The Trials and Tribulations of Living With An 8-Month-Old Puppy
Read Time:1 Minute, 29 Second
As it turns out, living with a dog that’s going through puberty might not be much fun. English researchers found clear parallels between human teens, their parents, adolescent dogs, and their owners when it comes to an uptick in conflict.
It’s potentially something we dog owners subconsciously know.
Co-author Dr. Lucy Asher of Newcastle University tells the Guardian that once dogs hit puberty, there tends to be a jump in the number taken by their owners to shelters. So what, exactly, is going on?
The study found dogs who were 8-months old—in the midst of adolescence—were more difficult to train and more likely to disregard their owners’ commands as compared to 5-month-olds. The behavior was exaggerated in dogs who had less strong attachments to their owner.
A press release calling the study “the first to find evidence of adolescent behavior in dogs” explains the research involved 69 Labradors, golden retrievers, and crossbreeds of the two at the aforementioned ages.
They found that the adolescent dogs were more likely than the younger ones to listen to “sit” commands from strangers—but more likely to repeatedly ignore the command from their owners.
A similar pattern was repeated when the trainability of 285 Labs, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and crossbreeds was rated by their owners and trainers. The trainers found that between 5 and 8 months, the dogs’ trainability increased, while owners rated that period as a less trainable one compared to ages 5 and 12 months—i.e., outside adolescence.
In case you missed it: 7 Surprising Ways Your Dog Says ‘I’m Stressed’
Edited via Newser.
Be sure to ‘like’ us on Facebook
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
For those looking to avoid this, there are many adoptable older dogs. A worry I have is about not outliving mine with no one to take them. Hell, these days I worry about making it to June.
I love dogs. I am very fond of dogs. But, because of the many fond childhood memories I have of growing up with dog, is why I never want to own a dog again. This is because owning a dog is just like having a Peter Pan child who never grows up!
I’ve had lots of puppies and I can also vouch for this information.
I can certainly vouch for the information in this article. Twice I’ve had puppies, and each time this information rings true.