Your dog ignores a cue they knew at 6 months old. Somebody at the park tells you they are testing you, and that you need to show them who is in charge.
It is an easy story to believe at 9pm, after asking 3 times and being ignored 3 times. It is also the wrong one.
Why we do not use that framing
The status explanation is not what the veterinary behaviour bodies describe. What they recommend is reward-based training for teaching and for behaviour change.
The framing also causes harm in practice. It tells you the answer is confrontation, and punishment-based approaches are associated with fear, avoidance and defensive aggression.
So it costs you twice. You get a wrong reading of your dog, and the handling it suggests carries real risk.
What is actually happening
Around the onset of adolescence, dogs respond less to the cues of the person who raised them. That responsiveness returns later in the stage.
On top of that, a teenage dog lives in a bigger, louder, smellier world than a puppy did. A cue learned in your kitchen was never tested against a park.
There is nothing to win here. There is a set of skills that need practice in harder places.
Try this tonight instead of a showdown
Pick 1 cue your dog is ignoring, and practise it for 3 minutes in the dullest room in your house.
Ask once. If you get nothing, make the next repetition easier rather than louder. Step closer, or drop the distraction.
Pay every answer with food for a week, including the answers you feel your dog already owes you.
Keep a long line on outdoors, so that ignoring you does not get rehearsed at 100 feet.
How to read a refusal
A dog who does not answer is telling you something useful. The cue is too hard here, the payment is too small, or the environment is too loud.
All 3 of those are things you can change tonight. None of them ask you to be more forceful.
Safety note
One exception matters. Growling, snapping, freezing over food, or biting are not adolescence to work through alone. Stop confrontational handling now, keep everyone safe, and speak to your veterinarian and a qualified behaviour professional. Sudden behaviour change also warrants a veterinary examination.
Today's version, in one line: drop the status story, make 1 cue easier, and pay every answer for a week.