Different Dogs: Different Maturity Rates

A Dogs [Maturity] - 

They come in all different shapes, sizes, drives, weights, temperaments and breed types (all factors of maturity!) but how can we tell when they're no longer acting like the typical care free puppy....for us to then expect them to finally settle into their maturity? For me personally, I've worked with so many dogs who I've seen from 8 weeks old until a year...or even larger dogs who I've seen develop over their whole lives and even just how they develop over a season. What I've noticed and others may tell you this too the smaller the dog, the faster the maturity rate; the larger the dog, the slower the maturity rate. This goes for toy, small, medium, large and giant breeds!

What does this mean? 

Well basically smaller dogs don't have too much developing they need to do before they hit their mental and temperamental "adult maturity" whereas the larger of their species need some more time to grow and learn. They even achieve their full adult weight as toy and small breeds well before any medium, large or giant breed. This most basic example or correlation rather with maturity that we can look at is weight within dogs and according to leospetcare.com "Studies done in the UK indicate that you can expect a small or medium breed puppy to reach 99% of it's adult weight somewhere between 9 and 10 months of age. Large or giant breed puppies take longer to mature, and don't reach this stage until they're at least 12 – 18 months old." Now that's just WEIGHT they're talking about and maybe you can begin to see how this reflects in the mental and temperamental maturity of a dog and HOW LONG it takes when they reach their "peak maturity." According to dogtime.com they spoke on the aspect of maturity rates always differ depending on the aforementioned factors of the dog itself, but here is a rough measure of maturity rates in them mentioned on their site:

• Puppyhood ends between six and 18 months of age.
• Adolescence starts between six and 18 months of age.
• Adulthood starts between 12 months and three years of age.
• The senior years begin between six and 10 years of age.

How can I apply this to my dog? 

Well take a look at their behaviors, energy rates, and temperament as they get older and the years go on. Expect this observation and the results to happen slowly the larger your dog, but you may see this puppy-hood to adolescence to adulthood shift happen even more quickly than most. For example, my dog who is a GSD and Pharaoh Hound mix had a very high temperament and had a "need for speed" as those in my household would deem it! His will was very high due to his breed along with other factors but we truly noticed him calm WAY down right around 5 years old! It honestly was such a behavior and energy shift - but absolutely no health issues of course. On our experienced and observational end this scale of "when will my dog mature or calm down!" truly matters on so many factors but is always a variant type of answer.. We just always see the commonality of these factors when trying to figure out our dogs maturity rate:

1. Correlates with how large that dog is going to / has grown to be! 
2. We look at age. 
3. We look at breed and temperament. 

I just want my dog to calm down already! 

Don't stress - your dog will have their moments until they mature out. Stay patient, stay calm and keep your imagination up with how to keep your dog busy! Expect a puppy to have a lot of "toddler" behaviors and often you can even see a lack of focus or hyper-focus on pretty much every little stimulus around - just because of how exciting a young adolescent puppy's surroundings can be! They really can't help it but these things will get easier the more you focus on your training, giving commands when you notice they're losing focus and wanting to become rambunctious, and just taking a step in their shoes to help you notice what your specific dog needs you to help guide them through learning how to be the polite dog for you! Younger pups tend to need exercise prior to training sessions in order to focus, and sometimes they often need brief yet repeated training sessions to keep their focus and excitement up! Take a peak for my future blog on different tools you can use for your dog and within that blog I'll touch further on the types of stimulation you can bring to your dog, what works, what doesn't and how to keep them happy all day no matter what the living situation or temperament your dog is in! 

.................but until then I hope this may help you understand your animal, their quirks and how to work with them better!

Sincerely Yours,

Paw Patroller (On Duty!)