[Sir Bear]

I'm curious as to when these pups start showing their true colors as far as their adult personalities are concerned. I feel like Bear ended his "landshark" phase, we had a month or so of well-behaved puppy bliss...and now at 6ish months he's right back to his crazy puppy self...what is the best indicator of adulthood?

He pretty much sleeps most of the day, punctuated by crazed mouthing, running, chewing, etc. in the mornings and evenings (fixed with exercise). I assume this is pretty normal, but as many people would I mourn the loss of the temporarily perfect puppy. Is that magic age between 4-6 months more how they will be as adults or should i just go ahead and expect the same craziness for the foreseeable future? Thanks in advance for responses!

 

[LuvShepherds]

You have a few years before he settles into his adult behavior. You are seeing normal puppy behavior. I found that the GSDs I got as puppies weren't completely finished growing up until sometime between 2-3 years. You're in the teen years. Enjoy him train him, he'll eventually grow out of it unless he's extremely high energy.

 

[doggiedad]

i believe there's a direct correlation between early
training, socializing, bonding, general care, etc.
and a dogs adult behaviour. what you do now
will show later.

 

[Zeeva]

Smokey my husky 3 1/2ish...Zeeva my GSD is 2 and is still very puppyish almost all the time...waiting to see more answers!

 

[brembo]

Banjo was crazy until 3, then he calmed some. Between 3 and 5 it was a gradual change over to his adult non-psycho behavior. He still has his moments where I just shake my head and laugh, but 99% of the time we are on the same wavelength. Puppies are cute and all and the teenagers are a barrel of laughs, but I sure do like the calm "thinking" dog he turned into.

 

[Sunflowers]

Oh, we have a loooooong way to go

 

[Lilie]

Hondo will be 3 in September. Although he has always been a fairly serious puppy/dog, he still goes into bouts of puppiedom. We still haven't kicked the occasional zoomies. I don't think we ever will, but that's alright with me.

 

[VegasResident]

Mine is 2 and still nuts....3 is usually where we have seen it

 

[Liesje]

Nikon when he turned 3. Pan is almost 2 and still acts like he's 6 months...

 

[GatorDog]

Aiden will be 3 years old next month and I still think he has some maturing to do. I did notice that he has changed quite a bit in this last year, though.