The Teenage Phase

[Guest hankodie]

Hank is 8 months old now and most definitely going through a bit of a teenage phase at the moment, which is to be expected at his age. Just wanted to hear some thoughts on how I should be handling a couple of things.

The first issue is increased alertness/barking. He's never been much of a big barker at all but lately he's been growling in the mornings at something outside the bedroom window. He is also barking at the neighbours out. For the most part I have just been ignoring it and calling him to me + giving him praise when he stops. Is this the right thing to be doing? (His frenchie sister is a terrible/reactive barker so maybe he might be picking up on some of her habits?)

The other issue Ive noticed has been changes in pack dynamic. Hank and Odie are great friends, Odie is definitely the boss. Lately Hank has been trying to hump her and getting a little pushy with her (will push her out of the way for a drink, if I'm patting her he will push in front etc). Odie seems to be tolerating it well but she puts him in his place when she gets too annoyed. Should I be intervening somehow or do I let her sort him out on her own?

Out and about he is still the same, perhaps a bit more confident than before, he is a happy friendly boy and very polite when meeting new people or dogs.

Oh and I should note that he is not yet desexed. We are trying to wait until 10 months to a year to let him grow a bit more. Would these behaviours also be due to the change in testosterone from him still being intact or is it completely unrelated? Would desexing him change anything at all?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Edited: rambling on a bit

Edited February 7, 2014 by hankodie