Hello,
I have a 7 month old golden retriever. He's recently began some new behaviors that are both concerning and frustrating (perhaps this is the "teenage" phase)
First of all, he is forgetting/ignoring commands he was very receptive to for months; things like place, down, come, even sit. He is resistant to learning new commands, too. He's destructive too. From what I read, this is relatively normal for his age and breed.
What I am mostly concerned about is his new resistance to relaxing. Before, he was comfortable laying down (without napping) on his own in a gated room of the house. I used positive reinforcement when he would relax as a puppy, but stopped this long ago because he seemed to get the hang of it. Now, he does not lay down at all unless he is exhausted and needs to nap. It doesn't seem like he wants to play, either. He won't pick up toys or come up to me. Now, he will just pace around the house and pant for long durations of time… I can't really coax him out of it/ train him to relax the same way J did when he was a puppy. Is this concerning? Is there any way I can train him to be okay with relaxing again, even with his recent training resistance ?
submitted by /u/Wild_Milk_386
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