Help with Adolescent!!

Hi all, I'm just looking for a bit of advice if possible on 2 areas...i'll try and be as brief as poss!!!
Ralph, my English Setter is 6 months next week and has gone from a nice, fairly obediant puppy, to a complete monster in the space of a couple of weeks!
From what I've read this is the onset of adolescence, but is this not a bit early? If it is I'm really worried at what's still to come

I'm concerned as he's started showing some quite aggressive behaviour. He was a bit of a biter when we got him but we managed to stop this quite early on and now he carries toys around with him all the time, but I think this is the gundog instinct. Recently he's started jumping up and biting mine and hubbies arms and really tugging hard at clothing, especially when we are trying to put coatson and when we are walking. He'll just lunge all of a sudden and will not let go! I've tried getting him to sit, Distracting him with food or toy, being calm, being firm...nothing seems to work apart from prising his jaws apart and physically making him let go.....any ideas???

The second problem is the 'Drop'. He's a sod for carrying things around, stealing shoes etc, and picking stuff up on the field. I try not to make a game of it and chase him but sometimes it's the only way! I've tried swopping stuff, ignoring him...I'm stuck now. He obeys most commands but the drop just will not happen...help.

Canine adolescence can be a difficult time for everyone involved. In fact, most dogs are given up to shelters because of behavior problems occurring when they are adolescents. Many owners don't know how to handle this stage or simply don't have the time to train or correct their dog's behavior. Understanding your dog's behavior is fundamental to solving any problems.
Many adolescent dogs simply have trouble managing and controlling their behavior, and that requires patience, consistency and regular training from you.
Many adolescent dogs will constantly challenge your commands and authority, and respond with more reluctance to your order and may even disobey them outright. Placing your dog in obedience classes and reinforcing what he has been previously taught is not only an excellent method, but it can also help to foster a good relationship between you both. Such classes will also give your dog the chance to see how other dogs his age relate to their owners. As tough as it may sound, it is important for you not to give in to your dog's will and never to give up on training him. Doing so could establish a pattern of dog disobedience that in the future will be very hard for you to break.

Sometime after your dog reaches 6 months, he or she will plunge headlong into canine adolescence – where hormones rule.
Like people, dogs react differently to puberty. Some have an easier time of it than others, but a "teenage dog" of any breed can display unpredictable, even uncharacteristic behavior – which can (not always) last an entire year. Behavior seems to depend more on the individual dog than on the breed.

I would suggest taking him to obediance classes, keeping up with all trainning and being firm but fair with him.
Say what you mean and mean what you say, hes testing the water and you have to show him what (is and is not) allowed and that you are boss (not him).
It can be a hard time, but you (WILL) get through it, just keep that in mind.
He'll soon understand what you want from him and what the rule are.
Hope this helps

When you give the command for him to drop the article he has in his mouth, is he near you or a distance away? I ask this as doing distance control exercises in a 6 month old pup is not that easy. Does he understand what the command 'drop' means. The training exercise that should be mastered prior to the drop exercise is the recall. When he is just sitting around call him to you with a very cheerful and happy 'come' command and then reward him with a small tasty treat and lots and lots of praise. Do this randomly, while watching TV, out in the garden,etc. When you call him please do so in a loving kind way, for if you call him in anger or frustration he will pick up that you are not going to love him when he gets to you and lets face it if I know I am being summond angrily or impatiantly I am really not enthiastic or happy to face the consequences of something I might have done wrong. And the same applies to your dog. He will not come to you for anything other then love and in the begginning the treat. So what I am trying to get at in a very long-winded way is that in order for you to get him to happily surrender his prize find to you is that he must come to you and not you chasing after him, and the only way to get him to come to you on command is for him to associate returning to you with everything positive and never anything negative. Never reprimand him if he has obeyed your command, but always reward positive behaviour with love and treats and ignore bad behaviour. Good luck - I just adore the Setter family and please keep in mind that they take ages to mature and life is for having fun and they grab it with all 4 paws!!

Great advice so far and just remember this stage will pass and he will be adorable once more

My 9 month old adolescent GSP and his pal used to barge around getting excited and knock me off my feet when I was lacing up my walking boots. Now I make them both sit/stay and watch me put my coat and boots on and they are not allowed to move until they have their leads on and I'm ready to go.

At 6 months your boy is plenty old enough to learn a really good sit/stay which you will find very useful. Try it every time you give him his dinner with a release comand "OK" so it becomes 2nd nature to him. It does get easier, provided you are more determined than him!

Hi Motty,

& trust me - this behaviour will be history in a few months time.
In the mean time you are doing all the right things - ignoring his biting, swopping things..

Just have some patience with your dog & keep training him & be happy your dog is not a rottie (as their bite is really hard and they have to go through this periode too..)

But after this adolescent "uproar" all my sweet rotties have become good behaving dogs..

Good luck!!

Lots of good advice already. Only one other thought, if he wont release something try holding his collar underneath the chin with one hand and hold the article with the other. Make sure you hold and don't pull.Then say leave and then wait, for minutes if necessary. This way it can't become a game of tug and he'll eventually realise he can't win and give up so you tell him how good he is
Doing this helped with Chip. After standing for what felt like forever he began to let go much more easily.

Hi

You have been given excellent advice, and I just wanted to say you will get through this, as my boy is coming out of that stage now he was a total pain at 8 months, it was like over night my cute pup had turned into this teenage lout Not with aggression issues , just being a sod, and going totally deaf and thinking he could do what he liked. it was made worse by the fact he was attacked and bitten by a loose dog, which really dented his confidence for awhile

Keep saying to yourself it will pass and try and keep calm not matter what he does, stay firm and consistent. He is just pushing his boundaries and trying his luck, but if you let him get away with undesired behaviour now, it will spiral.
I upped his training, and just kept reinforcing commands etc.
He is now 18 months, and doing just fine, mellow and chilled out on the whole, still has the ocassional teenage moment, but they are now few and far between.

Keep smiling, you will probably need a sense of humour over the next few months xxxxxx