# Sudden change in behavior (but in a good way).



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Another post on this forum from me but I experienced something I really have no words for and I was curious if anyone else has ever experienced this with their ‘v’.

Fred was always easy going and sensitive but she had typical issues with attention, pulling, and just general obedience. Especially the pulling honestly drove us mad but any amount of training did not improve her behavior so we resorted to no-pull harnesses and all that.

After puppy class and basic obedience, I have started hunting classes about 8 weeks ago, around the time she turned 1. It was though as all the other dogs are calm older retrievers and well, Fred a young, impatient, energetic V.

Last weekend we went on a hike and she was pulling madly. I remember the exact hill we went down and all of a sudden her entire behavior changed. She stopped pulling in an instant, she looked a little timid (as if something scared her) but then she looked at me and when I praised her she started wagging her tail and held her head high, proud of what she was doing. 

Her entire behavior has changed since then, she pays attention to me everywhere I go, she slows down when she is walking too fast, I can walk her with one finger holding the leash now. The hunting training yesterday went amazing, she was steady, focused and I have never had her listen to my instructions so well. She really blew everyone away with her progress. Even small things like entering a room /the office /the house, I always had to ask her to sit and wait and now she just sits and waits by herself until I tell her she can enter. She doesn’t really care for treats while training, all she looks for for at me is a praise which makes her wag her tail and hold her head high, it almost looks like she is smiling out of proudness. 

I have read that behavior can change after first heat but she was spayed before her first heat (vets advice, I kinda regret it but it hasn’t caused us any issues). She eats and poops very well, she is her happy and energetic self, she loves to play and snuggle. Nothing really out of the ordinary.

Is this where teenager phase ends? It’s been going on for a week now and I kinda expected her to “regress” at the excitement of hunting training but if possible she even showed more progression. I really hope this sticks, it makes her an absolute dream dog but I keep wondering wat made her change overnight (well actually during a hike). We didn’t really do anything to change her behavior like this, except from a little more steadiness training than usual since I started hunting.


----------



## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

One question, where was the hike and that specific hill?!!! But glad things are clicking!!


----------



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Hahaha!

Clicking yes, but it’s still so strange that this would happen so sudden. I still have slight worry she picked something up, but I fully checked her on ticks and everything. It’s just so strange.


----------

