Growing up!

Una's now 11 months, so becoming a young lassie. I'm curious - what can I expect as she moves through 11, 12 and beyond?

As you know our Una can be hyper but her episodes of play-biting/jumping are becoming less, it's about once a week/fortnight now, but I'm wary that we may still have her teenage tantrums ahead where it kicks off again

Also what do I do with exercise and walks as she hits the 12 months - she's currently getting around an hour's walk morning and evening, playing with a friend on a few walks a week. We're starting beginner's agility, which is with a force-free trainer we've worked with before and is mainly for fun and socialisation. Una likes the trainer and we've plans in place (Kongs and calling it a day) if it gets too exciting.

I know every pup is different but I'd love to hear your experiences of what may be ahead as our lass hits the 1 year mark

From my experience of others on the forum Ange, some Staffies regress and need a reminder on basic training. I guess they just get older and bolder and see what they can get away with.

The exercise you've mentioned sound great and there's nothing I would add to be honest but if you're feeling more energetic you could always go for short hikes I guess, if you have the time

She's lost some of her fear and is getting a wee bit older and bolder, I can see it in her selective hearing now, especially towards the end of walks when she's playing with her friend! So we've been continuing the recall training (that babble ball is excellent, especially as I fashioned a new plastic tab so it is quiet in my pocket)

If short hikes are okay for her, that would be excellent - we're a mix of enjoying couch time and enjoying hikes and meandering around, what length / time should I be considering?

This is quite a good post about the "teenage stage" :
http://www.aspcapro.org/sites/pro/files/canine-adolescence-aspca.pdf

Regarding the exercise, going by the 5 minute per month rule, which should be followed until fully grown, Una could have 55 minutes (an hour) of exercise twice a day. You can adjust that to suit you. I took Bug in at around 3 and she needed 90-120 mins of exercise a day to settle in the evenings. She's older now and slowing down a little, but she still needs 90 minutes, just at a slower pace!

id say hour hour and a half morning and evening I used to exercise mia 4 hrs a day but shes getting on a bit and only manages 30 mins now but she has leg problems shes 13 now

Thank you both, that's an excellent article and it's great to get your guidance. Mia looks great at 13, slowing down just means you get to enjoy things at a more sensible pace

The walking times are good to know as it gives me a base to work from - a lot of the articles seemed to be great until the dog came towards the 12 month mark and then they stopped.

Agility would have been excellent, Una was getting well with the 3 other dogs and enjoyed the exercises. Unfortunately the last dog to join the group was a small, barky/growly dog. Where the other dogs were able to ignore the wee dog, Una couldn't and we ended up standing apart from everyone during the class - so we're going to call that an experience but call it a day for now.

For now it's play walks with the few dogs she knows, practising watch-mes with distractions on our walks and we're going to regroup with our trainer for a reactive k9 class to help us with being on the leash on pavement, unknown dogs (especially wee barky/growly ones) and cyclists.

Most probably because they're classified at adolescents/adults from 12 months lovely, if you haven't already read them and fancied a bit of extra reading I highly recommend anything written by Patricia Mcconnell. She also links to loads of great resources on her website on lots of different topics.

What a shame about the agility, is there not another group that she can attend? Or what about 1-2-1 lessons? We looked into this with Bug as she's not great with other dogs. Would be a shame for her to miss out, if she enjoys it.

Great to hear that you're seeking help for her

As Una is still young I would also advise to keep the walks to no more than an hour as the norm.

I've been out with Flo for the best part of a morning or afternoon so the can certainly keep the pace up as they get older. My Flo is getting older now and a lot slower so wouldn't do that with her now but I think she might still enjoy some time on Dartmoor later this year, however, we'll be leaving the rock climbing out this time

ive found a trainer based in your area they do agility classes and also dog classes
http://dogtraininginscotland.com/page/4576637300

That's a brilliant idea about 1-2-1 lessons, I'd not thought that far - thanks and I'll check into it! The agility lady's great so I'll have a chat with her. Una had a blast with the tunnel and the hoop and on walks she'll always look to wander along low walls, benches and felled tree trunks.

Thanks for the shout about Patricia Mcconnell - thanks to this forum I've got "Fiesty Fido" and it's so very helpful.

Crystal! That's the lady we use Jill's lovely and she always keeps the groups small. We've done basic commands and the agility would have been great, it's just a mismatch in personalities - I'm catching up with Jill tomorrow so we'll ask about alternate classes.

Thanks Ian, that's good to know about the walks - not sure about rock climbing

We caught up with the lady who runs it on Sunday and she explained the plan for tonight so I stopped being a wuss and we went back. We were in two groups from the start so we were placed with the ones Una had seemed to get on best with. We stood back from them, but not too far to feel excluded and armed with the smelliest and mooshiest of her dinners, spent the evening with Una licking up small bits of dinner, then doing an activity, then back to licking.

We did get some growls and wanting to run at dogs, but no fixating and she was able to give me a paw and sit during the hour. Got back home and she's crashed out snoring - tbh I'll probably be crashing out soon too

That's brilliant news sounds like a great first session back, imagine what she will be able to do once she gets back into the swing of things! Lovely to hear!

Your trainer sounds great, Ange. What a lovely way to handle the situation.

great news ange

Thanks - yes, Jill was good at getting the class to understand that Una's a very loving wee soul - she's just scared of a lot of things but pretends to be fierce rather than run away. Of course it helps when Una's waggling her backside off at Jill!

The class were lovely on Monday, the small dog's folks helped to keep their pooch at a distance and no direct head to head contact and everyone's being very positive when Una's racing through the tunnel or through the hoop.

bless una class sounds very accomodating best of luck

Just a little word or warning about the Agility Classes. I used to take Daisy. She started obedience as a pup and we stayed there for two years and did agility from about 12 months, but not too strenuous and she ended up having a cruciate ligament tear. She had to have it replaced with a nylon suture, she now has arthritis. I just would hate for anyone else to go through that with their dog, if I could go back I wouldn't have done the agility with her until she was two.

Thanks for that heads up, I was wondering about the classes and her joints/ligaments. As you say it's not too strenuous, nothing like how she races around with her friend but I do want to avoid giving her too much at a young age.

These four classes are introductions to the different activities so I think we'll finish this block of four classes and then focus on how we cope with dogs and other distractions

ClareGilby wrote:Just a little word or warning about the Agility Classes.  I used to take Daisy.  She started obedience as a pup and we stayed there for two years and did agility from about 12 months, but not too strenuous and she ended up having a cruciate ligament tear.  She had to have it replaced with a nylon suture, she now has arthritis.  I just would hate for anyone else to go through that with their dog, if I could go back I wouldn't have done the agility with her until she was two.

Great advice gleaned from experience