Does Puppy Personality Change At Maturity?

[Guest RosieFT]

Hello all

I was just curious as to how much of how a puppy behaves/is will translate as an adult dog. I guess the playful nature and wanted to run up and play with all and sundry passes? or do some puppies never show much inclination to do this in the first place?

Can a dog become aggressive as it reaches maturity but show none as a pup? etc. ??!?!

thankyou in advance!

[Kirty]

It would depend on the individual pup, the breed and also whether or not its desexed. Entire dogs are more likely to start wanting to look for a mate. Some breeds are more slow maturing (eg my bc cross still acts like a puppy at 7 years old!).

[Melissa4]

When my pups matured into dogs - there wasn't many differences except that they were a little more calm, however...... When they are hyped up, they are hyped up. They are at my dads house and keep up with 11 year olds so they are doing pretty good. =) Gee I miss them

[WalandLibby]

Personality is a very fluid thing, and as dogs develop, their personality develops too. There is also a complex interaction going on all through a dog's life between genetic/physical factors that contribute to personality/behaviour and things that they learn. We can after all only see 'personality' through behaviour, and there is no doubt that much behaviour is modified in response to experience.

Behaviour problems including aggressive behaviour are often noticed between 18mths and 3 yrs, which is when dogs are considered to become socially mature (obviously they are physically mature much earlier than that in most cases, but physical and social/emotional development are not perfectly in step). My view is, though, that if owners had know what to look for earlier, they would usually have seen that such problems were quite likely to develop in their dog. The proportion of ppl who believe that their young dog has no risk factors far exceeds the proportion of ppl with older dogs who think their dogs have no behaviour problems, in my observation.

Adolescence is also a time when ppl often struggle with their dog. Although I believe that good, kind, respectful training that does not put pressure on the pup averts most of those problems (I don't believe that adolescence is a time of their deliberately challenging their owner, only of trying to work out the world, and if the owner makes that difficult, then the pup will appear to be misbehaving).

Personally I have found that watching my dog's personalities develop throughout their lifetimes has been really rewarding, and I have got much closer to them as they have got older. Our relationships with them are no more static than those we have with ppl in our lives.

Edited November 6, 2008 by WalandLibby

[Guest RosieFT]

Thanks for responding :-) .

I know that foxies can be dog aggressive and i want to do everything I can to avoid this from developing and at this point, have not seen any evidence of this with Rosie, quite the contrary.

So, WandL what you are saying is that there may already be signs in young dogs that will become dog aggressive, however just because there are no signs as a pup, environment and handling can still impact and 'allow' this behaviour to develop? As a sterilised bitch, I assume that surge of testosterone and 'proving oneself' that occurs in nature with male dogs will be avoided. However, again assuming?!?, bitches still have rankings in a pack and as they mature will test boundaries etc.

Also read that foxies can be very possessive of their toys/food etc. and can be quite snappish dogs.

Again have been watching from day one, and apart from one growl when my husband tried to shift her from a beanbag at around 5months of age, she has shown none of this behaviour.

I guess I am worried she will go from a happy, playful young dog and 'turn' into a dog hating, snapping, possessive monster

I realise that breed generalisations are just that, generalisations, but I have two young children and want to make sure we have a loving pet who fits in with our family, as well as one that can enjoy excursions around the place without worrying about behavioural problems.

As an aside, her breeder said the dog aggression was absolute rubbish as these dogs had to run with the hounds in a pack so would be useless if they were dog aggressive - however it does pop up alot when reading up on foxies!

thanks again.

[Nekhbet]

it pops up because people allow them to do it. They think its cute when they snap or dont take it seriously hence escalating. Also they think 'oh its a foxie, he'll do that'

not true.

Dogs will not suddenly just 'turn' either its a pretty outdated concept because people could not read the warning signs. So in their eyes the dog did just 'turn'. Well you get enough info and for about 2 years the dog HAD been growling, marking, baring teeth, posessing furniture etc but then he just TURNED

[BigBen]

Maybe if small dogs got the same training while puppies as large dogs these things wouldn't happen...

I've only ever been bitten once by a dog and that was a mini poodle - I suppose that's why I like big dogs..

[Pixie's mum]

In my opinion - having raised our dogs exactly the same way - dog aggresiveness appears fairly young. We had a gorgeous little male who was quite aggresive towards out 2y.o female from about 10 weeks of age. We didn't do anything different however he had such a dominant personality (with dogs) that we constantly had to work to bring out his best side. He went to puppy school and dog obedience every week, was well socialised and accepted some dogs but not others. According to our vet their personalities are pretty much formed by 11 weeks and then you need to work hard with whatever you were given. Fortunately he never drew blood, but he launched some mighty attacks for no reason (our female (very placid) would hide her head under a cushion to avoid him). He would get a look in his eye and we had about 3 seconds to try to ward off the attack.

[WalandLibby]

If your breeder, Rosie FT, has never seen it in their family of dogs, that's wonderful. In this breed there is a strong dichotomy in behaviour depending on whether the dog is show-bred or farm-bred (as mine was). My girl was not good with dogs outside our family, and when she got sick as an old dog, she also got really really bad with her brother - for 2 yrs I mostly kept them apart, which wasn't fun. I don't know whether there is much difference in rates of aggression in male and female Foxies. Female-female fighting within a household is often very scary and resistant to treatment. Have you read any of Brenda Aloff's stuff about her Foxie girls? Not pretty at all. I don't think of this as a breed that is any more prone than the average to resource guarding (although it's always wise, imo, to be prepared for this).

When I look back, it was obvious that my girl was nervy and intolerant from puppyhood, and she had very little contact with other dogs until about 4 yrs, and as I've said elsewhere, I tried to use punishment, very ineffectively, and managed to convince her that dogs=mum being mean and made it so much worse. When I realised what I was doing, when she was getting close to the end of her life, I learned to build positive associations for being around other dogs, so that she could, for eg, be in a vet waiting room with causing a scene. But by that stage her skills for interacting with other dogs were not able to develop. There seems to be a fairly narrow window of development for these skills.

If an owner can recognise risky behaviours that the pup is showing they can sometimes minimise them. Behaviours I'm thinking off include - intolerance of handling, lack of friendly behaviour to ppl or dogs as well as more strongly negative behaviour like stiffening when in contact with ppl or dogs, guarding behaviour. I think it's wise for puppy owners to read up on body language so that can be aware of what their pup is telling them it doesn't like.

It's also important to keep 'socialising' a dog at least throughout it's adolescence, and ideally forever. Just like in us, their social skills require constant honing. (By socialising I don't mean crazy, ill-mannered play, of course).

Edited November 9, 2008 by WalandLibby

[persephone]

as these dogs had to run with the hounds in a pack so would be useless if they were dog aggressive -

Oh, yes....BUT

even if they were dog aggressive- hounds would quickly sort them out, and make them behave!