Is it too late to start training my teenage dog?

So you didn’t do much training with your dog when they were a puppy…? Maybe you had no problems with your puppy’s behaviour. Maybe you didn’t have enough time to dedicate to your puppy’s training. Maybe you wanted to get the support of a trainer but didn’t have the money. Or maybe you just kept meaning to get around to it and you just kept putting it off. Whatever happened, you got through your dog’s puppyhood and it was kinda going ok…

But now you’re starting to panic. Your dog’s older and bigger and their behaviour is becoming a problem. If you’re feeling like you made a massive mistake not spending more time and money training your puppy, you really don’t need to worry. You still have plenty of time to teach your teen dog all the skills they need to be the amazing dog you’ve always dreamt of.

It’s NEVER too late to start training your dog

There is really no age limit on training your dog. Dogs of any age can learn new skills and change habits. And yes, it gets harder as dogs get older and their brains aren’t quite as prepared to learn and their habits are deeply entrenched. But that’s really only a concern with senior dogs (who still benefit a lot from learning new skills). Even if your teenage dog is 2 or 3 years old, they’ll be very capable of changing their behaviours.

If you are struggling with your dog jumping up at people, running off when you let them off-lead, pulling on-lead or with any other problem behaviour, you’ll find it easier to change the behaviour if you start now. Dogs (like humans) start to make sensible decisions when they reach adulthood. But they don’t just grow out of their adolescent behaviours. You know how they say ‘practice makes perfect’? Well that’s the exact same for dogs. The more time your dog repeats an undesirable behaviour, the stronger that behaviour becomes, and the harder you’ll have to work to change it.

If your dog spends their adolescence ignoring you when you call them - they’ll run off when they’re an adult too…

Why your teen dog’s training has gone backwards

You might have cruised through your dog’s puppyhood without much training. But now your perfect puppy has become a teenage tearaway and you’re feeling really stressed and confused. Unfortunately it’s very normal for teenage dogs to seem to have forgotten everything they learnt as a puppy. Teenage dogs are way more distracted, way more frustrated and have very little impulse control. Which is why they seem determined to create chaos wherever they go.

This behaviour change happens with ALL dogs. Your dog’s brain needs time to develop into an adult brain and while that happens they’re going to struggle to listen to you. Taking your dog to training classes when they were a puppy wouldn’t have meant they’d have skipped adolescence and jumped straight to adulthood. So you can stop feeling guilty - this is not your fault.

What you should teach your teen dog

Training adolescent dogs is not about teaching them to sit and stay. Teenage dogs want to be active and they’ll really benefit from recall games that teach them that listening to you is fun. Your teenage dog will love playing with toys and chasing and catching treats - and they’ll be learning to choose you over all those exciting distractions.

The ability to relax is an very important, and massively underrated, skill for teenage dogs

You’ll also need to teach your teenage dog to chill out and sleep. Teen dogs need nearly as much sleep and rest as they did when they were a puppy. But they’re hyper and distractible and really struggle to sleep - even after a long walk. So you’ll have to teach your dog that relaxing and snoozing is actually a good thing. You’ll be surprised just how much your teenage dog’s behaviour improves once they’re getting enough sleep.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter