Is it adolescence?

[redlottie]

Just after some advice please

I have Otto who is an 11 month old working cocker boy, he is an absolute delight most of the time and we love him to pieces. 

The last week or so though he appears to have the devil in him  - not settling down to sleep, running after birds and just generally being disobedient.  Is this just adolescence?

It isnt a huge problem just a little frustrating when he is normally so good.  He has 2 good runs off lead each day plus one lead walk.  We play hide and fetch and other activities in the house and my other half is with him mostly every day in the day so he rarely gets left!

As I said not a huge problem but I would like to nip it in the bud if it is something we have control of.

[Sarah1985]

 I found Dexter got loads of extra energy at this age. He took to waking me up at the crack of dawn and it seemed like he was constantly charging round the house.

Is he on adult food yet?

For Dexter My dog trainer suggest that the junior food he was on was too high in protein, we switched him to the adult and saw a dramatic improvement. If Im honest I didnt research how true this is but it worked for us so might be worth looking into

[redlottie]

Thanks for the reply

He is on adult food we switched him about 6 - 8 weeks ago.  He was on Arden Grange puppie and then moved on to adult.  I might research the food thing a bit more though if it continues.

[Sarah1985]

Another thing i remember was that Dexters naughty stage occured just after he "graduated" from basic obedience classs. I also noticed an improvement when I went back to regularly training him. I took up a few doggy hobbies and did my best to keep him mentally stimulated and it helped us get through it. it Helps remind him who holds the treats as well as improving your relationship 

Dont worry Now hes older I dont need to do so much but it certainly helped us in the mean time. And it meant he learned some good gun dog tricks that  I can practice on walks if I get bored.