Labrador Adolescence: Why Your Teenager Forgot Everything (Six Months to Three Years)

Somewhere around six to eight months, the Labrador who came when called stops coming. The teenager who was calm at home starts chewing again. The puppy who walked nicely is now water-skiing you to the park. Every Labrador owner hits this wall, and most of the Labradors in rescue are there because their owners hit it without knowing it was coming.

It is normal. It is temporary. And it lasts longer in Labradors than in almost any other breed: many don't settle until two and a half or three.

What's happening

Hormones, a brain rewiring itself, and a body that can now outrun you. The dog hasn't forgotten the training. The world has become more interesting than you, and the impulse control that was there at four months has temporarily gone. Fear periods come and go too: a dog who was fine with the bin lorry is suddenly not, for a fortnight, then fine again.

What to do

• Long line, everywhere the recall isn't perfect. Not a punishment; a seatbelt. Reward every recall like it's the first one.
• Go back a step in every skill and pay better. Easier versions, more often, higher-value rewards. You are competing with hormones; bring chicken.
• Give them a job. Retrieving with rules, scent games, tug with a start and stop cue, a snuffle mat, a training class. A tired brain is worth more than a tired body. A Labrador who only gets exercise becomes an athlete who needs more exercise.
• Manage the environment so they can't rehearse the wrong thing: chews available, shoes up, doors shut, a gate at the front door.
• Keep the rules consistent. The whole family, the same rules, every day. Teenagers test edges, and they find the soft one.
• Protect sleep. Adolescents need fourteen to sixteen hours and often don't take it. An overtired teenager is a worse teenager.

What not to do

Don't punish the recall failure when they finally come; you've just punished coming. Don't add hours of running to burn it off; you build stamina, not calm. Don't give up on classes because 'it's not working'; it is, it's just competing with a flood of hormones. And don't neuter to fix it. There is little evidence it helps adolescent behaviour, and good evidence that neutering Labradors early affects joint health; talk timing through with your vet.

The fear periods

Around six to fourteen months many Labradors have a spell of being spooked by things they were fine with. Don't force them to 'face it'; let them look from a distance, pay for looking, and move on. It passes in days to weeks. Forcing it can make a lifelong fear.

When it ends

Usually gradually, between two and three, you notice the dog you trained is back and better. The recall holds, the settle appears without being asked, the walk is a walk. Everything you did during the difficult months is what that dog is made of. Hang on. For the specific skills, jumping and pulling is the next read.