# When is your puppy no longer a puppy?



## Ted Efthymiadis (Apr 3, 2009)

I hear a lot of my clients say they have puppy's, and it turns out their dog is over a year old. 

I can't agree less, when I think puppy, I think of a small, nipping, pooping in the house puppy.

I'v trained some very serious 9 to 11 month old dogs who straight up have a tonne of fight in them, I would never suggest them to be puppy.

What do you guys think? I know all dogs age differently, but I just wanted to know what you all think.

Thanks


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## Christopher Smith (Jun 20, 2008)

Ted Efthymiadis said:


> I'v trained some very serious 9 to 11 month old dogs who straight up have a tonne of fight in them, I would never suggest them to be puppy.


Did they have the same amount of fight 9 to 10 months as they did when they turned 2.5 or 3 years-old?


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Here I refer to every dog under a year old as a "puppy". Sometimes I may call a 14 month old a "puppy" if he is still very immature in his head. I have seen some 9 month old dogs who were very serious in everything they did, but they were still called puppies at my place.


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## Tammy St. Louis (Feb 17, 2010)

I also call anything under 1yr a puppy , but dont give excuses for behaviour " because he is just a puppy " I see that too much , drives me crazy , or people dont put any expectations on the dog " cuz he is just a puppy " so i call them puppy till one yr but treat them like adults around 5 -6 months


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2008)

When he lifts his leg to piss!


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

I'm with Mike and Tammy. Though once the pup starts to throw his weight around in his/her adult body his whole world changes. Though they are still immature in their heads it isn't fair to think that just because a pup at 9-11 months has serious drives or acts like an adult still doesn't mean they are adult in the head. That doesn't start to happen until 18-20mos of age IMO.


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Jody Butler said:


> When he lifts his leg to piss!


 LOL, I have seen several of our 12 week old puppies do that.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

When they stop acting like one! 

Sometimes that is @ 10 mos others...3 yrs. I have a 17 mo old "puppy" that has about 4 more months to man up or he's going, going, gone.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2008)

mike suttle said:


> LOL, I have seen several of our 12 week old puppies do that.


They're ready then. :lol:


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## Tammy St. Louis (Feb 17, 2010)

>>>When he lifts his leg to piss

Vandal was lifting his leg at 8 weeks OLD! BLEW MY FREEKIN MIND,, he did it on and off for a month he lifted his leg to pee in a raised food bowl , and a corner in my house AND would lift his leg always to pee out of the expen , 

he did it for around a month and has not done it since,


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## mike suttle (Feb 19, 2008)

Jody Butler said:


> They're ready then. :lol:


cool, so then you want to send some folks up here to test. LOL


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Jody Butler said:


> When he lifts his leg to piss!


I have had several 6-8 week old adults then


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Over here we call them "pups" until they changed teeth, then they are "youngsters" until they become "dogs" (mostly at 13-14mths).
If they don't reach stage 3 then they don't stay.


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## Diana Abel (Aug 31, 2009)

I know what your saying Ted. My "Pup" is a serious boy & if I didnt tell someone he was 10 months, they would never suspect it. He has'nt acted very puppy-like since he was about 3 months old but to me, he still has growing to do mentally & physically so until he is finished, he will be a pup to me. Most times he is very mature but when he has those occasional goofy puppy moments, it reminds me that he's def not a mature adult dog. lol


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

I call it due to maturity level. Not just mental, but physically. My one year old dog still looks very immature, and acts it too...and still squats to piss. To me, he's still a puppy, as I see it, he will no longer be a puppy when he fills out a bit and grows a brain.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Jody Butler said:


> When he lifts his leg to piss!


That's really funny, because my only puppy who was never a puppy, never lifted his leg. Terrible hips. :lol:


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## Tammy St. Louis (Feb 17, 2010)

lifting legs to pee is apparently a LEARNED behaviour they learn from other dogs , ( or people) ( people comment is a joke )


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2008)

Tammy St. Louis said:


> lifting legs to pee is apparently a LEARNED behaviour they learn from other dogs , ( or people) ( people comment is a joke )


 
and the initial comment I made was a joke.....


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

When he looks at you funny and humps your leg


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

Jody Butler said:


> When he lifts his leg to piss!


That's the first thing that came to my mind :lol:

Mike Suttle - I think calling a young dog of 14 months a puppy is misleading. For me it's a young dog that is maturing slowly but never a puppy (in your mind ok, I understand).

It's like calling a young man of 20 "a big sloppy lad." Biologically he's a man, but mentally and physically he's probably a bit slow to mature. 

We had a farmer nearby whose dog came up menacingly up to ours and his wife would call "he's only young, he's harmless". When I asked how old he was she said "he's three years' old."

I can't help feeling it's an excuse to call a young dog a "puppy".

I'd say "roughly" a puppy is up to 7 months and afterwards he's a young dog until 3 years when he should be an adult.

The variations to this may be due to slow development or weakness and the latter being used to cover the lack of "dogness".


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

Martine Loots said:


> Over here we call them "pups" until they changed teeth, then they are "youngsters" until they become "dogs" (mostly at 13-14mths).
> If they don't reach stage 3 then they don't stay.


 
Just seen this - I agree.


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

People have bred 14 month old dogs and on here it was considered ok. So *puppy* gets to be *pappy*?


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## Ted Efthymiadis (Apr 3, 2009)

It was really a trick question.... no two dogs are alike.
I have known dogs who are far beyond the normal puppy, in every way, at 9 month of age.

Yet I have met 2.5 year old dogs who I would consider puppies.

It's a little more standard with mals and dutchies, but when you bring all breeds into the mix, the puppy stages are all over the map.

Kind of like I know people who got a job and moved out at 16, and I know people who still play with nerf guns at 32 years old hahahahahaha.


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

"Strange" thing is, trick question or not, they all seem to teethe between 4 and 7 months!

The bigger breeds need longer to deveop, the smaller ones are "finished" in growing at about 6 months, the larger ones at about 10 months.

I still see no reason to call a large breed at 14 months a puppy. It needs more time to develop physically but no one has mentioned a large breed showing "puppy instincts" at 14th months. Sure, it shouldn't be forced to do a lot of physical work but my guess it's "brain" isn't one of a 7 month old pupp whatever breed.


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

It's not something that keeps me awake at night for sure and there is no particular time or event for me. It is just one day they are no longer puppies, some sooner than others. It has never crossed my mind to consider them as youngsters. All in all, one day they just come into their own as dogs. A right to passage that is earned I guess.


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2010)

Good post Don.


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## Al Curbow (Mar 27, 2006)

When i add a new pup the 2nd youngest loses "pup" status


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## Selena van Leeuwen (Mar 29, 2006)

after teething about 7- 9 mo they change from puppy to young dogs/youngster and about 12-15 mo they change into dogs. 
Funny that Gillian and Martine, as fellow Europeans, have the same name-change.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Well nothing about my 5 month old looks like a puppy other than her mini size. She is coordinated, agile, proportioned, and can think okay..most of the time. 

I am contemplating such things, not just in name (puppy or not), but trying to decide when to start certain types of training, how much is fair to expect and so on. I am doing things a little differently than my last dog, and have given her more leeway on some things, less on others.


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## steve davis (Mar 24, 2009)

when they quit acting like one..


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

My 3 yr old GSD Trooper finally started acting like he has a brain in the past few months.........then it dissapears again. :lol: 
Thunder was an adult thinker at 7-8 months old.


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