Preview. Halfgrown isn’t open yet.

Adolescence 6–24 months

Coming back after 3 weeks off starts with 1 skill and 5 minutes, not the whole Plan

A month off is a pause, not an erasure. Pick 1 skill, drop the criteria to where your dog wins, and run 5 minutes tonight.

Life happened. Work, illness, a holiday, or the ordinary business of being tired, and the training quietly stopped 3 weeks ago.

The guilt is doing you no favours here. Nothing you built has been erased, and a comeback is a smaller job than a start.

What happened while you were off

Two things, and neither is dramatic. Your dog kept practising whatever the environment paid them for, and you stopped paying the things you wanted.

If your dog is in early adolescence, something else may be layered on. Dogs show reduced responsiveness to their caregiver's cues around the onset of adolescence, and that responsiveness returns later in the stage.

That is developmental, and it was not caused by your 3 weeks off. It also does not make waiting the plan.

Pick 1 skill, and only 1

The instinct is to restart everything at once, which is why most comebacks last 4 days. Choose the skill causing the most trouble this week.

  1. Name it plainly: Recall, Loose leash, Settle, Greetings, Impulse control or Alone time.

  2. Write it on the fridge, and ignore the other 5 for 2 weeks.

  3. Decide what paying it looks like, and put food back in your pocket tomorrow morning.

Drop the criteria to where your dog wins

  1. Start indoors, with no audience, on the version your dog could do at 6 months old.

  2. Halve the distance and take the distraction to nothing. Recall from 6 feet in the hallway, not 60 feet at the park.

  3. Run 5 minutes, once, tonight. One 5 minute session you actually do beats the 30 minute session you plan.

  4. Add 1 harder element at a time: distance, then movement, then somewhere new.

Make it survive the second week

Behaviour change is built from management plus reinforcement, and a comeback is mostly the reinforcement half. Reward-based training was also associated with higher reported responsiveness and fewer reported problem behaviours in survey work.

  1. Attach the session to something you already do daily, like the kettle or the evening feed.

  2. Put the long line back on outdoors for 2 weeks, so the outdoor version is not eroding while you rebuild indoors.

  3. Mark 14 days on a calendar, 1 mark per session. Miss a day and mark the next one, without starting over.

Safety note

If the gap contained something bigger than a lost habit, treat that as its own problem. New fear, growling, biting or a sudden change in behaviour needs a veterinary examination first, then a qualified behaviour professional.

Get help now

Today's version, in one line: 1 skill on the fridge, and 5 minutes in the hallway before bed.

Where this comes from

  • Reduced responsiveness to the caregiver's cues around the onset of adolescence, and a return of responsiveness later in the stage.

    Harvey, N. D., Craigon, P. J., Blythe, S. A., England, G. C. W., & Asher, L. (2020). Social rearing environment influences dog behavioral development. Biology Letters, 16(5).

    Biology Letters, Royal Society

  • Behaviour change is built with management plus reinforcement, and sudden behaviour change warrants a veterinary examination.

    American Animal Hospital Association (2015). AAHA Canine and Feline Behavior Management Guidelines.

    aaha.org

  • Reward-based training was associated with higher reported responsiveness and fewer problem behaviours.

    Hiby, E. F., Rooney, N. J., & Bradshaw, J. W. S. (2004). Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare. Animal Welfare, 13, 63–69.

    Animal Welfare

Find out where your dog actually is

This article is one problem. The Assessment looks at all of them together, names your dog’s stage, and builds the Plan in order. Free, and no email address.

Start the Assessment

Read next

All articles

Some things need a person who can see your dog. Get help now