5 tips for training your teen dog

You worked so hard training your puppy all the skills they need to be your perfect dog. And now they’re not a puppy, you’re ready to enjoy your awesome adult dog. But as they’ve got older, their training has gone backwards. Some days it even feels like you’ve done no training at all… The problem is they’re not an awesome adult dog yet, they’re a tearaway teen.

Teenage dogs might look like adults but they definitely don’t behave like them. Their brains are still maturing and while that happens they’re going to get distracted, become frustrated and forget things you’ve taught them. This can be as frustrating and confusing for you as it is for your teenage dog. But don’t worry, there are five easy changes you can make to your training to make it more effective and enjoyable for you and your dog.

1. Make training really easy

One of the most common mistakes people make when training teen dogs is expecting way too much. It seems logical to think that now your puppy’s a teenager they’re able to do more than when they were younger. But unfortunately that’s just not the case. Teenage dogs get very distracted and very frustrated, so if you make training too hard they’ll just give up and find other fun.

Instead of trying to progress your dog’s training during adolescence, focus on maintaining everything they learnt when they were a puppy. Break every behaviour down into tiny steps that your teenage dog can do easily. Keep distractions low to help your dog focus on you. And use lots of high value reward so your dog’s really motivated to learn.

2. Feed your dog before training

A lot of people think that if they’re training with treats then they need to make sure their dog is really hungry first. But just like us, dogs don’t think well when they’re hungry. If you then expect them to train for food they’re just going to get frustrated and they won’t enjoy training or learn anything useful. This is even worse for teenage dogs, they’re more easily frustrated than older dogs and because they’re still growing they’re also hungrier.

Yes, you don’t want your dog really full before training because then they won’t want any treats. On a day-to-day basis you can feed your dog as normal (reducing the amount you feed them to take in account training treats) and just train when you and your dog feel motivated. If you’re having a longer session with a trainer then adjust that day’s feeding schedule. If your training session is about the time you’d feed your dog, reduce their meal and give it to them 1-2 hours earlier. If your dog’s normal meal time is a few hours before your training session then just make that meal a bit smaller.

Feeding your dog before training will increase their focus, not reduce it

3. Take each day as it comes

It’s very normal for your teenage dog’s behaviour to be massively different from one day to the next. You can have a day where they seem like the perfect well-trained dog, and then they wake up the next day and it’s like you’ve never trained them at all. This can be really frustrating because it feels like all the work you’ve put in has been wasted. You might even think that your dog is choosing to ignore you. Your dog’s brain is developing rapidly during adolescence and that means that some days they’re just going to find things harder than they normally do.

If your dog is having a focused day, then awesome. If you want you can try to progress their training. Or you can just enjoy their lovely behaviour. But when they’re more distracted and seem to have forgotten everything, go back to basics. Help them out by reteaching them so they understand what you want. Don’t worry, they’ve not actually forgotten everything they’ve learnt and you’re not going right back to the start. You just need to help your dog remember what you’ve already taught them.

4. Management isn’t lazy

Teenage dogs want to explore the world and become independent. They find everything so exciting and this can cause a lot of problem behaviour. It’s normal for teenage dogs to run up to other dogs, jump up at people, steal food from your kitchen worktops etc. It’s really important that we prevent teenage dogs practising undesirable behaviours because if we don’t they’ll continue those behaviours into adulthood. That’s where management comes in.

Keeping your teenage dog on a lead isn’t a failure - it’s a way to ensure success

Management is anything that prevents your dog practising unwanted behaviours. If your dog is struggling with recall, a long-line will prevent them running off and annoying other dogs. If your dog wants to be friends with everyone, a lead will prevent them jumping up at people and getting them muddy. If your dog steals food, a baby gate will prevent them getting into your kitchen and eating something they shouldn’t. If your teenage dog is regularly doing something you don’t like, think about how you can use management to stop them doing it. This will take away a lot of your stress and make any training you do more effective because there’s no chance your dog can get rewarded for undesirable behaviours.

5. Make training fun for you and your dog

More than anything, teenage dogs just want to have fun. This is great for you because if you make training a game, your dog will want to play with you. If you put too much pressure on your teenage dog to achieve your training goals, they’ll just stop wanting to do any training. If you see training as a chore that’s not getting results then you’ll avoid it. And you can’t make any progress if you’re not training.

Treat training as a chance to bond with your dog and spend quality time together. Try to add as much play to training as you can. Being silly, using toys and throwing treats for your dog to chase or catch are easy ways to make training more fun for both of you. Sometimes it’s easier to relax and enjoy training if you’re teaching your dog a trick. So if training’s starting to feel like a chore, teach them something cute like paw or spin. Your dog’s still learning something valuable - that training with you is fun. And that’s the most important thing for your teenage dog to learn.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter