Adolescent Dog Training: Surviving the Teenage Stage

Your once-perfect puppy has started ignoring you, selectively going deaf on walks, and acting like they've forgotten every single thing you taught them. Recall? Gone. Loose lead walking? A distant memory. That reliable little dog you were so proud of? Currently possessed by a teenager.

If this sounds familiar, welcome to adolescence. And no, you haven't done anything wrong.

What's actually going on

Adolescence in dogs roughly spans 6 to 18 months, though it varies by breed and individual. It's not a training problem — it's a developmental stage. Your dog's brain is going through a massive reorganisation, and just like human teenagers, they're testing boundaries, taking risks, and being driven by impulses they can't always control.

The bit that catches most owners out: this often comes right after months of your puppy being brilliant. You did everything right, your puppy responded beautifully, and then seemingly overnight it all fell apart. That's not a coincidence, and it's not you undoing your own work. It's biology.

Some of what you might notice:

• Recall that used to be solid suddenly becomes optional

• Pulling on the lead comes back after you'd cracked it

• Fears or spookiness about things they were fine with before

• More interest in other dogs, smells, and distractions than in you

• Testing what happens if they don't do the thing you asked

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Why "they're being stubborn" misses the point

It's easy to land on "my dog's an absolute a**hole 🤣" at this stage — and honestly, plenty of owners do, usually with a laugh and a sigh. But stubborn, dominant, or naughty aren't actually what's happening. Your dog isn't plotting against you. Their brain is genuinely less able to access impulse control right now, and the environment is genuinely more exciting to them than it was.

Treating adolescence as a battle of wills tends to make it worse. Punishing a teenage dog for a recall that fell apart doesn't rebuild the recall — it just teaches them that coming back sometimes leads to something unpleasant, which is the opposite of what you want.

What actually helps

The good news: adolescence is temporary. The dog you raised is still in there, and the work you put in during puppyhood hasn't vanished. What they need now is for you to hold steady rather than panic.

• Go back to basics without shame — shorter distances, easier environments, higher-value rewards. You're not starting over, you're supporting them through a wobble.

• Use a long line so recall failures don't get rehearsed. Every time your teenage dog legs it after a squirrel and has a brilliant time, that's the behaviour getting stronger.

• Keep building value in being near you. Recall and lead pulling are really the same question — is being with you worth more than the environment? Answer that and both improve.

• Manage the environment so they're not constantly practising the things you don't want.

• Keep your sense of humour. This stage passes, and the dogs who come out the other side well are the ones whose owners stayed patient.

  
  

You don't have to white-knuckle it through the teenage stage

If you're reading this at the end of a walk where your dog ignored every word you said, I promise you're not failing. This stage is hard, and doing it alone with conflicting advice ringing in your ears makes it harder.

A 1-2-1 session gets eyes on your actual dog, in your actual situation — whether that's recall that's fallen apart, lead-pulling that's crept back, or jumping up you thought you'd cracked months ago. We work out what's going on underneath and give you a plan that fits your life, not a generic one.

Book a 1-2-1 session and let's get you and your teenager back on the same page.