The adolescent dog: getting through the teenage phase

Most dogs move off puppy food during this stage, and when depends entirely on when they finished growing — much earlier for a small dog than a large one. Ask your vet at a weigh-in rather than reading it off a bag. Calorie needs often drop right after neutering while appetite does not, which is the most common moment a dog quietly puts on weight for life. Weigh monthly if you can, and run your hands along the ribs: you should feel them under a thin layer without pressing. Training now costs more treats than it did, so take those calories off meals rather than adding them on top.

Adolescent dogs are frequently under-rested and it looks exactly like being badly behaved. A dog who cannot switch off gets more exercise thrown at them, gets fitter, and needs more — a loop that ends with an exhausted owner and a dog with the stamina of an athlete. Build in real downtime: a chew in a bed in a quiet room, a settle after a walk rather than more activity. Beds get destroyed at this stage more than any other except teething, so washable and tough beats plush. If a crate has stopped being used, keeping it available as an open den is often worth it.

The walk changes character. Your dog is now strong enough that equipment matters: a well-fitted harness spreads the load and takes pressure off the throat when a lunge happens, and a wide leash saves your hands. Sniffing walks do more for an adolescent brain than distance does; running an already-wound-up dog tends to wind them up further. Growth plates have usually closed by the end of this stage in smaller dogs and later in large ones, so ask your vet before starting running, repeated jumping or a sport.

Chewing returns, and this time the jaw behind it is an adult one. Puppy chews get destroyed in minutes now, and a destroyed toy can become a swallowed toy, so this is the point to move up to genuinely tough rubber and to check what you own for damage every week. Mental work is the lever for the whole stage: scent games, harder puzzles, training that requires thinking rather than obedience. A dog who has solved three problems before lunch is a different animal in the afternoon. Rotation still works, and it is still free.

Go backwards on purpose. Everything gets easier: shorter distances, fewer distractions, higher-value rewards, the long line back on. Reward the cues that still work rather than only chasing the ones that do not, and stop repeating a cue three times, because that teaches the dog that the first two are optional. Do not switch to punishment now — a fearful adolescent learns to avoid you, not to come back. If reactivity toward dogs, people or bikes is emerging, this is the moment to get a credentialled, reward-based behaviour professional involved, while the pattern is weeks old rather than years.

Adolescence is the stage owners most often tell us they came close to giving up, and most of what drives that is behavioural and fixable. Practically: the dog is fast, strong and less reliable than they were, so containment matters again. Check the fence for gaps at the new size, check the gate latch, and make sure the microchip details are still current — people move house and forget. Parasite prevention keeps changing as the dog gets heavier, and the exposure changes with where you now walk. Heat is worth a thought too: a big, fit, dark-coated adolescent will keep running past the point where they should stop.