Coping with “teenage” rebellion

This post is not really a vent but more of one looking for support and/or suggestions.

Lately Bailey has been, to put it bluntly, a little s*!t! When he was much younger he chewed off all the baseboards in the entryway in our new house. He now knows better and we ensure he has other things to occupy him self with so as to leave the baseboards alone.

We are presently trying to sell our house and the other day after only be left alone for a few hours I came home to find the newly replaced baseboards chewed one again. :mad:

Since I didn't catch him in the act I didn't think I could do much but I did have to go for a quick walk to cool off and collect myself as I was REALLY angry.

I know part of this is his age but it is no less frustrating. He also seems to have totally forgotten his training. He knows better than to bolt out of the house or car but the other day he bolted out the door for a walk and I skinned my arm and hand again the brick on the house.

The list goes on but basically he just acting out at every opportunity. He has not behaved like this since he was much younger. Even when we added our older BMD to our family in Feb. he was fine no acting out or anything.

What do we need to do to get back on track? He gets daily walks and is not left alone for long periods of time. When DH and I work days, one of our family members comes halfway through the day to take them out for a quick potty break and a walk.

Any suggestions on what we can d to get back on track? I love Bailey and want to enjoy the time we spend together and lately I haven’t been.

TIA

So odd that you post this now... Patch is being what I term a terrible two year old.. he's coming up on his first year and he's backtalking, chewing books and nibbling/grabbing at my arm when I take hold of his collar to bring him indoors. I chalked it up to his starting to move towards adulthood. He also licks and chews during the night on a corner of our baseboard on the second floor at the top of the stairs.

Maybe Patch and Bailey are going through a frustrating growing phase? Not trying to hijack, just wondering if it's part of the move to adulthood so they digress a bit?

In regards to the baseboards... frankly, I wouldn't give him the opportunity anymore. If my dog chewed my sofa, you can bet I'd NEVER leave him alone w/ the sofa ever again... especially for a "few hours". Is bailey crate trained? or do you have a room (preferably without baseboards..lol) that you could leave him in?

If he seems to be "forgetting" his training, then I'd take it up a notch...multiple short training sessions every day, and perhaps enroll back in school for a refresher course (if possible). I stayed in training w/ dog through the rebelious stage - sure, he acted like a moron, but with constant training, I didn't give him time to forget.

"he knows better"... Was he given a command and he blatenly disobeyed it? or was he expected to not bolt on his own? Every single time I open a door and my dog is w/ me, I give the command WAIT. every time. even if I'm just going out to my sunporch. WAIT! my dog WILL wait on his own, but I still give the command.

btw... can we have some new pics of Bailey? :)

good luck!

So odd that you post this now... Patch is being what I term a terrible two year old.. he's coming up on his first year and he's backtalking, chewing books and nibbling/grabbing at my arm when I take hold of his collar to bring him indoors. I chalked it up to his starting to move towards adulthood. He also licks and chews during the night on a corner of our baseboard on the second floor at the top of the stairs.

Maybe Patch and Bailey are going through a frustrating growing phase? Not trying to hijack, just wondering if it's part of the move to adulthood so they digress a bit?

Jenn so glad to hear you are going through the same thing! Bailey is doing the same things as well re: nibbling/grabbing.

I have heard that this is normal not only for dogs but BMD specifically in terms of maturity.

I guess it's back to the basics re: training.

In regards to the baseboards... frankly, I wouldn't give him the opportunity anymore. If my dog chewed my sofa, you can bet I'd NEVER leave him alone w/ the sofa ever again... especially for a "few hours". Is bailey crate trained? or do you have a room (preferably without baseboards..lol) that you could leave him in?

If he seems to be "forgetting" his training, then I'd take it up a notch...multiple short training sessions every day, and perhaps enroll back in school for a refresher course (if possible). I stayed in training w/ dog through the rebelious stage - sure, he acted like a moron, but with constant training, I didn't give him time to forget.

"he knows better"... Was he given a command and he blatenly disobeyed it? or was he expected to not bolt on his own? Every single time I open a door and my dog is w/ me, I give the command WAIT. every time. even if I'm just going out to my sunporch. WAIT! my dog WILL wait on his own, but I still give the command.

btw... can we have some new pics of Bailey? :)

good luck!

jessi76 you make some good points. Bailey is crate trained but we haven't had the need to use it in a while as he was trustworthy (until this incident). Obviously that isn't the case currently and we need to revert back to using it.

