Puppy Personalities

[poodle proud]

Hi all,

Before our pup midnight who is now 7 months the last pup I had was as an early teen and my mind can't recall what he was like as a pup in terms of when he calmed down and when the crazy behaviour faded and his real personality emerged.

Our older boy has a distinct personality and is sweet and lovely and placid but he was an adult when we got him.

I can see bits and pieces of a personality in midnight but don't know how much is actually her and how much to put down to puppy behaviour. At the moment I just describe her as crazy and though she can be sweet, it's only when it suits her

Just wanting to glean from people's experiences. When did you really feel like you knew who your pup was going to be personality-wise?

I hope this makes sense!

[maximum]

OMG! I've been having the same thoughts about Max - when will he settle down and stop being such a little b*st*rd!?

He's now 9 months and was desexed 4 weeks ago. On a positive note, I've noticed some subtle changes in him over the past week that I HOPE are a sign of good things to come. Stuff like not razzing around the house ALL evening and snoozing quietly on my lap for long periods instead - with shorter play periods. He's also a LOT better on walks, doesn't pull much etc.

On a negative note, I've just spent $1,500 at the vets to rid one of my beautiful cats of a SEVERE abscess, resulting from a dog bite that occurred some time over the past 8-10 weeks. Possibly longer. The surgery was really quite major as the bite/abscess was VERY close to the anus/rectum of the cat and one 'slip' could have resulted in nerve damage. Not what you want in that area in any animal! Plus, my cat is 11, so not a young boy.

Max has also devloped a play-biting habit. Not all the time, just when he gets over-excited. This is a relatively new thing, only over the past month or so. I'm trying desperately to train him out of it, but nothing is working so far. I think it's a dominance thing, because there are other signs of dominance from him too. He's never really 'aggressive', it's just when he's made to do something he doesn't want to do. He loves people and they love him because he's so cute and friendly, but he's started being really aggressive when he plays with his toys. The vet also said that his 'territorial' issues over the cats have probably become behavioural now, rather than just territory. *sigh*

I've also been told (by the vet) that the approx. 7 to 9 month period is the worst behaviourally and that "he should settle down soon". God, I hope so. Because after the cat abscess episode, I'm a bit at my wits end!

I've spend SO much money on Max and directly because of him and I don't really know where to go from here. Do I just 'ride it out' and hope he will improve as he gets older? Or, do I spend yet MORE money on a behaviourist for him? I already wasted over $400 on Bark Busters (I know, I know!) and I just can't afford any more. On top of the $2000 in vet bills this month ($500 in desexing and puppy teeth removal, plus the cat) I'm at my financial limit for a while.

I've probably posted this in the wrong spot, sorry. I just needed a good vent and couldn't stop once I got started!!

[corvus]

To me, it's a mixture of two things: your pup learning how to understand you, and your pup growing up enough to control some of his impulses. It does take time, but being very consistent helps. I spent a long time with Kivi teaching him what things meant, like what "good boy" means and what "ah-ah" means and what happens when he bites me and what happens when he jumps on me and what happens when he gets to the end of his leash and those kinds of things. The more consistent you are the faster they learn and once they get it they will start responding to you and it will be less crazy, chaotic running around doing whatever they please and you'll start to see them making decisions to do one thing over another and so forth. When that starts to happen you can expect that they are a little better at impulse control and I guess that's when you start to see their real personality come out.

Kivi was 10 months when he woke up one morning a mature dog instead of a crazy puppy. He had several reversions to crazy puppy. His impulse control was happening at around 6 or 7 months. It's a gradual thing, and it's different for every dog. Kivi grew up pretty fast for his size. Depending on the dog, normally 12 months to 2 years is where you can expect to see them settle down. Some of the large breeds are still youngsters at 3 years. They can be right monsters at around 9 months, and will give you the finger at every opportunity and run off to discover the world on their own. With Kivi, we just kept him on leash, kept him away from the things he isn't meant to do, and he forgot about those things after a while.

[poodlefan]

OMG! I've been having the same thoughts about Max - when will he settle down and stop being such a little b*st*rd!?

Maximum your pup is an apartment dog isnt' he? How much mental and physical stimulation is he getting daily?

[Pete.the.dog]

Mines about 11 months, and I've had him for nearly 4 of those. We just recently went through a big surge of dominance, and it was the same thing - not aggressive, just a big "F you" to anything I wanted to do. Firm but calm consistency seemed to work with me, letting him know that 'you can act like that and I'm not going to get stirred up about it, but its also not going to get you the things you want'. Things like preparing their meal and then sitting down to eat yours before you give them theres. Before you let them in the house make them sit and stay (with the door wide open) until you say 'in you come' - that one is a pretty big achievement for Pete. He still bounces off the walls now and then but he's certainly calming down and looking at me for instruction more than before

[Tilly]

I think my boys were crazy until they are about 7 or 8 years of age ...

