Social Maturity
Between One and Two Years Depending on the breed, your dog will be physically mature at this age. Small dogs mature much earlier and larger ones take more time. Your pup’s social maturity also can depend on his or her experience with other animals. Socialization and training continues throughout your pet’s lifetime, because there are always new things to learn—or old lessons to revisit and practice. After all, the joy of your puppy’s first year or two predicts a lifetime of love to come.
Adolescence
Six to Twelve Months Most of your pup’s growth in height finishes by this period but he may continue to fill out and gain muscle mass and body weight. Puppy coat starts to be replaced by the adult coat.
While the baby may still be emotionally immature, during this period the boy pups begin to lift their leg and mark with urine. The testosterone level in male puppies increases to 5-7 times higher than in an adult dog by age 10 months, and then gradually falls to a normal adult level by about 18 months of age. This helps signal the senior male dogs that the youngster must be put in his place so you may notice more adult-pup squabbles during this period. Girl pups may go into heat as early as five to six months, and boys begin to be interested in sex during this period.
Puppies at this age seem to explode with high energy and will do well with structured play and exercise. Training and continued socialization is vital to ensure your youngster knows how to behave politely with other dogs, other animals like cats, and other people including children and strangers of all sizes, ages, and looks.
Zinan (4 months) & Ceana (3 months) - best buddies!
Pups grow so quickly during this period you may notice changes every single day. Not only may your pup test and challenge you, this is the time frame puppies also figure out where they stand with other pets in the group. Some squabbling and play fighting is expected. It’s a dog rule that older animals teach the pup limits, which is normal and usually sounds more scary than it is.
In fact, an un-neutered male puppy's testosterone level increases at around 4 to 5 months of age. This is one way adult dogs recognize that even big puppies are still babies and that they must be taught proper dog etiquette.
Puppies can also sometimes experience another fear phase during this period, it may last up to a month. This is normal and nothing to worry about. It tends to correspond with growth spurts, and you may notice some “flaky” behavior or unwarranted aggression, the pup may become protective of toys or territory. Just ensure you don’t reward the fearful behavior with more attention. It’s best to ignore the fear rather than risk rewarding it. Build confidence through training and the pup should transition out of it with no further problems.
Awaking this morning, the house is quiet, very quiet - there is no longer a puppy pen in the kitchen and no little ones to feed and play with. As I make my morning coffee, Sachio and Aimi join me, Sailor will wake up in another little while and Maserah (my old peke rescue) I will need to wake up and put out before I leave for work. There is no rush to go out and certainly these guys (like myself) need to wake up a bit before they are ready to play.
I am a little sad, however also truly happy that I found two wonderful, exceptionally wonderful, homes for my two puppies. Both boys are now in their new forever homes and have had a few good nights and are settling in well with their new owners. For Zinan it was very easy, he has joined the Chin family of our very good friend and has gone to live in the Howley household with his grandfather and Mona. It was also very easy for Capri as two years ago, while out shopping, I met a very nice couple who instantly fell in love with Sachio. Amazingly, they patiently waited for the time to be right, kept in touch, became friends and when Capri was born they were delighted to finally have a Chin of their own!
I now look forward to play visits and lots of pictures! And of course... my next big adventure ;)
After 3 months of foster care I am pleased to announce that Kendra & Mei-Li are back home with their owner! Their owner is feeling much better and after a long hospital stay was able to return home and have her babies back - we are thrilled that this story has ended so well!
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