He does know the WAIT command and DH and I continually reinforce it which is why I was surprised when he just bolted.

Clearly we need to go back to the basics in terms of training. I think an actual class would be most beneficial. I'm also wondering how to teach Bailey some tricks? He is very smart and I think the mental stimulation would do him good. Any suggestions?

I will try to post some more recent pics of the boys when I get home. I finally got some cute ones of them together!

I'm also wondering how to teach Bailey some tricks? He is very smart and I think the mental stimulation would do him good. Any suggestions?

One of the best "tricks" I taught Tucker was the TOUCH command. it really helps get him focused and can be used for many different tasks.

our trainer had us start w/ lids. (cream cheese container lids, yogurt lids, margarine lids, etc.. save your lids!) rub a treat on it (transfer the scent).

Put dog in a sit-stay, hold lid at nose level, and say touch. as soon as his snout touches that lid - REWARD!!! keep working this, holding the lid higher, more to the side, lower...

once Bailey has it... put the lid on floor. Think of it as a "painted dot on the floor". Have Bailey in a sit-wait, focused on you, point to the lid, and say "TOUCH!" work this for a while.

soon, he'll be able to touch whatever you want. I use this "trick" to direct Tucker, and also to get him focused back on me by having him touch my hand. the physical connection seems to work best for me.

Tucker and I even had "lid races" at one point - in a hallway, I'd put the lid at one end, us at the other, and rev him up... ok, get ready, ready, go touch!!!!!! we'd race to the lid. it made it fun, kept him focused on the training, and got a bit of exercise all at the same time.

btw - the trainer I use is BMD trainer & breeder. He's used his dogs often in class demonstrations... they are indeed extremely smart dogs.

to put it bluntly, a little s*!t!

I did have to go for a quick walk to cool off and collect myself as I was REALLY angry.

I know part of this is his age but it is no less frustrating.

He also seems to have totally forgotten his training.

I skinned my arm and hand again the brick on the house.

The list goes on but basically he just acting out at every opportunity. He has not behaved like this since he was much younger. You know, that sounds EXACTLY like Matty. You can see my Matty thread and it's the exact same thing.

I had my arm skinned when he took off on a leash and pulled my arm towards the brick on the house.

I've had moments where I was SO angry I had to take a walk to cool down, and my wife's been literally crying over some of the antics Matty did.

And like Bailey, Matty wasn't like this. While he needed constant corrections, Matty was in general a dog that I enjoed training. Since he hit 8 months he's been challenging us at every opportunity. It's been very tough to love him since then.

If you think chewing baseboard is bad, then how about this - Matty dug a hole in our dry wall in our washroom. I had to get a crate for him because of that, even though he wouldn't pee / poo inside the house anymore. Even with the crate though, he somehow moved the crate all the way to the end of the kitchen and badly scratched our hardwood floor.

I don't really have any solution ... as I'm looking for one myself. I just want to let you know that you're not the only one. I'm going through the same thing, and many here have told me they've all gone through the same thing.

I believe most of it is his age. How old is bailey and what kind of dog is he? Just hang in there and one day he'll get it and all the hardwork you're doing now to train him will pay off.

My Eskimo also chewed baseboards and finally stopped. Wed. I heard the chewing sounds - and it wasn't the sound of chewing on his hard toys - but the baseboards. He is 2 years old - and I guess something must have attracted him and he started again. Maybe it is because he is on a diet or just regressing - has also been grabbing at my gloves again (he is a Hoover to begin with). He is about to have specific issues training. Hope it works.

Harley seemed to regress too, shortly after she was a year old. She had been very good gated in the kitchen when I left her home alone. Not a thing out of place, just a little angel.

Over the period of a month, she was constantly in trouble. I'd come home, and each day it was something different. Started with her opening the cabinets in the kitchen. Blocked those so she couldn't get in. Then she moved to the drawers built into my cabinets, lowest drawer first. When I booby trapped that, she'd move up a drawer.

