Terrible twos ?
Discussion
Do dogs go through such a thing ? Our beagle/collie cross is now 2.5 years old and we are seeing some behaivour problems 
She has always been a bit of a food scrounger, but it seems to have reached a new level now and she is always on the look out for something to steal and eat. We don't underfeed her, she seems to have reached a peak weight which I regularly check at the vets.
She gets a lot of exercise, 2 walks a day, 1 short and the other usually around an hour and a half with lots of running and off lead time.
She has also started to show 'guard dog' behaviour, lots of barking at sudden sounds (people knocking on doors, walking past the house talking, neighbours in gardens). We have never encouraged this sort of thing so I'm not sure why or where she has picked it up from, my wife thinks (and I tend to agree) that it is a sign of anxiety.
When out walking she can be friendly with most dogs, but some she seems to take an instant dislike to and will be quite aggressive towards them (growling, showing of teeth) which means that we have to be quite careful when taking her out and letting her off lead. She has always been quite possesive and will not tolerate other dogs trying to take her ball/stick/toy at all and she doesn't like us paying attention to other dogs at all.
She is fine towards people and great with children, it's just other dogs that cause a bit of an issue. We socialised her when she was a puppy specifically to avoid this type of thing so it's a bit disappointing that it doesn't seem to have worked.
I'm hoping that this is just some sort of phase and that she will settle down a bit as she still has a fair amount of 'puppy' in her, but I want to be able to enjoy taking her out for walks.
She has always been a bit of a food scrounger, but it seems to have reached a new level now and she is always on the look out for something to steal and eat. We don't underfeed her, she seems to have reached a peak weight which I regularly check at the vets.
She gets a lot of exercise, 2 walks a day, 1 short and the other usually around an hour and a half with lots of running and off lead time.
She has also started to show 'guard dog' behaviour, lots of barking at sudden sounds (people knocking on doors, walking past the house talking, neighbours in gardens). We have never encouraged this sort of thing so I'm not sure why or where she has picked it up from, my wife thinks (and I tend to agree) that it is a sign of anxiety.
When out walking she can be friendly with most dogs, but some she seems to take an instant dislike to and will be quite aggressive towards them (growling, showing of teeth) which means that we have to be quite careful when taking her out and letting her off lead. She has always been quite possesive and will not tolerate other dogs trying to take her ball/stick/toy at all and she doesn't like us paying attention to other dogs at all.
She is fine towards people and great with children, it's just other dogs that cause a bit of an issue. We socialised her when she was a puppy specifically to avoid this type of thing so it's a bit disappointing that it doesn't seem to have worked.
I'm hoping that this is just some sort of phase and that she will settle down a bit as she still has a fair amount of 'puppy' in her, but I want to be able to enjoy taking her out for walks.
I have no idea about the terrible twos, but as the owner of a dog who has issues with other dogs I know how difficult it can be. We take Lola to these guys:
http://www.sussexcountydogtraining.com/
We attend the fearful fido course which is designed for dogs that are reactive to other dogs and I can't praise them enough. Lola was an ex-street dog who had spent a year chained up just out of reach of other dogs, causing some serious behavioural issues. It's not fun walking a dog that doesn't like others, so I'd get help from the experts. Good luck!
http://www.sussexcountydogtraining.com/
We attend the fearful fido course which is designed for dogs that are reactive to other dogs and I can't praise them enough. Lola was an ex-street dog who had spent a year chained up just out of reach of other dogs, causing some serious behavioural issues. It's not fun walking a dog that doesn't like others, so I'd get help from the experts. Good luck!
Sounds like my collie cross, we just leave him to it/manage it
Our collie howls at the door/gate/neighbours in their garden, our terrier is worse and no chance changing him!
He also snarls/barks at other dogs when he is on lead walking near our house, I tell him to stop and he does.
Off lead he is fine , he doesn't really play with other dogs, but is happy to be around them.
Overall he seems happy and relaxed, I just manage the bad traits I see coming through, at least collies learn and "evolve" with us as a family, our terrier is stuck exactly the same all his life, where as our collie has turned into a lovely family pet from a feral abandoned dog.
Our collie howls at the door/gate/neighbours in their garden, our terrier is worse and no chance changing him!
He also snarls/barks at other dogs when he is on lead walking near our house, I tell him to stop and he does.
Off lead he is fine , he doesn't really play with other dogs, but is happy to be around them.
Overall he seems happy and relaxed, I just manage the bad traits I see coming through, at least collies learn and "evolve" with us as a family, our terrier is stuck exactly the same all his life, where as our collie has turned into a lovely family pet from a feral abandoned dog.
Thanks for the comments, yes she definately is a 'teenager'. At least she got fed up with eating the carpet and skirting boards 
I'm probably painting a worse picture of her than reality though, she is mostly very good and does play quite happily with some dogs - we just have to be careful when she meets a new dog for the first time and also remember which dogs she doesn't get on with.
I'm probably painting a worse picture of her than reality though, she is mostly very good and does play quite happily with some dogs - we just have to be careful when she meets a new dog for the first time and also remember which dogs she doesn't get on with.
Jasandjules said:
You just need to keep up the training.
When she is focussed her obedience is impressive, lots of walking to heal, sitting, staying and quite few party tricks. However, if she gets even the hint of something 'chaseable' (squirrel/bird/cat/mole hill/rabbit...) she is off and nothing will get her to come back until her instinct runs out and she realises the person standing at the other side of the field calling to her is her owner Can be quite frustrating and usually results in the termination of the walk and a return home.When we did puppy training with her, she was quite a bit older than the other puppies and the trainer seemed reluctant to spend a lot of time with us - I think they could tell that she would be hard work.
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