# How much do puppy personalities change with age?



## Puppywoes (Aug 10, 2016)

My 6mo old has always been such a sweetheart- smart, non high energy, easy to train, cuddly, non-struggling when pickeup, etc. However, I read that puppy personalities might change as they age so now I am thinking- can he become non-affectionate? aggressive? high energy? etc? 

What has been your experience?


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Puppywoes said:


> My 6mo old has always been such a sweetheart- smart, non high energy, easy to train, cuddly, non-struggling when pickeup, etc. However, I read that puppy personalities might change as they age so now I am thinking- can he become non-affectionate? aggressive? high energy? etc?
> 
> What has been your experience?


A lot - they can change a lot. 

Puppies are basically puppies. You'll see some basic stuff in a puppy, sure, but in general they like people, they like dogs, they don't have much in the way of instinct (so things like prey-drive, protectiveness, etc, aren't really very there yet), they sleep a lot and they like to cuddle and play. That's a puppy. 

As they mature things change. Their energy levels increase, they get more independent, they gain confidence and their personalities DEVELOP and continue to do so. 

Of my current three that I had as puppies:
As a puppy, Kylie was lacking some confidence which made her a little tentative in some situations, she was a bit shy with people and LOVED to play with other dogs, of all sizes and types. At just shy of 4.5 years - well. She doesn't really want to be pet or touched by strangers. She will TOLERATE it, but she clearly doesn't like it. She absolutely does not play with other dogs - even the ones she lives with. She absolutely will snap and correct any dog being rude, and absolutely despises puppies and dogs over about 40lbs. Again, she won't seek them out and 'start crap', she can stand beside them all day long, will sleep with our dogs, but she does not interact and if the other dog tries to force it they're going to be corrected. This is an elite level agility dog, safely around groups of dogs and strangers in large groups and is fine, but her preference? Doesn't want to be handled, doesn't want to play. Spayed at 4 months, for the record. 

Thud, at 6 months, LOVED PEOPLE AND DOGS. ALL OF THEM. TO DISTRACTION. On the street, coming into the house, anywhere. All of them. Continued to do so until 18 months - 2 years or so? Then gradually slid to 'politely disinterested' around 2, and stayed there. People can pet him if introduced, but mostly he is very 'MEH' about people not his family (not entirely, he has some favorites). 2-3 or so he became somewhat protective. Will always chill if told, but he doesn't like male dogs, he doesn't like dogs on his property, and once in a while someone will ping him as suspicious and he'll hackle up, growl and plant himself between the family and 'threat'. Also anyone walking into my house unannounced now, he's going to roar and hit the front door like a ton of bricks and roar. He's 4 next month. Out of the house multiple times a week, neutered, well socialized, good dog. Well trained, listens well (now - maturity gave him an attention span and he bonded better with me). Safe dog - probably the most stable and safe I've ever SEEN. Also a German Shepherd/Livestock guardian mix. He wasn't going to b a golden retriever. Oh and at 6 months old he had no prey-drive. By 2 he'd do anything in the world to get his jaws around small/fuzzy things to kill. CRAZY prey drive - in spite of, you know, living with a bunny and training. 

Both Kylie and Thud can go anywhere and do anything because they're socialized and trained - well trained - but they're not love everyone dogs and aren't going to be. 

Molly's only 2.5. As a YOUNG puppy she was a sweet, wiggly, love everyone puppy. At 6 months old she developed fear issues - severe ones, that require SSRIs. Would freak out at things like plastic bags in the street. Dogs. People. Noises. Reflections. Things on television. Sounded like cujo. Growling, snarling, lunging, barking, losing her mind. At 2.5 after a year or so on meds and work? She loves dogs. She loves people. She loves cats. Friendly as can be (as long as she's not entirely startled, or the other dog doesn't rush directly into her face). 

*ETA:* Also she got herdy at some point after 6 months, and intensely more so after 18 months. That slinky, stalky, typical BC stuff. Her intensity level in training and play also increased a lot. As a puppy, she was a puppy. As a teenager she was a fearful mess. As a fully adult dog she is a BORDER COLLIE in bold and all caps. 

