Adolescence and Maturity
Adolescence is not a single event. Sexual maturity, skeletal maturity, neurological development, social maturity and emotional maturity do not all arrive together — and the gap between them can be confusing.
What is happening
Sexual maturity, skeletal maturity, neurological development, social maturity and emotional maturity are not the same event. Increased exploration, apparent recall regression, increased scent interest, frustration, stronger responses to dogs or strangers, confidence fluctuations, territorial awareness, reduced impulse control and increased physical ability before emotional maturity all commonly appear.
The adolescent dog may not have forgotten their training. Competing motivations have often become stronger.
What helps
Reduce opportunities to rehearse unsafe behaviour, reinforce familiar skills in easier environments, build difficulty gradually, avoid interpreting development as dominance or deliberate defiance, and do not promise maturity at exactly 18 months or two years.
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