I have an amstaff mix who’s 8 months and has started puberty around a month ago. As expected his behaviour changed and a lot of times I’m so overwhelmed by everything! He’s started being way more interested in most of the dogs we see on our walks, as soon as he smells the pee of a female dog in heat he’ll literally throw himself to the ground, doing EVERYTHING in his power to smell that spot when usually he’ll listen if I say no to him as soon as he pulls on the leash to smell something. He’s started misbehaving inside our home again and seems to have way too much energy to handle. Honestly my biggest fear is not being a good owner, making mistakes and „ruining“ him in this sensitive period of time. Any tips on how to handle dogs who have started puberty??
For additional infos: -We go on three walks a day: short one in the morning after which he usually sleeps for a few hours, one hour walk in the afternoon which is for sniffing, exploring and training tricks, playing games etc One hour of going to meet with neighbour dogs outside where they can chase and play etc
-He is not allowed to greet any dogs anymore, he has his „friendgroup“ with the same 4 dogs of different ages etc -I do force him to take a nap which can be a pain in the ass as he doesn’t want to miss out any fun stuff my family might be doing outside my room
submitted by /u/gaddmmdsks
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