Board and train for adolescent dogs

Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine places the start of adolescence around 6 months and the end around 18 months, sometimes as late as 2 years depending on the breed and the dog. It explains that adolescents are often more impulsive than adults and may overreact, because the part of the brain that governs self-control is still maturing. That is why cues that worked at five months fall apart at nine: the dog knows them, but the brakes are not finished.

Cornell's advice is consistent rules, mental as well as physical exercise, and teaching the dog to sit before it gets anything it wants, a habit sometimes called learn to earn. Those are the bones of an adolescent stay. A dog that bolts through doors, leaps on guests, pulls toward everything and forgets its recall when a gull lifts off is rarely being defiant. It is a teenager with more energy than self-control.

Adolescence is also when dogs reach sexual maturity, which the AKC puts between 5 months and a year. It notes that a female in heat releases pheromones that attract intact males, that intact males may mount, roam and urine-mark, and that some daycares do not take unneutered dogs or females in heat. Those facts matter for a board-and-train stay, because daycare integration is part of both programs when appropriate.

Tell us on the training form whether your dog is intact, and for a female, when her last heat was. Whether and how an intact adolescent joins a playgroup during the stay is decided at the free evaluation and the training consult, and we will not guess at the answer here. Neutering is a medical decision for you and your vet; training works either way. A dog that does not join a group still gets training blocks, enrichment and rest.

Advanced ends with two scheduled coaching lessons, one to hand you the games and one to fix what slipped at home. After that, Calm & Connected is the program written for adolescents, rescues and adults, 4, 6 or 8 weeks at two sessions a week, covering impulse control, minor leash reactivity, stranger concerns and real-world reliability. Both stay lengths are on our board and train page. Dogtown Academy days, $89 full or $69 half, add a training session to every day, and the Pup Van runs to them for $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea.

The daily updates during the stay give you a running record of which games your dog can play and where. Video is confirmed at booking, not assumed. On Cape Ann an adolescent's hardest tests are seasonal: the crowds of St. Peter's Fiesta in late June, the July 3 fireworks and the first off-season beach days from October 1. Keep a teenager on a long line for those beach days until its recall has survived a few.