Around six months many owners feel their puppy has been swapped overnight. The youngster who trotted back when called now looks at you across the field, weighs the other dog against you, and chooses the other dog. Cues that seemed learned fall apart near distractions, sleep patterns shift, and confidence can swing between bold and suddenly wary. This is adolescence, a genuine developmental stage as hormones rise and his brain reorganises, and knowing the pattern helps you respond with training rather than frustration.
Listening gets selective, especially outdoors
The most reported change is unreliable recall and a deaf ear for familiar cues when something more interesting is happening. He has not forgotten his training; the teenage brain values novelty and other dogs more highly, and self-control is still under construction. Go back a step without treating it as failure: practise recall on a long line where he cannot rehearse ignoring you, pay recalls with something genuinely exciting rather than the usual treat, and rebuild each cue around distractions gradually. Short, successful sessions in the garden are worth more at this age than an ambitious off-lead session in a busy park that ends with you chasing him.
Energy, size and old habits resurface
Adolescent dogs often need more activity yet settle less easily afterwards, and behaviours you thought were finished — jumping up, mouthing sleeves, pulling hard on the lead, raiding bins — can return, now delivered by a much stronger dog. Chewing may intensify again as adult teeth settle. Manage the environment while you retrain: gates, leads indoors for a while if needed, chew items ready before he chooses the furniture, and rest enforced with quiet chew time in his bed, because an overtired teenager behaves worse, not better. Channel the energy into structured outlets like scent games and training walks rather than simply longer and wilder exercise, which can build an athlete who still cannot switch off at home.
Confidence can wobble in both directions
Some teenagers become pushy with other dogs, barging into play and missing signals to back off, while others go through a second wary phase where bins, strangers, or new objects suddenly seem alarming. Both need the same calm response: create distance from the thing he is struggling with, reward relaxed looking, and do not force greetings or flood him with the scary thing to get him used to it. Watch play closely and step in early if he is overwhelming another dog, because rehearsing rude play now can set adult social habits.
When teenage behaviour needs a professional eye
Testing boundaries is normal; a sharp change in character is worth checking. Aggression that appears suddenly, guarding that escalates quickly, extreme fear that stops him enjoying ordinary walks, or any behaviour change paired with appetite, thirst, or toileting changes should prompt a vet visit first and then a qualified behaviour professional if the vet finds no physical cause. Pain and illness can wear a teenage mask, and catching that early protects both his health and your training.
This phase keeps producing new quirks week after week; put a follow-up question to KinsLe's Kinny, and he answers using the KinsLe Answers library.