EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Tearful Confession About the Dog Who Saved Her Sanity

Jennifer Love Hewitt opens up about the four-legged friend who became her emotional anchor.

Words by Nicole Wilde, CPDT-KA

Her trainer, Amanda, recalls that Hewitt’s devotion goes well beyond her own pets. The actress routinely checks in on friends’ animals and treats every dog she meets like family. It’s less a quirk than a core part of who she is.

Hewitt has turned that love into advocacy, throwing her support behind rescue groups such as Good Dog Animal Rescue. She’s vocal about the joy of adoption and the quiet heroism of the shelters doing the hard, unglamorous work—proof that celebrity influence can shift real lives, furry ones included.

A: Actually, you’ve just described fairly normal behaviour for eight-month-old Labradors—and plenty of other breeds! At eight months, your dogs are leaving puppyhood and entering the dreaded adolescence. Or, as I sometimes call it, ‘bratolescence.’ Just like human teens, dogs often develop selective hearing and start testing boundaries. Even well-trained dogs may now seem to have forgotten everything, and stop responding reliably. On top of that, an energetic breed like a Lab throws extra muscle behind naughty habits—jumping up, pulling on-lead, running off—leaving you with, as you said, out-of-control wild dogs!

So what do you do when behaviour shifts? First, know this is normal and nothing is wrong with your dogs—and you probably haven’t done anything wrong. But now it’s vital to double down on training. If needed, go back to basics. Start recall indoors with no distractions, then add small ones, then bigger. A small distraction: calling him while he sniffs the living-room floor. Medium: a family member walking in. High: a child running through, or him spotting something exciting in the yard. Once solid indoors, practise outside, building the same way. Keep sessions short, a few times daily. Also, during training, don’t use that special recall word unless you’re sure he’ll come—or you’ll undo the work. If you need him now, use another phrase, or just go get him.

Teenagers aren’t known for frustration tolerance or self-control, so this is also the time to rebuild it. An easy route: have your dogs earn things in daily life. Before the food bowl goes down, ask for a sit. As long as he stays seated, the bowl keeps lowering. If he stands or lunges, whoops—you stand back up. He’ll learn fast to control himself for what he wants. Use the same sit-to-earn strategy at the door for a walk, or anything he values. If he knows a down, fold that in too.

Once basics are solid, keep his attention by mixing up rewards. Trainers lean on a ‘variable reinforcement schedule’—the dog never knows when or how big the reward will be. Sometimes a polite sit earns plain kibble, sometimes a belly rub, occasionally the jackpot: a chunk of roast chicken. That unpredictability is psychologically powerful; it taps the same reward-seeking chemistry that hooks people on a raffle ticket or lottery scratch card. By keeping him guessing, you hold his focus on you instead of his own wild entertainment.

“By eight months, your puppy is leaving the juvenile stage and entering adolescence,” explains a seasoned trainer.

Another self-control route is through play. Your dog needs a solid ‘Leave it.’ If they enjoy tug, try this: hold both rope ends so he grabs the middle. Play, but don’t get carried away. Then freeze so the rope is dead still. He’ll likely keep tugging—fine. Say “Leave it.” Wait. Most dogs taught Leave It will back off, many will even sit. Even if he hasn’t mastered it, you’ve become such a boring partner he’ll likely stop anyway. Great! Wait a beat, then “Take it!” and offer the toy. Play resumes—he complied and earned the game back.

I know this is a tough stretch, especially with two teenagers at once; but hang in there. It does get easier, especially if you keep reinforcing training and self-control. Soon you’ll have young adult dogs who respond well again and act less like wild dogs and more like the companions you remember.

» Nicole Wilde is the award-winning author of 11 books on canine behaviour. Find her books, seminar DVDs, and blog, plus free Training Tip Tuesdays, at nicolewilde.com.