I have a 12 month old (just had his 1st birthday yesterday) and I swear I've never had such a terrible adolescent

Over the last few weeks he's been just...awful! He's getting ideas above his station which my 5 year old doesn't like, they've had a few fights (mostly minor, but a couple of more major ones that thankfully I've stopped before any major damage has been done...though one did succeed in pulling a tooth out from 5 y/o :() and my house generally seems to be a lot of growling and mounting!

He's chewing absolutely *everything* he can get his paws on, he's even been chewing the carpets. He started to chew through my laptop power cable yesterday (thankfully I noticed before he'd done any more damage than a few tooth indents in the plastic casing) and this morning I was suddenly aware of a noise to my left (thought it was the puppies!).....and he'd chewed through the cable to my electric bed controller completely through...seeing as I was in bed at the time I suppose I should just be thankful he didn't electrocute either of us

I'm not looking forward to explaining that one.

He has toys, though they need to be heavy duty because he's quite destructive (never have guessed, would you? :-D) but they don't hold his interest for long at the moment....much more fun to chew things he shouldn't be chewing! Even nylabones - which he adored - have lost their appeal! And he's a toy breed - suppose I should be thankful he's not bigger! Back to the drawing board for some new boredom busters, I think!

The bolshiness and disobedience pales into insignificance compared to the rest

He wasn't this bad even as a puppy!!

Hi,

Of course they do go through an adolescent phase and it is likely that he is but also they can go through a second period between 8 and 12 months where their teeth are settling into their gums and it can be very uncomfortable for them which may expalin the chewing and may also explain if he's being a little more grumpy than normal with your other dog.  Do you leave his toys out all the time - I find it can be useful to have say ten of different texture and shapes etc and then bring a different one out each day or morning and then afternoon other wise they do get bored.  You could also try a stuffed frozen kong and see if that helps.

Is he getting enough training time and mental stimulation, maybe if you give details of his daily routine someone may be able to spot something that may help.

Can you give examples of wht kind of things the scuffles are starting over, is it over 'things' or anything in particular that you can spot.  Is it when one invades the other space, when the younger or older is lying resting and then the other goes over to them?  Anything at all may be relevant.

maybe worth getting back to some training classes if your not already.it's great mental stimulation and also good  for him to mix with other dogs. it will also re-enforce who is boss in the house and build a continuing good relationship with yourself.

One of my papillons as a youngster managed to chew off three plugs from radiators, radios etc - all in a instant.  One was even plugged in so thank goodness she didn't electrocute herself!  The good news is she grew out of it and now at just over 2 I feel I can start to trust her again.  Before that if I left the room she had to either come with me or be put in her cage for a while.  She also had plenty of toys but they didn't have the same appeal. 

Hopefully as yours grows older he will calm down as well. 

Oh I wasn't really posting for advice, just to share his latest antics

I didn't know they had a second period of teething, that would make sense. When I say he's destructive he's destructive with his toys, not around the house...haven't had any problems with him until he started doing this and it does seem to be chewing to chew rather than chewing to destroy, if that makes sense? I do rotate toys, though they're mostly similar textures...anything remotely soft/fluffy gets destroyed! Though that's to be expected - his sister had holes with vet bed(!) for bedding and his mother was the same as a youngster (had bedding with more holes than material) and has never stopped destroying soft toys.

I tend to do lots of short training sessions throughout the day - his concentration is still very puppyish! He makes me smile when I do stay work with him, sometimes he's looking all round and then sees something (usually a knot in the (wooden) floor) and you can see him thinking "oo, shiny!" and he totally forgets what he's meant to be doing and goes to see :-D but we're getting there, slowly. Haven't done any classes with him yet because at the moment I have another dog in the class he'd be in.

I actually bought a Kong Bone the other day for a change, I'm now trying to work out what I can actually fit in the ends! I think it's the extra small size, though it may be small.

Our doggie adolesance was deafness. Could hear a pack of crisps opened from up the garden but could not hear me calling him when about 10 foot away. I almost got into crying with rage to get him to come (which made it worse). I have even driven the car up the road trying to persuade him I really was going!! It didnt work with the kids either. The trick was to sit on the floor and become involved in something that would cause his inate curiosity every time. Yep man is more intelligent than dog (but it was a close run thing). Yesterday he shot off to the car and Im calling and calling him and he was sat behind me, glad it was early and no one could see I did feel a fool! But hey he knows that!!

