I have a teenager on my hands...

Ohhh, I feeeeel yo' painnn! LOL! I have one of those. Grimm is trying the exact same thing.

"Sit."
(he begins to pause.........)
*leash correction*
He sits.

Next time:
(same thing happens..)

Third time:
"Sit."
He sits.
Loving, calm, brief praise.. such a nice boy!

Just keep it up. Eventually, the learn they don't get the command repeated. No begging. No asking again. No pleading. No frustration. Momma's way or the highway.

Very calm-- do the command. He does it. Soft praise. End of story. This is a time for lots of love as they go through these changes-- but no negotiations after commands.

Please God, let this stage end sometime soon LOL!! They say it ends, anyway...

Liljah, I mean ignore this whole bratty stage. Don't panic. Think of it this way: His hormones INSIST, they DEMAND that he try to sneak in blowing you off.. doing stuff slowwwwwly or not at all. Who needs Mom? Who needs rules? HAH! etc etc.

But if you are consistant, and correct when you see that "Wellllll..... I dunno if I wanna listen to youuuuu...." delay, and calmly enforce the command you gave-- eventually, he will:
1.) Learn that bucking your authority gets him nowhere, and
2.) His hormones will stop forcing him to be a butthead.

One day, after months and months and agonizing months of reinforcing commands that he ignores, PRAISING when he obeys in a timely manner, and doing fun stuff together and loving him...

SUDDENLY...........

SHOCKINGLY..........

Your jaw will drop in astonishment that you then will have an young adult, well-behaved, calm dog who doesn't itch to test you every step of the way anymore.

Okay.... at least... that is what I ***hope*** happens. Grimm is my first teenaged dog!

I'm going thru the same with Yana. I'm learning not to repeat and demand and enforce immediate response to my commands. It's hard because I'm so used to give excuses for her like 'oh, she wants to sniff that leaf, oh she wants to lick the kitty' and I think I'm repeating the command without realizing it. As always, the problem is with a handler

I'm a bit confused about "asking" a dog to do something. Isn't it akin to asking the dog, "Would you like to have a seat?" and the dog says, "No thanks, I'm good, I'll stand." How can one be upset about that?
I think consistency is important to a dog. When you give a command, make it a demand. From their earliest days my dogs have known the meaning of "NO!" I agree with the no repeating, cajoling, begging and pleading. If I get a refusal or lackluster response to a command, I say, "NO!" then repeat the command. It has to be consistent, there can be no extra attention reward for refusing a command. And additionally, the praise following the correction induced response is very limited to perhaps a simple, "good boy." or "that's better." Tone of voice is critical in my opinion. Sit and Down aren't exactly rocket science to a dog, These are things they naturally do. When I'm convinced they know what is expected of them upon the command, and they do it, I don't think you need to lavish them with kisses and hugs. Save the high value praise for the harder stuff. Like the old show biz saying, "Leave 'em wanting more."

LOL Thanks, Chuck. Right now, it's like:
Me: "Sitz."
Grimm: "I didn't heeeearrrr youuuu.....La-la-la-la-laaa..."
or, he does it slowwwwwwwwwly. "Yeahhh, I was gonna sit, like, anywayyyy..."

And he will sometimes get a wild hair, and decide that he will do something crazy that he hasn't done in months. Like: "BLLAAAHHH, Hahahahahahaaa!! See what I can still doooo???"

Grrrrrrr!! I am being cinsistant. He is just sometimes being a royal pain in the patootie LOL! Hormones are totally kicking in now, too. He will bark or growl in suspicion at just a person walking by... totally unlike him. (I have heard suspicion levels peak when hormone levels spike during GSD teenagerhood)

Pleeeeeeeeease let this phase... phase out soon!

Looks like there are several of us in the same boat. Kuno is now just 8 months old and he has selective hearing. I admit that the handler is a big part of the problem (me) because sometimes I'm just "not in the mood" to be diligent. Other little things (besides slow response to 'sit', 'come', etc. such as he now wants to assert himself to be first through doors.

I think it just takes the consistency mentioned above, calm but commanding tone, and patience. There is even the occasional temper tantrum bite attempt... particularly when being told to "leave it" and reaching for his collar. This is absolutely not tolerated and results in me clamping his mouth hard with both hands and a sound scolding. I then give him about 10 seconds or so to "think about it" and behave normally. Hopefully this will teach that he has to obey, bad behavior is not tolerated, but otherwise there is no grudge or hard feelings.

At the end of July we're taking him on vacation with us, starting with an all day (10 - 12 hrs) drive... THAT ought to be fun! :|

Originally Posted By: BrightelfI am not alone in this! LOL! We will get through this. Somehow. I hope!

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At least our teenagers don't slam doors in our faces and tell us how much they hate us and how we are ruining their lives!

Originally Posted By: Liljah

Originally Posted By: BrightelfI am not alone in this! LOL! We will get through this. Somehow. I hope!

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At least our teenagers don't slam doors in our faces and tell us how much they hate us and how we are ruining their lives!

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Mine does. He is also sneeking out at night and smoking with his buddies. I think he might have taken the car the other day... I think there are more miles on it, plus the back seat was full of milk bone crumbs.

Quote:I think consistency is important to a dog. When you give a command, make it a demand.

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Sorry Chris, but

Camper is 2 years, 2 months. Whew. We're almost there. Three intermediate obedience classes; two therapy dog classes; he's on his third advanced obedience class; private lessons. Oh, he's a great dog. My vet and our trainers love him. We take and repeat classes not because he doesn't learn the skills (he knows all of them perfectly) but to keep him on the straight and narrow and because *I* need the moral support.


This is what would happen at home:

The Down command was followed by a squat. I would give him the look that means I will execute him on the spot (I don't repeat commands). So he squats more and slowly steps forward, one foot at a time. I can read his mind: "I AM lying down. What do you call this? It's not a sit? LOOK at me!" He's hunched up, all weird, obeying, but not obeying.

(Did I mention that my trainer calls Camper "perfect"?)

Leash correction. "No." He doesn't move. He's still hunched over, but not close to lying down.

Yeah, that did a lot of good. "Down." I stepped on the leash. He continues the step-forward process that takes what seems like five minutes.

He's now in a perfect Platz. Um. Well, elbows don't need to be touching the ground, do they?

"Camper. Elbows!"

Elbows finally touch down.

"Good Down Camper! Good Boy!"

Adolescence, they say, starts at about 8-10 months old. What they don't tell you is that it lasts until about 30-36 months in European working lines dogs. My dog's neck has grown 2-3 inches in the last three months. He has finally stopped eating 4 pounds of meat (plus extras) a day (he's now leaving his bowl with food in it. It looks like I can feed him a reasonable 2.5 lbs of meat, plus extras, a day.

So I am extremely hopeful that adolescence is about over. For those of you who are just starting, my advice is classes, training, more classes, structure, and sympathetic professionals who will continue to assure you that you're doing great and that as soon as your dog is an adult, he will be the best GSD ever.

My best wishes to you all. I'm almost at the end of the tunnel. And there's no looking back!