[luvsdogs]

Never really had that problem with Tilba. She is super friendly with women though & jumps on them. She will run around mad when she plays with poor arthritic Sooty, nine in Oct.

But when my cat was a kitten, she had the crazies until at least 1 y/o b4 she started to settle down.

[W Sibs]

i'm still waiting for my pup to go to his crazy stage...

he is a very laid back, chilled kind of fella... who does have his crazy puppy energy burst, but we usually go for a walk or a run when that happens. i think that's how he is going to be when he gets older.

one of my dad's dog is 7 years old... and, is more a puppy than charlie!!!

[poodle proud]

Thanks to all!

For a while there I thought I was alone in this. I totally understand where you are coming from maximum.

She is just really pushing my buttons lately. We got her desexed at 5.5 months because that was supposed to help and it did a bit but not as much as we had hoped.

She hassles our older boy, I'm forever corecting her about this. She has even reverted back to toileting in the house. ARRRGHHH!

But I do make a point of praising her when she is just being a good girl.

She gets lots of walks and games. But her mad minutes have been going for ages lately. The older dog just stares at her and gets out of her way while she growls at herself while doing laps around the house

I think its back to square one with her and keep being consistent as you say Corvus. Its nice to know there is light at the end of the tunnel though.

I love her to death but boy will I be pleased when she calms down. So will all our ankles!!

Ive attached a couple of pics to show you what I mean

[maximum]

OMG! I've been having the same thoughts about Max - when will he settle down and stop being such a little b*st*rd!?

Maximum your pup is an apartment dog isnt' he? How much mental and physical stimulation is he getting daily?

Hi PF

I'm glad you responded - I've always found your advice has helped me a lot. Whether it be directly to me, or things I've read that you've written to others. So, thanks in advance!

Yep, Max is the apartment dog. In terms of physical activity, he's walked for between 40 mins and 1 hour daily - 30 or 40 mins in the early morning prior to work; then 15 or 20 mins in the evening after dinner. That one's really just a toilet outing and I pretty much dawdle along and let him sniff his way around. The morning walk is my exercise time, so it's pretty fast paced.

When I leave for work, he gets something to occupy him. Either his Buster Cube with kibble in it, a peanut butter Kong, or a hard chew - beef snap, kangaroo patty, cow ear etc. I've tried to stay away from 'artificial' treats, except the peanut butter, and he doesn't like bones - just completely ignores them.

When I get home from work, he follows me around while I do the stuff I need to do, and we usually have a few short games throughout the evening - him chasing bubbles, playing fetch etc.

He has loads of toys, but he sleeps through most of the day, I think - he's always crashed on the sofa when I get home!

He's good with going to bed, as soon as I turn the lights out, I hear barely a peep out of him. He's also not particularly destructive either, which is a good thing!

Reading all I've written, I think I should be pretty thankful - he's pretty good, I guess! He's just doing the "f-you" thing everytime I try to stop him doing something I don't like. I do persist and 'make' him comply, but it's really a battle with some things and I HATE that when I'm tired at night. It's soooo exhausting and I'm finding it hard not to get really mad and frustrated with him at times! I'm sick of yelling "NO!" all the time with him not listening!

If I could fix one thing with him, it would be the cats/territory thing. My cats are VERY dear to me and all three are sweet, placid and loving. The vet thinks the dog bite/cat abscess thing was due to Max still having his needle sharp puppy teeth - the cat was probably mid-jump back over the puppy gate to the feline area of the house and Max just caught him on the way over. I REALLY want to believe that!!! But Max is VERY jealous over me and when the only cat that interacts with him tries to get on my lap, Max gets upset. He's even growled at the cat once or twice, something I will NOT tolerate and he gets in MAJOR trouble for it. He either gets banned from the sofa, or 'sin binned' in a crate if he won't settle down.

This particular cat weighs 12kg and can defend himself very well, but Max tries to play with him as he would another dog. Runs full pelt at him and tries to knock him over, or puts his paws/front legs on the cat's back in what I've assumed is a 'trying to dominate' move. My other two cats are way less able to look after themselves (Ragdolls won't usually fight back) and at the moment, Max is not allowed anywhere near them - I'm pretty sure they stay down their end of the flat when I'm at work. I know the bitten one does - he's extremely wary of the dog, poor little thing. Only weighs 3.5kg and currently has a 3 inch incision in his bum/tail and a 'bucket' on his head! Not to mention losing a third of his beautiful, long coat after being shaved for the operation...

Anyhoo, I've hijacked this thread completely - apologies to the OP! But PF, I'd really appreciate your thoughts. Thank you!