Episode #260 Transitioning from Puppy to Adolescent — What Changes & How to Adapt

You survived puppyhood—so why does training suddenly feel harder?

In this episode, we break down the often-overlooked transition from puppy to adolescent and explain why even well-trained dogs can seem distracted, impulsive, or inconsistent during this phase. We’ll cover what’s happening in your dog’s developing brain, common challenges handlers face, and how to adapt your training approach so you don’t lose momentum.

You’ll learn:

• When adolescence typically begins (and how long it lasts)
• Why previously reliable behaviors may fall apart
• How to adjust expectations without lowering standards
• Training strategies that support focus, calm, and engagement
• How to protect your relationship while navigating this stage

If your puppy suddenly feels like a teenager with opinions, this episode will help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Chapters

• 0:00 From Puppyhood To Teenage Turbulence
• 0:05 What Adolescence Looks Like In Dogs
• 2:41 Brain Changes, Hormones, And Big Feelings
• 4:57 Secondary Fear Period Explained
• 6:05 Adjusting Expectations And Structure
• 8:00 Generalization Over Perfection
• 10:30 Managing Freedom And Reading Behavior
• 12:03 Practical Training Tweaks For Focus

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

You survived puppyhood. So, why does training suddenly feel so much harder? Today we are breaking down the often overlooked transition from puppy to adolescent and explaining why even well-trained dogs can seem distracted or impulsive, or maybe some inconsistency is happening during this phase. We'll cover what's happening in your dog's developing brain, common challenges that all handlers face, and how to adapt your training approach so that you don't lose momentum. Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter and Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy. From training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Alright, so we're talking adolescents today. That means teenagers. Sometimes people panic when they hear the word teenager, but the good news is teenagers are awesome. Whether you're talking about a human teenager or a dog teenager, I love them both. So today we're talking about when does this phase begin and how long does it last? Why does previously trained behaviors, which seemed reliable, like why are they falling apart all of a sudden? How can we adjust our expectations without lowering our standards? And then training strategies that are going to support focus, calm, and engagement. Also, how to protect our relationship because we don't want to just engage in power struggles. So if your puppy suddenly feels like a teenager with opinions, you're going to enjoy today's episode. So when your puppy was little, you just got them, you were focusing on things like building skills, so teaching new behaviors, creating routines and schedules, and developing a positive relationship that's based on safety and trust. And then suddenly focus disappears, previously reliable behaviors are falling apart, and your dog seems way more interested in the environment than in you. Now, this doesn't mean your training has failed. It means your dog is entering a new developmental stage that we call adolescence. I it seems like when my dogs hit this, I wake up and I just know it. I'm like, oh, here we are. And it's yesterday it wasn't here. Today it's here. They're acting like a teenager. So don't panic if you are now in this situation. And if you have a new puppy, just recognize this is coming. So adolescence doesn't start on a specific birthday and it doesn't look the same for every dog. Most dogs, however, begin this phase between five to six months for smaller breeds, six to nine months, maybe for medium breeds, eight to eighteen months for larger and giant breeds. But typically I see this around, you know, five to seven months overall. And this phase can last well into a year and a half, even two to three years for some dogs before they reach adulthood. So it's important to understand that because adolescence isn't a training problem, it's actually a process, okay? Your dog's brain is growing, it's reorganizing, and learning how to navigate the world with a lot of new hormones going on. So lots of new things happening inside that they're trying to figure out what to do with. So, number one, the brain is still developing. Remember that because during adolescence, emotional responses develop faster than impulse control. Decision-making skills are somewhat inconsistent and the ability to regulate their arousal is limited. So that's why your dog may struggle to respond to familiar cues. You say sit and they look at you like they have no idea what you're saying to them. Maybe they become more easily distracted, especially when you're outdoors and there's a lot of scents and smells going on. Or maybe they're reacting more strongly to their environment. They're not choosing to ignore you. They're still learning how to make good choices. Now, as puppies mature, they start experimenting with independence. This is what we see in human teenagers as well, right? So this often looks like moving further away from you. Maybe they don't check in with you as often. Um, maybe they're they'd rather explore and they have a hard time responding to you once they're in that exploratory state. Again, this is normal and a healthy part of their development, even though it can feel challenging and frustrating. I know how that feels. But your dog is learning who they are in the world, they're not rejecting you. Okay, so that's where we we don't want to get into power struggles or argue with them. We just recognize this is a new phase of life and we have to learn how to navigate it together. So number three is going to be hormones, right? There's arousal levels, there's emotional responses, there's social interactions, sensitivity to the environment. Even dogs who are spawned neutered are going to experience this developmental shift. Uh, so the result is big feelings, fast reactions, and some inconsistent behavior. Now, another thing that can surface in adolescence is a secondary fear period. So things that were previously neutral may suddenly feel overwhelming to your dog. You might notice that they struggle with unfamiliar people or dogs, or new sounds surfaces or movement, new environments. Something might crop up that they're giving you a fear response to, or they look overwhelmed by it. And this doesn't mean socialization failed or that you did anything wrong. It just means that your dog is reassessing the world with a more mature brain. Now, where we often get stuck, um, it's frustration that tends to build, right? So not because we aren't doing enough, but because expectations haven't shifted. So we might assume that puppy training is the finish line that, okay, we taught our puppy all of these great skills and things, uh, but adolescent training is about generalization and reliability. So adolescence is the stage where we're proofing things. So basic training is about teaching them new behavior and new skills, and then adolescence or intermediate training, like we call it here at Baxter and Bella, is more about, okay, let's generalize these behaviors to different