The other morning, I woke to a Facebook post on my feed. You know, those early morning minutes where you’re still in bed, checking up on trending topics and seeing what happened in the few hours of the night. This particular morning, a post about young dogs caught my eye. It illustrated the funny situation of the family pooch stealing food off the human-table. And he was well aware he was not suppose to do that. This short, and over all amusing story got me thinking.

Dogs who are well trained, specifically young dogs will sometimes push their boundaries, and see just how far they can get before you push back.

Don’t you remember your rebellious age? Maybe you came home a little after your curfew to see if you could stretch it. Or you bought a lot of black nail polish when you were 17. We all had our thing! Young dogs have theirs, too. Often, they will ignore cues or be too preoccupied to notice. They may even display some problem behaviors like guarding, jumping, or as mentioned before: taking things that don’t belong to them.
Just like with us, our pup’s hormones can spark new attitudes and body changes! This doesn’t mean you’re losing control of your young dog. He still needs us to guide him and help him out, even if he tells us we are ruining his life and he wishes he had never been born.

It can be difficult to pin-point exactly what your growing boy needs. But the best way to help is to stay the course. Take a look at our Healthy Routines to strengthen the daily activities you do with your dog. Keeping a strong routine helps our pups know what’s expected of them, while also keeping them occupied and happy.

Other things you can introduce to help your dog are more learning experiences. Opportunities to spend energy in a controlled, but fun place! New dogs and humans in classes, or on your daily walks can help your pup makes new friends.
As our dog grows, he starts forming routines, and that includes routines that involve his social life. A lot of times, we will take the same route on walks, go to the same parks, meet the same people and play with the same dog-friends! Even though routines are good to keep a young dog occupied, we should be aware that a dog’s social group can become closed off. The same places, same people, same things are comfortable, and new things are unwelcome. You may notice he is on guard, or showing shy behaviors instead of his usual happy and excited self.

Exposing our young dogs to new experiences can help keep them social. If they become too reliant on what they know, you may see a steady decrease in willingness to explore. In addition to mixing it up, or enrolling in some activities, we can also make our pups our little helpers by taking him out for errands, exploring around your neighborhood, and setting up playdates with other dogs!

But something we should really pay attention to are the cues our dogs are giving us themselves. When a dog misbehaves, he is showing us some of our own errors. Think about how you reward your dog. Consistent timing can help pin-point the good behaviors. If your timing is a little off, you could be encouraging something that he wants to test: like taking something he isn’t suppose to have, and waiting to see what you’re going to do about it. You can check out our helpful hints on how to make sure you’re rewarding the behaviors you want, and not accidentally encouraging others here!

When we start noticing unusual behavior, we need to remember that sometimes it’s just a part of growing up. The best way to deal with adolescent (or any) misbehavior is by doubling down on the patience and rules. If stealing food from the table isn’t allowed, instead of scolding or giving in, teach your pup what they should do instead of stealing food – go to bed for a chew toy, perhaps?

As parents of young dogs, we need to find ways of letting our pups explore, but also encourage the rules already set in place with reinforcement and showing them the right way to do things. Remember, we control the environment our dogs live in. Set it up to help them choose the behaviors we want. That is how learning works!