dogs bones, a midday bone to chew on in their crate or x-pen will keep them happy and out of trouble.
3. Go for a walk: Adolescent dogs really shouldn't skip their walks. Even if you are busy, you need the break too. Take your adolescent dogs for frequent, short walks with an emphasis on sniffing and exploring.
4. Don't forget those naps: Adolescent dogs still need naps. If your dog is not hunkering down for a couple of really solid naps every day (one of my client's dogs surely wasn't!), then MAKE THEM NAP. Put them in their crate or x-pen in a room alone, turn on a fan, white noise machine or music, and let them be. They may fuss at first, but once they settle into that nap, they'll be much easier to control later on in the day.
5. Fun training sessions are best: Frequent, short, fun training sessions are the key to keeping an adolescent dog's attention. Don't be too repetitive or you'll lose them as well. Trick training is designed with the adolescent dog in mind. Even if they don't get the trick the first time you work on it, that's okay. You can try that trick again another day. Remember trick training capitalizes on basic "good manners" type behaviors put on a command. So, while pawing at people for attention is a no-no, offering a paw when someone says "Shake!" is good behavior. Likewise, leave it and drop it don't have to be boring/negative commands. If you teach drop it with toys and leave it with varying treats, you get a dog who likes to play "Let's Make a Deal!" They'll pick stuff up and head your way to see if you'll play trade with them. Playing trade is MUCH preferred to chasing them around to give something up or having them swallow something they shouldn't because they don't want you reaching into their mouths to retrieve it.
6. Let them know when they've screwed up: I'm not saying don't tell them that they've made a mistake when they jump the gate, knock over a table, or steal the remote. Definitely let them know that's not okay at all. BUT...don't be a jerk about it. Screaming at them, yanking them by their collar, or swatting them isn't going to make them not do those things. They'll just do them when they think they can get away with it. DO admonish them ("GRR. THAT'S NOT OKAY!") and show them what they should have been doing. The gate jumper and table tipper need a time out in their crate. The remote control thief needs a quick "drop it" lesson.
7. When in doubt, redirect: Some adolescent dogs like to test their owners by upping the stakes with bad behavior. You go to have them drop something and they freeze, give you a hard stare and growl. Now what are you supposed to do? Don't panic. Go find something they really like and see if they will trade with you. You aren't bribing them or rewarding bad behavior by working on a mutually beneficial trade. Once you have the item in your possession, give that item some thought. What was the draw for stealing it and not wanting to give it up? Was it that someone left the item where it was just too tempting for the dog? That's a people problem! Was it that the dog was bored? Left unsupervised? Those are people problems too. See #2 above.
8. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need a break: When you've had enough, it's time to hand off that adolescent dog to someone else for a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days to give you a break and help with the overwhelming frustration you feel. Enlist the help of family members and friends in the short term, and consider doggie daycare for longer term solutions. For a lot of adolescent dogs, even one day a week at daycare is enough for them to blow off excess energy and engage in supervised play with other dogs.
9. Remember adolescence doesn't last forever: While it may seem like it does, it really doesn't. Depending on the breed of dog you have, adolescence ends by 2 years of age. This doesn't mean that aggravating behaviors can't persist beyond that age because they most certainly do. It just means the underlying motivation for doing them has changed. Adolescence, while challenging, is full of rewards and silver linings as well. Most adolescent dogs have mastered house training, have learned to walk better on leash, and can sleep through the night. Those are blessings; just ask anyone with a 9 week old puppy!
10. Individual differences: Just like people, not all dogs learn at the same pace. Some will need more time (and lots more repetitions!) to understand the house rules. This is particularly true for rescue dogs whose early experiences, lack of early training, or use of inappropriate methods led them to where they are now. Don't assume they were abused because most of them weren't, although they may very well have been neglected, outright abuse isn't as common as most people think it is. Even if your dog does have a learning difference like ADHD or does have a disability like deafness, those aren't strikes against them. It simply means that you as their caretaker must adjust your mindset and explore methods and programs that work for dogs with those challenges.
As always, if you need help with your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
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