Chili is an Australian Labradoodle in training to be a service dog. He's pretty much the most adorable thing out there. Things were going great, with reinforcement of course. He slept quietly in his crate during the day and at night. He walked with a loose leash through stores, wagging his tail and impressing anyone we come in contact with.
Then one day things were different. I woke up to a crazy impulsive teenage dog. "What have you done with my sweet Chili," was all I could think about. I replayed in my mind his entire puppy training experience and concluded we did everything right.
Are you experiencing some of the same stress with your dog? I'm here to tell you it will be ok. Stick to the positive training techniques we've taught you in our PUPPY PREP program and realize that every dog goes through a teenage phase, though some are more relaxed than others. Yay for us we got a crazy one!
I'm always on the lookout for good articles and here's one that caught my attention today as I now focus on staying positive with Chili, creating as many stress-free situations as possible for him and being CALM while the teenage months play out. Enjoy.