locations and experiences and let's make these reliable. So a behavior your dog can do at home doesn't automatically transfer to busy sidewalks or new environments or high distraction situations. And adolescence is typically that age where they're now fully vaccinated and we're taking them out into these new environments with their paws on the ground. And so they are experiencing some new things. So this phase is about practicing skills in real life, which is going to be more challenging than teaching your dog or your puppy a new behavior in your quiet house, right? Okay, so next, we might expect adult level behavior too soon. Maybe my dog looks physically like an adult, and they do. I tell people take a lot of puppy pictures because by five to six months, your dog will look like an adult. Those puppy pictures will be in the past. So physically, your dog is going to look like an adult at this age, but they're not yet there in their brains. Okay. So mentally they're still learning. And so if we're expecting consistency in every situation, we're basically setting us and our dogs up for frustration. Now, recognize progress during adolescence is non-linear. I'm a math person, so I use that word linear a lot, but it's nonlinear. That means it's not a straight line of success. It's more like a roller coaster. Some days will be good, and then we're gonna have some dips, and then we're going to go up and then we're going to dip. Overall, we are making linear success. If you were to take that scatter plot of dots and make a line from where we started to where we were finishing, it is uh showing progress, okay? But it's not a straight line from day to day. So, another thing that I see often in adolescence is people remove structure too early. Because the puppy is now getting really good at house training and they're uh behaving well in the house and they're chewing their toys instead of my furniture. We start to give them more freedom. But if we do this too quickly, then our adolescent or our teenage dogs can struggle. So they still need predictable routines and schedules. They thrive on clear boundaries, and we need to do some supportive management with them. So structure isn't restrictive, it's what is going to allow them to continue to learn. So don't give them too much freedom too fast. Okay, and then also when behaviors fall apart, it's easy to think, oh, they know better. My dog knows better. I know they know what to do. But behavior is communication that tells us what skills are still developing and where support is needed. And also remember, just because we taught them something doesn't mean they're going to choose it. Okay. All right. So how do we adapt our training really quickly? What are some things that we can do to help us go forward with confidence and not lose momentum? So let's talk about um shifting the goal. Okay, we're looking for consistency over perfection. We're maintaining existing behaviors, so we're going to remind them. Sit means sit. We're going to reinforce any time they engage with us. We want to make sure we're still rewarding them. Don't get rid of those rewards too quickly. And we want to support good choices. We also want to be able to lower difficulty if needed. So if a behavior isn't reliable, let's set our dog up for success. How can I make this a little easier? Can I increase distance away from distractions? Can I change the environment? Can I do a U-turn and uh go the other direction? Can I add in some management tools like a harness and a long line rather than just an off-leash recall, right? So we want to adjust expectations, which doesn't mean we're giving up. It's just meeting our dog where they are at. Okay, we also want to keep training engagement. So not just behaviors. Don't just focus on sit down, stay, come, right? We want to reward check-ins. Anytime my dog voluntarily checks in with me, I want to reward that. Help them see that I'm a fun, positive person to be around. Just like with human teenagers, you're a fun parent. Not that you have to be uh like you can't be the reinforcer of rules. You have to be that, that's for sure. And you're definitely not your kid's best friend. You are the parent, but you can definitely have some fun with them. And they know that, they recognize that your dogs are going to see that as well. So calm behavior doesn't happen automatically. Remember that we do need to practice settling on a mat. And this is where I take that to a park. Let's practice settling at the park. Let's practice settling in the car of the grocery store parking lot, right? So, not just in my house anymore, where we practice that a lot as a puppy. We need to go practice this elsewhere in everyday environments because calm is something your dog can learn. That is a learned skill. Now, before giving our dog more freedom, we want to make sure and ask does my dog have the skills to succeed here? Set them up for success. So if they're not ready to practice an off leash recall, that harness and long line are going to be necessary. And that's totally okay. Um, we want to build habits, and that takes repetitions. Now, adolescent dogs also benefit from brief training moments. Sometimes we want to train too long. Don't do that. Um, definitely make training a game if you can, make it fun. Add in some high value reinforcement, help them win the lottery every once in a while, something that they don't expect coming, and they're like, wow, that was amazing. I want to try that again. And then try to end your sessions on a success. Again, do not create power struggles. If you have a puppy that you know has entered adolescence and you feel like you could use more support or help, this is an ideal time to check in with us. So come set up a one-on-one with our trainers. We have that intermediate course I was talking about. We will work on all of these things that we mentioned today and encourage you to get out and go to public places and work on these skills with your dogs as well. But we're there to answer your questions and to help navigate this change in phase for you. So please reach out to us if you have questions or you need some help with this. Um, again, I think most importantly, going into adolescence with your dog, remember that relationship matters, right? That's matters way more than perfect behavior. I don't ever expect my dogs to be perfect. I recognize I'm not perfect, but we are striving for success. So keep your interactions safe, keep them trust-based, reinforce the connection that you've carefully built during puppyhood. And the adult dog you're shaping now will be with you for years to come. So you want this to be a nice, good relationship. And once you guys start to figure out this new phase of life, I promise you it's not as hard as you think it might be. So remember, this is a challenging phase, but it's also temporary. And keep our expectations realistic, consistent support, and focus on a relationship-based training. Adolescence becomes a bridge. Okay, it's not just going to be this huge breakdown. So don't panic. You're not starting over, you're building forward. All right, you guys, thanks for listening. I hope you have a great rest of your week. Happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Training Podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.