Again: There were traits present in all three that hinted at the ultimate dog I'd get, and that I could use to say 'this is a dog I want' based on puppy things (things like a desire to play with toys, getting excited for food, being willing to pay attention to me and play with them) -

But YES puppies change as they grow up. Just like kittens and kids and everything else. Maturity happens - both mental and social. They don't just magically get bigger and smarter and not otherwise change at all, with how they see and interact with the world. That isn't how any living thing on earth works. Changes may be more dramatic or more subtle, but it's a given.


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## Puppywoes (Aug 10, 2016)

Do they keep their personalities? As in, some dogs of the same breed are more calm, others are more hyper, etc. Our friend has a Staffy- he was a lazy calm pup and is now a lazy calm adult at 5 years old. He pretty much stayed the same, but he is the only dog in the family so has no other dogs to learn from/grow with. Not saying how all dogs are, but I see so many different behaviors and changes, just within the same breed, I don't know what to expect. I am definitely keeping alert to whatever changes that might happen. I also wasn't saying that they magically get bigger, I'm not sure where all that comes from.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Puppywoes said:


> Do they keep their personalities? As in, some dogs of the same breed are more calm, others are more hyper, etc. Our friend has a Staffy- he was a lazy calm pup and is now a lazy calm adult at 5 years old. He pretty much stayed the same, but he is the only dog in the family so has no other dogs to learn from/grow with. Not saying how all dogs are, but I see so many different behaviors and changes, just within the same breed, I don't know what to expect. I am definitely keeping alert to whatever changes that might happen. I also wasn't saying that they magically get bigger, I'm not sure where all that comes from.


There are always variations within breed. It isn't like dogs aren't individuals. Do they keep their personality? Sort of. The same way you kept your personality from when you were 5 and now. 

I think what you need to realize based on your other threads is that behavior falls into a few categories:
General puppy behavior
General DOG behavior
BREED behavior/tendencies
Individual variation.

Which means that, puppies? They bite. They chew things. They go to the bathroom in the house. They sleep a lot. They get zoomies. They stick close when they're little. They like to play. They turn into teenagers. They regress. They stop listening as well. They stop sticking on your heels. They get more active. They play rougher. 

Dogs? Tend to eventually stop wanting to play so much. Their energy levels even out. They're more selective (to degrees) in their friends and enthusiasm for them. They develop preferences for who they play with and how they play. 

Breed? Terriers often have prey drive and aren't great with small animals. Some of them are into digging. Hounds are vocal. Labs like water and people. Bostons tend to be rude and rough players. ...Pits are inclined to varying degrees of dog selectivity and love people like they hung the moon. 

Individual? Variations and degrees of the ranges of all those sorts of behavior from breed and dog that ranges from not present at all, to intensely present. Plus a lot of individual quirks and foibles based on experiences and how genetics come together. 

All you can do is train and love the dog you have TODAY, and not be shocked and dismayed if that changes. Roll with it, deal with it, and love the dog you have tomorrow, next year, or 10 years from now, too. No matter what the vast majority of dogs grow up to be just fine and being just fine doesn't mean they want to play with every other dog on the planet. That's not a big deal. It's something to be aware of, but it's not a big deal.


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## Puppywoes (Aug 10, 2016)

Thank you for a great categorized answer, that's pretty much what I was looking for!


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## Mirzam (Jan 17, 2011)

I think we should be wary about confusing personality with temperament. I actually don't want a dog with a whole lot of personality. Temperament is based on a circle and every puppy in a litter will fall on slightly different points around that circle. Basically, it can be described as a circle with two axises: direct and indirect is one, and active and reactive is the other. The behaviors that ensure are based on the role a pack of hunting wolves (four is the optimal number of wolves to hunt a large prey animal). So you will have the direct/active member (this is often labeled the alpha personality), next would be the direct/reactive member of the pack who will often go for the head/snout of the prey (this is my guy), then you will get the indirect/reactive dog, they will hang on the periphery and often will be the wolf who will go after the smaller prey for the cubs, finally there is the indirect/active dog coming round to bite the rear end. So "personality" more accurately called Temperament (with a capital T) is determined by what point in the circle the puppy lands, so take a direct/reactive dog like my guy some are more direct than reactive, some are more reactive than direct, and you can work on them to be less reactive, so in that respect "personality" can be modified.

