5 months old and suddenly pig-headed! LOL.

[Mariek]

Hi All

We have a 22 week old newf puppy (Jethro). For the most part he's been a treasure to have. We've had him in puppy classes since he was 10 weeks old (Kennel club Puppy Foundation and he's now in the Bronze award class).

Previously he'd been a superstar with training, sits/stays very good, recall okay (a little distracted outside but improving).

All of a sudden he's hit 5/5.5 months old and has morphed into a stubborn, pig-headed teenager! LOL. Is this normal? I recall reading that newfs (particularly males) can be very stubborn. He only acts on my commands about 50% of the time (I know he knows them commands but just looks at me as if to say "yeah, whatever" when I tell him to sit etc. He's sooooooooo easily distracted by other dogs and people when we're out (not in an aggressive way, he just wants to play with everyone he meets!).

What's the best way through this? I'm assuming just sticking to the training and riding it out is all you can do? Please tell me it's just a stage and won't last forever! He's not getting any smaller! LOL.

xMx

 

[Jager's Mom]

Stick with it. Also you may want to try different training techniques if the original ones are working as well.

 

[Cutiemus Maximus]

My girl still does this at 16 mo., I find it helps to rotate treats. In the house I switch between two different types of treats, and out of the house I switch between three different types of treats. Still, though, there will be those days where I'll ask her to do something and she'll give me that look. You know, the one that says, "I know exactly what you want, but it ain't happenin'!"

 

[dreamchaser456]

The best thing is just keep training, training and more training. I try to have 3 levels of reward with me when training. Low, medium and high value. For one of mine that high value wasn't food but a squeaky toy since she isn't highly food motivated especially as she got over 6 months. I have one squeaky that stays with my training bag and is only used then so it's special. Make sure that you're still making it fun and keeping the sessions short but always end on a positive note. I'm currently training (for the first time in his life) a 2 yo boy that's full into stubborn teenager. I try to get three short sessions (10-15 minutes) in every day and I have learned that I had to include some "new" commands as he started getting the basics because he got bored. I also do some simple agility things with him (walking over a ladder on the ground, weave poles, a simple ramp, a low board walk, etc) that is fun but still under control. Some days I only get one really good session where he's "on" for the 10 minutes and some I get about 5 minutes of good listening. Just keep at it, have fun, praise and reward when he gets it right and enjoy! It will get better in time.

 

[Senea]

Taver did this right around 6 months. He was the star of Puppy manners and then puppy/obedence 1 class. He got invited to go into Obd 2 or Rally class. About 4 weeks in, he suddenly forgot his name, how to walk politely on leash, and off leash work in class was err special to say the least. Lol back to Obedience 1 we went. When he was on he was brilliant. But then he'd get bored. Oh myyyy. Nothing quite like being in the middle class and having your cute little 80 lbs of silly Newf roll on his back with all 4 in the air while we're supposedly working on Recalls, or coming at full speed and misjudging his stopping distance so we end up a pile on the floor. I'm still not certain he didn't do that on purpose. I did learn that letting people get him all excited then having me call him from across a room is a poor choice. (next time I go to training classes I'm going back to the place I did puppy school, they've worked with other Newfs, and likely won't set me up to get nailed.)



We kept working, though I've not gone back to any classes since last Nov. He got better at around 8-9 months. He's just turned one and has "teenage boy" moments, but in general I feel like we can go out in public again and I've got at least an 80% chance that he will recall what sit means. We're still 50/50 on greeting people and other dogs. Play time is any time!
I just keep plodding along. It's a good thing he's so adorable.

 

[fall3n-ang3l]

Bernie is 9 months and has hit the teenager stage,he's a nightmare,I've gone back to basics so hoping this will help

 

[Mariek]

Thanks all. Kind of glad to know it's not just my boy! LOL.

I've been giving it some thought and I think we might have inadvertently "devalued" his training treats (he gets cut up Swedish meatballs and smoked sausage for training). I've been giving them stuff in his kong for when we're out of the house (he's only usually home alone for a few hours and the kong keeps him entertained). I'm going to restrict them to training and maybe rustle up some liver cake or other homemade goodies to see if I can spike his interest. I might invest in a small squeaky toy just for training.

Those of you who use a toy for reward, how long do you let them have it for?

 

[fall3n-ang3l]

That was my trouble with training treats, I do bernie hydrated fish, liver, heart, kidney and becouse he was used to the high valued treats all the time,when it came to training he would hardly do anything so I had to go out and buy some really crappy treats and biscuits and training became a lot easier,apart from now lol