I broke my own rule, and set my expectations too high

Whenever a puppy blues post comes through here, I remind people to lower their expectations. Dogs are just babies, and not always going to get things right. When we got our GSD about 4 months ago, I set a rule for myself that I wouldn't expect more of her than she had proven capable of.

It started off great, she was a chill puppy, picked up training and routine so fast, breezed through the beginner level dog training we put her in. She's now 8 months old, and definitely hitting her teenage stride. Suddenly she doesnt know how to walk on a leash, jumps, paws, mouths, all the behaviors we thought she learned so fast. I admit, I got frustrated, she knew all this already, and now we're back to BEFORE square one!

Last night, in the wee hours, with my wife sound asleep beside me, and my mind spiraling over having to take her for her morning walk in a few hours, I thought "well, if we're back at the beginning, ill just have to train like we're back at the beginning."

And so I did. Our morning walk was done like our first one. Stopping when she pulled, guiding her back in position, carrying on. It took a good 5-10 repetitions, but then, she got it. She was walking like she knew what she was doing again. Then at lunch, I took her to a pet store, set her up in an aisle that didnt have anything too distracting, but still faced the main walkway, and we stood. When she sat, she got a treat and praise, when she turned back to me, treat and praise. Over the course of about 15 minutes, she went from pulling so hard her feel scrambled on the concrete, and acting like I wasn't even there, to sitting at my feet and paying more attention to me than most anything else.

I came home feeling silly. I had done exactly what I said I wouldn't. I was expecting adult behavior out of my teenage dog. She did know how to behave, but needed to be reminded, and have that boundary reinforced.

So to those of you out there struggling with a teenage dog who's forgotten everything, meet them where theyre at. If they need to start over from the beginning again, we start over from the beginning.