adolecense questions

[jessac]

Fleury hit 6 months this past month and as much as I am proud of him when he listens, he is driving me absolutely batty when he decides to be a punk. I know he hears me, or sees the signal, and just decides to blow me off. I am pretty patient so I just wait until he does what I've asked even if he's whining and complaining, but my patience is wearing thin. I've heard not to repeat the command, so I don't do that...but do I just wait for him to do it? I make him sit at intersections and people must think I'm crazy. He'll be standing nicely at my side, but I ask him to sit at curbs, so we just keep standing there until he sits...

He's also ridiculously hard to wear out. 1.5 to 2 mile walks each morning, fetch/outdoor play in the afternoon and by evening he's still got another walk or yard play in him. I feel like by wearing him out, I'm building his stamina, making it even harder to wear him out the next day lol.

To try and mentally wear him out, we go over the basic commands he's already mastered each day and then I've been working on "stupid" pet tricks until we start puppy agility next month. It seems like he used to really love learning and training but now he just gets pushy or distracted when we learn new things. He used to be highly food motivated, but seems less so now. How do you reward with play?

By the end of puppy class, all the other dogs are napping at their owners feet and he's still a bundle of energy. I'm hoping the agility class will really tucker him out good.

So, my questions are really - how much exercise is to be expected at this age? How long should I be training for in a single session? When will he stop being a punk? He is so sweet when he wants to be...

[Tulip]

My 9 month old is the same way; high energy, hard to wear out, and sometimes doesn't listen to commands. I also make him sit at the curb before we cross the street. I tell him to sitz, and if he doesn't, I wait a minute. If he still doesn't, I'll ask him again. I give him a 3 and a half mile walk daily plus a bunch of mental exercise and then he's easier to handle.

[mackjordann]

You reward with play the same as you would with treats, as soon as he does something you want, he gets to tug or gets to play ball. Make sure you have a good drop it command too. Probably a good hour of mental and physical exercise non stop. I'd start of with mental first then physical at the end. I'd look into doing some nose work as well that really makes them tired.

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