the teenage phase with your dog is by
far the most challenging and it is where
most of the most severe behavior
problems come from now there are many
common mistakes that people make when it
comes through getting through the
teenage phase successfully and in this
video i'm going to give you my tips to
make sure that you don't make those same
mistakes and you have the dream canine
companion that you've always wanted so
the dreaded teenage phase with your dog
it is true it is where so many people
start to have huge problems with their
dogs the reason that so many people have
trouble at this stage is because of one
main mistake they think they're done
when it comes to training young puppies
it often goes really fast and you often
have a huge amount of success so you get
to a point where you're happy with your
dog then you get complacent you take
your foot off the gas and then the
teenage phase hits and their things go
off a cliff very very quickly now if
that's the mistake how can you
fix that mistake well i'm going to show
you three tips that you should be doing
to help make the teenage phase the
nightmare of dog ownership to being able
to cruise through it successfully so to
help make sure you're not making those
same mistakes you have to remember my
pyramid of success and my pyramid of
success is built on the foundations of
leadership and then how that leadership
impacts the relationship you have with
your dogs and how that relationship then
informs communication because if you can
communicate well with your dogs you can
tell them what you do want what you
don't want
and then every problem is solved and the
single best way to make sure that
relationship informed by incredible
leadership is exactly where you need it
to be is to have the ability to go on a
loose lead walk every single day where
your dogs are following your guidance
and direction i call this every single
day putting pennies in the piggy bank of
leadership doing this every day so that
in that teenage phase where you need to
make withdrawals from that piggy bank of
leadership you're keeping it topped up
so that you can navigate any issues
easily effectively and swiftly when they
will arise so the next tip to help make
sure that you don't fall into any of the
teenage phase traps is around teaching
your dog a really solid leave it command
the leave it command is incredibly
powerful especially as they go through
that teenage phase and start to test
boundaries start to let their confidence
shine maybe start to display some
resource guarding behaviors or minor
levels of aggression towards other dogs
maybe reactivity on a lead by having a
rock solid leave it command you can
efficiently and effectively communicate
to your dog stop doing whatever you're
doing right now leave that alone bring
your attention back to me
because i'm going to communicate what it
is that we need to do next now the way
we teach or leave it command is very
very straightforward we use a couple of
pieces of food and i'm going to use my
trusty slip lead so that we can set our
dogs up for success guarantee success
and if need be communicate to them very
effectively if they are not leaving what
it is that we're teaching them to leave
so i'm going to have my slip lead on
and i'm going to let riley know here
that there's a piece of food i'm going
to put that piece of food on the floor
and i'm going to make it very very clear
with a leave it command leave it now if
she breaks for that food i'm going to
use a verbal correction and my slip lead
to help me make sure that she doesn't
get that piece of food when she then
looks up to me for guidance and
direction i'm going to reward her and
we're going to practice this and
practice this drill i'm going to show
you how we can level it up to get to a
point that no matter what it is that she
wants to go for if i tell her to leave
it she must leave it now this might seem
a little bit unnecessary a little bit
even
harsh but think about where we can use
this if your teenage dog is becoming
reactive and aggressive towards other
dogs maybe displaying resource guarding
behaviors if we can teach this in a safe
and as fun as possible way if those
behaviors start to display themselves we
can now use it to stop disasters from
happening to prevent dog fights to
prevent bites to keep the dog under
control and help them understand even if
they're going through this teenage phase
they have to listen to us so let's show
you what that looks like so i'm going to
show her that i've got a piece of food
in this hand
i've got my slip lead at the ready i'm
going to put it down leave it
when she brings her attention back to me
she gets paid with the food in my hand
and i remove this one really simple
process we're going to do the same thing
let her know that i've got some food in
my hand she's after it i'm going to make
it
leave it
when the attention comes back to me she
gets paid and i remove that one with a
little bit of pressure on the lead just
to stop her from going for it and as
soon as she relaxes looks up to me for
guidance and direction she then gets
paid by the other piece of food so we're
teaching impulse control we're teaching
her that even though there's something
highly desirable that she wants to
pursue
she must look up and listen to my
guidance and direction and by having
that in your arsenal will make huge
amounts of progress for you cruising
through the teenage phase with as little
problems as possible please
yeah good girls good girls
so the next step to help make sure that
you get through the teenage phase as
successfully as possible is making sure
that you put a barrier to entry in front
of anything that the dogs find highly
desirable now the way that you do that
is really simple you teach a basic sit
stay and break command and then we learn
how to put those things together
in front of anything that the dog finds
desirable so if the dog loves their food
don't allow them free access to their
food if your dog loves praise and
attention don't give them free access to
the praise and the attention if your dog
loves their toys don't give them free
access they're gonna have all of those
things don't worry ad dogs can have
everything that they love but we're
simply going to put a barrier to entry
in place so if you want to get through
that teenage phase and be left with an
amazing perfect canine companion just
like puppy remember barrier to entry
leave it drill structured pack walk
every day to make sure that your pyramid
of success is bomb proof and you'll
cruise through the teenage phase and it
doesn't need to be the disaster that it
is for so many people isn't that right
puppy yes it is so do poppy a favor
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like this every single week and i can't
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