27/08/2026
Do you remember when your puppy used to come flying back every time you called?
You probably felt quite smug about it. All that recall training was paying off.
Then adolescence arrived and suddenly they had more important things to do. You call their name, they briefly acknowledge that a noise occurred somewhere behind them, and carry on as though you’ve started speaking fluent Finnish.
They haven’t forgotten everything you taught them. Their brain and body are going through enormous changes. Hormones are shifting, the world has become much more interesting and their priorities are being thoroughly rearranged. Smells matter more. Other dogs matter more. Following something just to see where it goes feels like an excellent idea. You, unfortunately, are no longer the most exciting thing in every situation.
And yes, they really can behave beautifully for someone else while apparently saving all their finest teenage nonsense for you.
A study involving potential guide dogs found that at eight months old, adolescent dogs took longer to respond to a familiar “sit” cue when it came from their main caregiver—but not when it came from a stranger. Their caregivers also rated them as less trainable during adolescence, while trainers who knew them less well didn’t see the same dip.
So no, you’re not imagining it. And no, it doesn’t mean your relationship is broken. In some ways, it happens because you are their safe person.
Adolescent dogs can also be spectacularly unimpressed by risk. They are more inclined to explore, experiment and make questionable decisions without giving much thought to what happens next. That’s why shouting, grabbing or physically correcting them rarely teaches the lesson we think it will. It doesn’t make the competing thing less exciting or show them what to do instead. It mostly risks teaching them that we become a bit of a dick when they eventually come within reach.
This is the point where we need to teach more—not punish harder.
Recall isn’t one skill learned in the kitchen and then permanently installed. Dogs need to learn to disengage from smells, dogs, wildlife and movement. They need to practise turning back toward us, checking in, responding around distractions and choosing us when other options are available.
For a while, their world might need to become a little smaller while those skills catch up.
Put the long line back on. Create a bit more distance from other dogs. Practise socialising without charging over to everyone. Play disengagement games. Reward the glances back, the pauses and the decisions you want to see more often. Give them safe opportunities to run, sniff, explore and use their ridiculous adolescent bodies—but don’t keep putting them in situations where the likely outcome is disappearing over the horizon.
The very best way to stop a dog rehearsing fu***ng off is not to let them keep fu***ng off.
That isn’t admitting defeat and it isn’t taking their freedom away forever. It is good management while you build the skills that will give them more freedom later.
Adolescence can make it feel as though all your earlier work has vanished. It hasn’t. The dog you knew is still in there. Their brain is simply under renovation, the decision-making department is temporarily understaffed, and every interesting smell has been marked urgent.
Keep teaching. Keep playing. Keep them safe. Keep noticing the good decisions.
This stage passes—but what they practise while they’re in it matters.
I have also written a blog! have a read here https://www.puredogadventuretraining.com/post/why-has-my-teenage-dog-stopped-listening-recall-during-adolescence