They are too d#mn smart for their own good if you ask me. She got to the point where she wouldn't even open the lower drawers (or maybe she closed them :evil: ) once she knew there was nothing to get into there!!!

Anyway, I've had to go back to putting her in the crate while we're out. Maybe they just need a "reset" as they enter those terrible twos.

I'm sorry this is happening.....
Sometimes Shyla gets that way and we have to just go through the steps of her training all over again, just try that...
things like you're always first out the door, etc....
Hopefully it works...:pawprint:

They will test you until they are dead....oh sorry that is a rottweiler. Anyways. Harley has tested me once, and never again. But his trainers have told me they go through a stupid phase. What do I have to do, I forgot phase.
Believe me, training is the only way to get out of this. I to decided to leave harley alittle more space for about an hour. OH NO never again. My couch was chewed.
This is normal....Training that is all to it....

You mentioned you are trying to sell your house. Are you also packing up and putting excess stuff in storage? We sold two homes last year and I noticed that Den-Den was experiencing a bit of anxiety. Nothing major, but being very velcro-dogish. He definitely sensed something was going on. Maybe Bailey also senses something and feels uneasy.

Charley just finished his I-don't-care-what-you-said-phase, before that it was the 'I've never been trained to do anything ever before' phase and the 'lets see if I can make them mad' phase.

Through all three I found he was a much better dog if he got lots of exercise. And by lots I mean lots, he's a wee guy at 15 lbs and we would do about 45 minutes of training a day in 5 minute segments (otherwise he lost interest) at least an hours worth of playing catch me, fetch and go find as well as 45 mins to hour of walking while doing some training... heck, we'd even practice obedience while I was making dinner just to be able to squeeze it all in.

He's a small dog so at just under 18 months, he's settling down but still needs all the exercise and mental stimulation or he'll get into anything and everything. Be patient, play more games, find new places to walk to stimulate their minds, be patient, find some new toys or teach them some new tricks, sign up for another obedience class, or maybe agility, and most of all be patient! They'll grow out of it, but they need you to help keep them safe until they do so.

Something else I forgot... If you think the dog is doing something it knows it shouldn't to get your attention, ignore it. They don't act with the intention of making you mad, they just want your attention and don't care if its good or bad. So unless they are chewing on Grandma's hope chest, make like they aren't even there.
I try to make eye contact often with Charley, I smile at him often as well. He's not eager to please but does listen and is more inclined to listen if I'm already in a good mood and using a pleasant voice. That's not to say that you can't say NO if you catch them being idiots but once you've corrected, forget about it and move on.

I'm glad i found this thread. I haven't posted in a while but my 11month ol malamute has reverted back to his behaviors of 3months of age. He went from being an angel 1 month ago to a unpredictable little snot. He has taken to growl grumbling when he has to do something he doesn't like. Ex. having to come inside after playing ball. He has reverted back to some of his fear aggression behaviors as well. Just to confirm this is total normal right?

It sure sounds like regression in training / obedience when the dog hits the 'teenage phase' is normal.

I think Matty is finally over the "I'll challenge every command you give just to make sure you really mean it" phase ... thank god for that. I think he's now in the "I'll just ignore you and see if I can get away with it" phase.

I don't remember Toby (now a 10 yrs old beagle) having gone through this phase before ... but boy, I just don't realize how much of an angel Toby was until we had Matty.

These days everytime I visit my parents I keep telling Toby how he's a good boy and he's an angel .... and give him lots of treats ... he's probably thinking "That's nice but what have I done recently to deserve this?!" ;)

He has taken to growl grumbling when he has to do something he doesn't like. Ex. having to come inside after playing ball. He has reverted back to some of his fear aggression behaviors as well. Just to confirm this is total normal right?

Pretty much yes, just teach him again that growling isn't aceptable and work onthe fear agression like you did the first time.

On the up side, it'll take less time to re-teach than it did to teach in the first place :)

The list of things that Tucker destroyed is very long, but he has not done it since he was about 18 months old. My last dog the BMD x GSD got into things until he was about 6 months and then he was an:angel: . I thought it was the type of dog that just didn't do those things and that BC's were part beaver, but I guess it just depends on the dog themselves.