Hi all, My puppy is nearly 1. Would you like to share the good and bad that was happening for your dogs at or around this age? The tricks, manners they did, and things they got up to that weren't so pleasing! Thanks in advance☺️
I've been exceptionally lucky with Xena, she's been an easy dog (apart from her love of cat poo). She definitely got a lot "sniffier" from 8 months on, that was my biggest challenge. I never got those adolescent behaviours that so many on here talk about (see, lucky!) She finally stopped eating the tv remote at about 1, that was a huge deal because she'd chowed her way through 3 of them! She could definitely be a lot better trained, but she's pretty perfect for a house pet.
Maisy is 13 months now, I don't think I have had the adolescent behaviour either but I have been told different things about that. Some say it starts at 1, some earlier, some say it can last for few years so not really sure what to expect there. Maisy is much more responsive now, recall is better, she is less concerned with other dogs though still very playful and bouncy. Also she seems more loving and cuddly, I think we have bonded more recently as she has become more responsive. I suppose the only negative thing I can think of at the moment is that she barks more, I take her to my shop with me everyday and some people just incite her to bark for seemingly no reason, perfectly respectable old ladies etc. The obvious strange ones seem to be fine to Maisy though. Is there anything different that you have noticed yet? It will be interesting to hear about others experiences.
Duggan will be 2 next month and the one year mark seems like an eternity ago. If i remember correctly he was pretty good by then except for the odd occasion where he would venture across the road to the neighbours. He also got supper excited when people came around but did not jump up anymore, he would just steal their shoe and walk circles around them. He had all the basic commands down and would do structured retrieves for Duck hunting (he never got to go because of an injury). He could be left in the house alone for extended periods if the situation arose and he never chewed anything in the process leading up to that. There are tons of kids toys laying around and he knows which toys were his and which weren’t. He could sit stay for over 10 minutes whilst waiting for his food and would wait at the edge of our property while we fetched the mail across and down the yard. He was never on lead and would lay in the driveway if put outside. He hardly ever alert barks. Heavy equipment could pull in the driveway and he’d be like meh. On the negative side he still pulled hard at that age and was a nightmare at the vets. He can’t be left alone anywhere except Home or he freaks out and he has tendencies to guard his food and a will guard a loaded Kong but other than that he’s been a treat. Very easily trained but we were home all day with him and we worked with him everyday. He is a lot more loving now and generally a pleasure minus the guarding but we are working on that. He was never very mouthy but I’m wondering if that’s because of the way we handled it or we got lucky. I also don’t think we got adolescent behaviour, just needed more proofing and higher level rewards.
Happy (soon) Birthday to Pearl! I'd love to see a photo of her at this age. Aspen seems to have been maturing these last few weeks, for some reason he has been incredibly well-behaved in the car and has listened off-leash which is fairly rare for him He will settle downstairs on his own as he prefers the hardwood floor. He is starting to be more trustworthy, unsupervised but only while we are home. He will sleep in now from about 10-9:30. He is still crated as he seems to do best there. He still jumps a lot, and pulls on lead. We are working on those things. He is solid in his commands now, shake, sit, stay, etc. He has also started to enjoy retrieving! I hope Pearl is doing well. What does she do at this age good or bad? I wish Aspen and Pearl could have a play date!
Merlin is 13 months old, and is a complete honey. A goofball, very funny, loving and energetic. He loves all dogs, and I swear does not have an aggressive bone in his body. He's actually very well behaved, and has stopped chewing things in the house (famous last words!!!). The biggest step forward for us is that we are now able to leave him alone at home (i.e. without Poppy) for a couple of hours, which was not possible a couple of months ago. He's a keen retriever, and really wants to be a good boy and have us be pleased with him. He will still dig holes in the garden if not supervised... We love him to bits.
@Karen Is Merlin un-fixed? I swear I meet more aggressive neutered dogs than I do un-neutered. All of the dogs in my neighborhood who are intact are so sweet and don't bark or anything at all. The ones who are neutered seem to be on high-alert and very unsatisfied if that makes sense? Like they are missing something! Or unhappy!
Merlin is not neutered, and I have no plans to do so. I've had three intact male dogs before, so I am aware that you have to be on alert when there are bitches in heat around (which is the case right now, where we live), but honestly I have never felt the need to castrate a dog - with one exception, which was medical.
At one Rex loved to run. I was concerned he wasn't getting enough excersize so got a bike and took him to the bike path. He would heel with bike on leash or off. Not many people on the path when we went and it was in the country. Things went well for a few weeks as we were finally tiring him out. One day out of the blue he started sprinting and didn't stop for a half mile. Of course this day there were lots of people on path as I am shrieking his name into the wind pedaling as fast as I could... I don't think he heard me but he did stop and look, turned around and started sprinting back. Raced right by me and now I am following him back... By all the people I passed a moment ago. He did calm down over the next few months and when he was two we got the puppy. So no more flat out sprints.
Thank you for your birthday wishes, Pearl just turned 1 on Tuesday. She had a playdate (not intentionally for her birthday), a golden retriever called George, I think they're starting to know each other... hopefully friends☺️ Although she knows how to sit, stay, lie, she not always reliable. Her recall isn't great either, and she was kind of doing well on her loose lead training, but I think this is partly because I just want to go to a destination rather then train.. I have a new harness on the way, one with two attachment points front and back..so it might give some help with this. She has just lately started to jump up more to me and even bite (not too hard)... She's pretty good at travelling in the car short distances (small town, so don't need to travel far), I treat her for behaviours I want. She's pretty good at the stay command, sometimes not instant, but she can do it. Like the other day on a bush walk I got her to stay, and unclipped her lead and walked a away a bit, she stayed until I released her. Pearl has shown a bit of interest in retrieve too. Anyway that's some of what Pearl's up to at the moment... Happy birthday to Aspen too ☺️(in about a week?)
I have a 6 month old and he seems to growl and bark more then he used to and especially when we play with his toys (he brings them to us then growls more hen normal) and we of course play with him. Is this normal? Do labs tend to get a bit ore aggressive at this age or no?
That sounds like playfulness rather than aggression. My puppy isn't quite a teen yet (4 months) but I've heard that they can start to play more boisterously when they are in their teen months, so maybe it's that? I do wonder if my boy could get any more boisterous, but then again he is what his daycare carer referred to as "a wild one," with a big smile on her face. I have just started trying to get him to "speak" on cue to manage the barking. Hopefully it helps!
I have numerous puppies as I have done rescue work for over 30yrs. The last 6 pups I have had that I still own I have never had any problems with any of them. Out of 6 puppies ( 2 golden retrievers, 2 labs, boxer and german shepherd) I have had 2 books and 1 pair shoes chewed. They have lots of chew toys, I spend loads of time training them taking classes and socializing them in public.
