Regression/Adolescence?

[Toffee]

Toffee is around 18 months old and I adopted her from my local humane society 8 weeks ago. I taught her sit, stay, lay down, no bite (to get rid of rough play biting), bye-bye (to go to my car directly), inside, and outside. She gets excited around guests, but calms down after she has been pet. Lately, within the last week or so, she's become incredibly defiant. She'll ignore me, play too rough when it's not play time, etc. Nothing I can think of has changed to make her behave differently. I feel like I have to train her all over again. Is this a part of the puppy/adolescent stage, or is it something else?

 

[Roge]

I would imagine that its adolescence, as in human children they try to see how far they can go ,it will just take patience and cocsistancy on your behalf as for the deaf ear I think that sticks, Roge will be 4 in January and he still trys it on by times ie: just this week he was streached out by the fire and I wanted him to go out for wee before I went to bed and he was acting dead and deaf however as soon as I said will we get the ball he was up like a shot and out the door, unfortunatly when outside he spent ages looking for the ball but eventually did a wee so I dont know who won in the end !!!!

 

[TwoDogs]

Toffee is around 18 months old and I adopted her from my local humane society 8 weeks ago.

The honeymoon is over! It is not unusual to see this behavior a couple of months after adoption. During the first weeks or so, she didn't know her place and was probably playing things safe. Now she's more comfortable with her new home and therefore more comfortable pushing the boundaries to see what works and what doesn't. Combine that with adolescence (a time when they normally assert independance and push boundaries) and you get exactly the behaviors you're seeing.

Keep up the training and make sure you are setting clear and consistent expectations and you should be able to work through this stage. Using access to resources as "real-life" rewards for appropriate behavior will help make training more effective.

 

[Animommy]

Not unusual!

Oh how i remember these days! Especially when all my dogs approached that age! Imho, it sounds to me like your pup is just reaching that adolescent stage; as someone said its where they push the boundaries & see what you'll let them get away with or not!

Patience, patience, patience! Thats the key in our experience! It almost felt as if that stage would last forever & sometimes i wanted to pull my hair out! Keep training on a totally positive note, & set them up for success; lots of yummy treats when theyre listening to your commands & keep your cool; when they see us getting frazzled, they pick up on it & often times they follow suit!

Lots & lots of excercise; theres truth in "a tired dog is a good dog"; my husband & i have been having some good luck with that!

I truly hope my post helped you in some way, & if you havent yet, id also recommend taking your new friend to doggy school, where they teach POSITIVE reinforcement (be sure to research them 1st!) In our experience, taking the classes together REALLY strengthened our bond, as well as made sure my husband stayed on track with consistent training! That made it a plus for everyone!

Hang in there & enjoy your new friend!