Comments on: Has Your Dog Ever Had a Justin Bieber Meltdown?

By: Jodi

Jodi — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 17:30:28 +0000

My dog is still an adolescent, quite truthfully I’m feeling at a loss as to how to help her.

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 18:43:17 +0000

I only truly experienced puppy adolescence with my girl. For the most part, she was an easy puppy. At about 6-7 months, she magically forgot everything she had ever learned. Fortunately, she magically remembered it a few months later. It was fun, and I can laugh about it now. She ate two recliners, the base of a coat tree, and destroyed any paper product left within reach. She still falls victim to the temptation of paper on occasion.

By: Kristen–well minded

Kristen–well minded — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:45:40 +0000

Such a funny post! And, oh, so true! My sister’s dog is eight, but a perpetual adolescent, unfortunately. His given name is Darby, but we call him Dammit Darby. That about sums it up.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 21:33:19 +0000

I tried to knock on some wood when my husband said the other day, “Beamer hasn’t had an accident in the house for a couple months.” Despite my trying to reverse the spell with burning sage and voodoo, Beamer peed the next day after the afternoon dog-sitter check (she’s says he won’t pee outside sometimes). I swear he saved it all day. Did it two weekdays. Thank God we have tile.

I’m grateful Beamer’s puppy teeth are gone because he is using his mouth again to grab my wrist and hands.

He refuses to come to the truck if he feels his walk in the desert was not long enough. “An hour is merely a warm-up; what’s wrong with you people?”

I hope the report that this could last till he’s 3 is not true, yet I’m sure I will miss some of the qualities of his puppy energy.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 21:09:14 +0000

YES on your last bullet.

The behaviorist felt like a lot of Silas’s problems were the tail-end of adolescence, and he was over two years old. I thought it was supposed to be over at 18 months. There *was* a dramatic improvement about then, but it was only part of the story.

By: Has Your Dog Ever Had a Justin Bieber Meltdown?...

Has Your Dog Ever Had a Justin Bieber Meltdown?... — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 20:41:08 +0000

[…] Adolescence Brings Out The Worst Although I hate celebrity gossip, I can’t avoid news about the latest Miley Cyprus scandal or Justin Bieber meltdown. It gets me thinking about the dumb things I did around the same age. […]

By: Miranda

Miranda — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 19:04:12 +0000

Coal’s adolescence was similar to Honey’s. He too ate a part of a toy (actually some string from a rope tug) and we found ourselves in the ER one night. Thankfully he didn’t have to have surgery! He also devoured books, and magazines. Dio ate the arm off of our chair when he was about 5 months old. We adopted Beatrix long after her adolescent period, but she is still a pain sometimes!

I agree that many dogs end up in the shelter because of this phase. I’m certain (well, as certain as one can be about a shelter dog) that is why Beatrix was taken to the shelter. Even at two years old, when we adopted her, she was rambunctious, chewed up stuff, and was a general mischief maker.

By: Clowie

Clowie — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:03:32 +0000

I was a puppy rebel. I let them think they had a model puppy until I was about 10 weeks old, then I became very headstrong and quite challenging! My adolescence was relatively painless after that!

By: Kathryn Durno

Kathryn Durno — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 12:06:56 +0000

Sometimes I think it has to be said that you never stop training your dog…just like you never stop parenting your kids. A couple of classes in puppy-hood doesn’t make a well trained dog…I have wild ones…my dogs are now 3 1/2 and 3….they haven’t begun to settle yet…our first brittany was about 13 or 14 when she finally started to settle down. I just have t o keep my eye on the ball at all times and make sure they have something constructive to do…or it will go the other way fast!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:07:31 +0000

Oh I love this post! I read Ian Dunbar/Jean Donaldson/Karen Pryor/Sarah Whitehead before we adopted our dog at 4 months old, and we attended positive training classes, so we braced ourselves for a hellish doggy adolescence. That seemed to soften the blow somehow! I think we were quite lucky – she devoured a couple of my ex-partner’s £50 baker boy hats, and a 32GB memory card of mine, but the furniture and fittings survived intact. I despaired over many things, and then suddenly, it all seemed to be over.

The next time I ever hear anyone despairing over their adolescent pup, I will forward them a link to this post! It’s so important to keep a sense of humour I think. And our trainer gave us such good advice: set them up to succeed. I reminded my ex of this when he mourned for his expensive hats…..if they’d been out of puppy range, it would never have happened 🙂