Busy few weeks, start of the terrible teens!

Not posted or been on here in quite a few weeks, been super busy with my little man Reggie...he's now just over 6 months and in his 19th week adolescence kicked in with a bang, they don't call it the terrible teens for nothing! Spooking at things he would normally not have batted an eyelid at, getting unnerved by 'surprises' or seeing something out of context, especially when he first leaves the house, and all of this changing from day to day...even though I was prepared for adolescence and knew what to expect, I still was a little worried when he had his first spooky episode, however his temperament and early experiences are standing to him and his bounce back from stressful incidences is good...
Anyway we have been working hard, with lots of continued gentle and positive exposure and experiences, and he is coming through it great so far, I know we've a while to go yet though! We have also attended 3 agility competitions in the past 3 weeks, where we were able to do lots of work on focusing on me and remaining calm even with the distractions of other dogs and people.

I know a lot of folks on here have pups/adolescents, and one resource I have found amazing is Leslie Mc Devitt's 'Control Unleashed' book, some of you may know it already, anyway I've been doing a lot of this stuff with Reggie since we got him and it's great. It's not just for young dogs though I use some of the protocols with my adult boxer who is dog reactive in certain situations, Leslie actually developed it for people with fearful, aggressive or reactive dogs who wanted to compete with them in agility, obedience, rally etc, but it can apply to all dogs.
Anyway looking forward to catching up on the posts and especially the photo gallery!

Sounds like your having yourselves some fun teenage times darcy can be a scardy cat scared of the the strangest of this. Ill give the book a look up thanks for the recommended

 Oh, the teen years!  It'll get better........in about 10 years!

Lol......Well I wasn't encouraged when I watched a DVD of a Trish King seminar on Canine Adolescence and she said that just like humans age can be a state of mind and that some dogs stay teenagers for ever  
Seriously though, I do think that sometimes bull breeds can be slow to mature... my friend has a collie who is two weeks older than Reggie and he's like an adult dog already in some respects!

Somebody told me a Staff doesn't mature until they are about six!  

I would have my doubts as to whether they mature at all lol still that's part of the reason why I love the breed, same with boxers, I love that playfulness and silliness

sab44 wrote:I would have my doubts as to whether they mature at all lol still that's part of the reason why I love the breed, same with boxers, I love that playfulness and silliness

Yeah me too  

omg ive had boxers for 20yrs and they never stop making me laugh and same with Roxy she is just a massive bundle of joy never stop smiling with her around. cant wait for the teenage yrs to start roxy is 13 weeks now eeekkkk

It feels like ive got 2 teenagers in the house at the moment my son nearly 15 and sasha 18 weeks im she gave me the talk to the paw face the otber day