I tend to do lots of short training sessions throughout the day - his concentration is still very puppyish! He makes me smile when I do stay work with him, sometimes he's looking all round and then sees something (usually a knot in the (wooden) floor) and you can see him thinking "oo, shiny!"

:-D I've got one like that - call her butterfly brain, if she was a person she'd be stereotypically blond and into all things pink and sparkly, she gets very distracted by her own reflection in doors,mirrors,glass etc! As for grass blowing in the wind, well each time is like the first time she's seen that, very mesmerising apparently :-D

> his sister had holes with vet bed(!) for bedding and his mother was the same as a youngster (had bedding with more holes than material)

Don't you just love the 'lace doily' look you can get with vet-bed, Zuma had 3, 2 pices of cheap stuff that came with the crate but the 3rd was a piece of proper vetbed. It looks realy creative when you put it out on the line to dry :-D :-D
Chris

Hehe I'm really laughing at these posts, we got back from holiday on Monday night, my dad came to our house and dog sat our three, and the 16 week old Geoff has been a little bugger since we got back, so much so that I even asked my dad what he'd been feeding him whilst we was away, he is like a hamster on something illegal! Lol :-)

Really really looking forward to adolescence! :-)

Nicki xx

We have 10.5month adolescent!! it is funny reading these post and some what reassuring LOL :).
Yesterday our teenage rebel decided to help himself to my underwear from the laundry basket and sprawled them around the garden!! obviously it was a great game!!!!
Love em

My 7 month ?adolescent is into plastic bottles "Oh nice Mum...lots of NOISE!!!" and I really cannot understand why we have just paid out for a new shredder (One with a lock on ... too many horror stories about of shredded tongues!) as give her a cardboard box or a stolen piece of paper from the bin and she can shred it into millions of tiny tiny pieces in no time! and no cost for power! We also like landscape gardening..the hillier and holier she can make it, the better she likes the garden! and "things" can get burried out there..like her halti  "I HATE HATE HATE IT!" ;) ;)
Aileen

Well since my post regarding Geoff the 16 week old a few lines up Ruby (18 months!) has decided to show us that her ability to be the naughty adolescent is definately still there! We came home today after a couple of hours out to find that she has not only jumped the tall gate to their doggy room (where they sleep and go when we are out), but she also jumped the gate at the bottom of the stairs, undid our bedroom door and obliterated everything in the room she could get her grubby little paws on, including my brand new bra! OH is hammering away downstairs as I type making the place a little more Ruby proof. The joys! :-)

Nicki xx

> Yep man is more intelligent than dog (but it was a close run thing).

ROFLMAO!!!  :-)  :-)  :-)

Oh yes the holes in the garden. Mine has just started that as well as chewing the walls and chewing the lino up off the floor(which to be honest is a help to some degree as its coming up anyway).
What doesn't help is that we have an 8 month old Lab who is just the same so double trouble.. As for the teen stages that is going to be interesting.

Our gradener walks in to my office to get paid every time and tells the dogs off for the holes in the lawn. They lap it up laying on the floor showing their bellies (he's a doggie man with Dexter his retriver). Then they go home spread all their, toys he has put in a heap, all over the garden and re dig the holes. Next week we do it all again and it costs me £75! who's the idiot!

I am sorry but your lot pale into insignificance on the destruction stakes.  JC is now 5 but has to be worse puppy I ever had.  He ate everything during teething period as follows:-

1 x sofa (yes the lot - it looked like it had snowed)
2 holes in the kitchen wall and lounge walls
3 spindles in the stairs
the bottom stair
ends of window ledges
4 x model motorbikes (all were metal)
4 shelves on a tv unit
various wires of varying danger
2 x cat flaps

Problem was he got into the habit of it so as a last ditch attempt we spread vicks over everything and it stopped immediately and we have never had a single problem since. 

In case people think it was because he was left for hours, it wasnt as he was with my older dog (god knows what he thought) and it was for about an 1 hour total a day.