Teal has been great! Until now! Went to the ranch this weekend and all of a sudden, mess on the carpet, whining and constant barking. He gets all the work and training i can handle every day. Seems to be reverting to a little pup again. any input would be appreciated. He is 6 mo old and 50 lbs. terrible 2's??? John

John, Question. Anything unusual or anything happened last time you were at the ranch with Teal??
Might Teal be associating "the ranch" with an experience there, activity, with the horses, etc.??
When you got back home (if yet), how was/is his behavior and attitude?
(re-read post- was Teals behavior change at the ranch or at the house when you got back?)
Let me know. Think of any changes that could have set-off or sparked his attitude, behavior, or security level. Charlie

How is his teething coming along and how many horse pucks did he eat?

I dont know what it is! Only happened at the ranch, Kinda like being a big baby who wants his mommy attitude and when i let him out and called him back his just looked at me. No response. Barked at the cattle, barked at the horses, which he has been around and had no problems with before. This morning went to let him our and he went number 1 and 2 on the kitchen floor!! Urrrr Now my wife tells me Widgeon didn the same thing when she was a pup!! God what i wouldn't give to have my girl back!! Don't get me wrong but i have to rant somewhere about this pup! He really is gentle and tough and good in interaction. Super gentle! I'm even thinking he is learning the spoiled rotten brat stuff my wife has shed over the rat terrier. Her baby!! LOL They are like two young brothers that are always at it. Gee who knows? thanks John

More info, Paul, teething is done, Charlie, nothing that was abnormal at the ranch. We ae there every weekend and in fact when i picked him up that was the first place he ended up. Kent, being near indian valley puts us in a pretty safe place from the small quakes there. We really arent that close to the geysers to get earth movement of a 2.0 or so that far away. You obviously know what i mean when i say that! any way he has mellowed with some major extra attention tonight.

John, A thought. Not sure geography of CA. and where the ranch is located, but is there a possibility the fires burning in southern CA is a factor - either tension/stress (dogs pick-up on that) or possible air/wind currents pass over the ranch and area?? Remember the dog's sense of smell can detect extreme minute amounts of smoke. You could not detect a smell/odor but Teal could. As I said, don't know if ranch is 'down-wind'/'up-wind' in smoke's direction. Just a thought. Maybe why behavior at ranch differs from house. Charlie

No doc the fires are 700 miles away. but good thought. He seems much more mellow and responsive today. I dont know maybe it was a bad hair day! John

This reminds me of a quote someone told me when I started posting on here. "Raising a chessie is like going up a flight of stairs, except with a chessie you go up two stairs then back down a stair then up two stairs."

I would just keep moving along, and training as you have been. If it persists then take a couple steps back!

Josh

John,

Bottom line is that he is a puppy. Something set him off and you may never know what. But just deal with the here and now, and move forward. Once you saw there was nothing for him to justify barking at, I would have told him no and diverted him to doing what I can some "doodles", i.e. a bit of retrieving, heeling, fronts, and finishes so you could praise him for the proper behavior, then brought him and put him in his crate (so he couldn't go back to barking again).

Kathy

Dogs in general, but maybe Peakes especially, can go through wacky developmental stages. I have a couple unrelated dogs that went through a suddenly fearful stage at 5 to 7 months old. It is sortof like the terrible twos in that it's developmental and neither you nor the dogs themselves can help it.

What you can do is to keep exposing the pup to new stimuli (in safe settings) and to (like Kathy suggested) pay as little attention to the bad behavior as possible. Try to help him move on. Odds are, in another month it will be over. My oldest dog got over it (literally) overnight! The stage dragged on for longer but was milder in my second dog.

Some people call this the 6-month fear/associative stage. It seems to be correlated with hormonal fluxes, but I haven't been able to get a mechanism-based explanation of it from either a developmental biologist or an endocrinologist.

It will pass,
Claire

Kaie was nose to nose with my buddies' horse at about 14 months old and moved a little closer, got snapped by the electric fence. Hasn't liked horses since then and steers well clear of them. She was convinced the horse shocked her.

My friends' girlfriend takes her to the ranch where she is a dressage trainer once a week when I am at work(usually Kaie is at work with me every day) and to this day, she stays well out of reach of the horses....No longer barks at them or overly fearful but, keeps a horse or two distance between her and them....still a bit spooky but, it is ok with me, some horses don't like dogs and will hammer them when they get the chance...

LMAO Paul, Widgeon got zapped by the E-fence once AFTER taking a swim!! She wouldnt get 20 yards from the horses LOL but Great thing cause i dont want the dogs around the horses at all!! The more i see i think this is a terrible twos type thing! Dang though, its annoying! We will get through it. Teal has some fantastic blood lines and im sure from what i see he will be fantastic with the family oh and get lots of birds!! 15 quail and five doves to date, just driving around the ranch in my new Kawasaki Tyrex 750!! Had to get something to tote my buddy around! Next year we will hit the resevoir for daffy and his buddy bonnie the goose!! thanks everyone will keep you updated!! John

Ps Hey Kent, I'm not shy!! Lets duck hunt! On you!