Written by Vanessa Williams, Wild Goose Chase, November 2022
Let's talk about puppy focus and how much this specific stage of life (pre-adolescence) is the absolute worst.
Puppies are toddlers and then they go right into teenagers. Anyone raising human kids knows that both toddlers and teenagers lack focus in their lives. Hormones, teething, brain development, etc. all impact our puppy's ability to focus on tasks, training, behaving, listening. And just like human toddlers and teenagers, many times this makes them extremely ego-centric. This isn't to say that they are selfish, per say, but more so that they are biologically wired to view self as more important.
Put these two facts together, and we get some of the most common complaints with raising puppies and adolescent dogs: ignoring known training cues, not listening to their owners, running away, regressing in manners, etc. What most pet owners forget, or dont know, is that these are phases puppies go through as they mature and develop and most of the time, you just have to wait them out, do what you can, and manage the behavior to prevent self-rewarding.
Real life example: Nyxi is only a few days short of 5 months. For the last week, she has been really bad at listening. She's at that age where this usually starts. She ignores me unless I have a treat or toy in hand. She hasn't been motivated in our training sessions and wanders off or refuses to engage. She doesn't stick around anymore and tries to galivant around the neighborhood. Animal poop, especially bird poop, is more rewarding and engaging than even the tastiest of dog treats. She's much more focused on other dogs and what they're doing. She's refusing to come inside after a play session in the yard, instead avoiding me and trying to go be by the hose. She puts everything in her mouth and wont give it up anymore.
She's not being a "bad puppy" or "stubborn" or "stupid". She's not "willfully disobeying". She doesnt "hate me" all of a sudden. She's just being a normal puppy who's brain is on hyperdrive and everything is a bit overstimulating and overwhelming for her. She wants to do it ALL and her wants are more important to her developing brain than my wants.
So, how do I deal with this?
1.) I go back to the very basic cues, ones that she knows. This leads to a high reward rate for stuff that doesn't tax her brain too much. It keeps her succeeding, building motivation, confidence, and drive. Eye contact, hand touches, focus, trading for stuff she has, dropping toys, recalls, etc. I've stopped asking her to wait for her toy or bring me things or do down stays, etc.
2.) I keep training sessions short. 5 minutes or less. She doesn't have the attention span right now to do much else. The only time we go longer is puppy class, and during that, the rate of reward is really high and instead of doing just training for an hour, we break it up into small pieces with her favorite cues (hand touches) and play and cuddles.
3.) I reward her for every engagement with me. If she comes over by me, I play with her or give her a treat, especially if we are outside.
4.) I manage everything. She's always on leash outside now, when she didnt need to be for over a month. I keep the garbage cans way up, especially the bathroom ones with tissues. She is always actively supervised when outside so that I can prevent her from eating bird poop and reward her for ignoring poop. I make sure she has ample chew toys of different textures and hardnesses so that they are more appealing than inappropriate things to chew.
5.) I pick my battles. Some things are just not important to "fix" right now. If she is not in the mindset to train, we dont. I dont ask her to recall if I dont think she will do it. I dont worry about her deciding that every autumn leaf needs to be destroyed instead of playing with me. She needs time to just be a puppy and cope with the stress of growing up.
6.) I make sure her biological needs are met. This means physical exercise and enough sleep. Many puppies this age are great at the first but bad at the second. Forced naps are a thing. She should still be getting a good 18 hours of sleep right now, but if she had a choice, she'd be playing for 18 hours and sleeping for 6.
7.) Most importantly, I have patience. Do I get frustrated? Yes. But I dont let that frustration change the way I'm interacting with her. She's just a kid, and she's struggling too. It's a phase that she will come out of. The worst thing I can do right now is ruin our relationship because I'm frustrated that she's not the super sharp genius puppy she was two weeks ago.
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