Then there are the genetic traits of breeds, and that works on a continuum from low to high nervous threshold, the low nervous threshold dogs are high energy breeds, the terrier types, they are small and are designed to go after small prey animals, compared to the far end of the high nervous threshold breeds like the English Mastiff or Newfoundland, who have a much lower prey drive and much less energy, they are going to be lying around sleeping much of the time. In between, we have the herding breeds.

In my opinion, dogs that have had sudden "personality" changes that have resulted in noticeable changes in behavior have something else going on. If it happened around 6 months, then I would have to look at vaccine-injury as the culprit (likely from the rabies vaccine). Puppies mature, so of course, they are going to calm down after a while, like human children mature and become adults. So my bouncy playful Mastiff pup grew into a calm adult but he has the tendency of going at things head on, but will not make the first move, that is his "personality".


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

I adopted Ralphie at 5 months old, so I didn't know him as a little puppy, but at 6 months old he was reactive, wary of new things, and could be wary of strangers, especially men, but that varied from situation to situation. Typically he was very friendly and wanted attention. He loved playing with other dogs, and would often go nuts to go and see them if we were out on a walk or at class. He was prone to meltdowns and just...being very immature.

He just turned 1 year old in July, so he probably still has some growing up to do, and I will probably see more changes. Now, he is more confident in himself and his surroundings. He has a few near-meltdowns every now and then (usually corresponding to a fear period, so far) but his recovery time is much quicker and it is easier for me to steer his reaction back to calm or avoid it completely if I catch it. Typically, though, he no longer feels he needs to react. He is still friendly to strangers, but sometimes he pegs one as "suspicious" and throws a tantrum. He still loves other dogs. He has also learned better manners.

Much of this is simply an adolescent dog becoming an adult and learning what is and is not worth a reaction. Emotional maturity has a lot to do with it.


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## Puppywoes (Aug 10, 2016)

Very helpful comments! Loki (6 mo old) is kind of in the middle- he walks on the leash fine, sometimes he will ignore a dog he sees, other times he tries to reach them. He also likes to walk around slowly and sniff around when we let him out, but doesn't do much running. However he loves to run around at a dog park and will run in the house when we initiate a play with him. He doesn't really have much fears and gets over them fairly easily (once a painting fell in the kitchen and he was afraid for about a day, then went back to norm, sneaking in and trying to steal stuff off the counter. He is so stubborn and sneaky though, I am currently having rough time with him. Example: he chews on a cardboard box in a living room (I know, I know, we will move it). I repeatedly told him no and redirected, so he stopped. Today he sat quietly on his dog bed and was sticking his head out, looking at me. I couldn't figure out why cause he prefers to sit by me on the couch. I walked over, and he was chewing the box on the other side, out of my sight, and checking to see if I can see him. I am training him to get down when he is standing up looking at the counter, so he will get down, then 3 minutes later- all over again. I love him dearly but don't know what to do/how to handle it. I never had a dog and never even wanted one to begin with (SO did, and once we adopted him I just fell in love with the little guy) so this is so confusing to me.


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## Mirzam (Jan 17, 2011)

Puppywoes said:


> Very helpful comments! Loki (6 mo old) is kind of in the middle- he walks on the leash fine, sometimes he will ignore a dog he sees, other times he tries to reach them. He also likes to walk around slowly and sniff around when we let him out, but doesn't do much running. However he loves to run around at a dog park and will run in the house when we initiate a play with him. He doesn't really have much fears and gets over them fairly easily (once a painting fell in the kitchen and he was afraid for about a day, then went back to norm, sneaking in and trying to steal stuff off the counter. He is so stubborn and sneaky though, I am currently having rough time with him. Example: he chews on a cardboard box in a living room (I know, I know, we will move it). I repeatedly told him no and redirected, so he stopped. Today he sat quietly on his dog bed and was sticking his head out, looking at me. I couldn't figure out why cause he prefers to sit by me on the couch. I walked over, and he was chewing the box on the other side, out of my sight, and checking to see if I can see him. I am training him to get down when he is standing up looking at the counter, so he will get down, then 3 minutes later- all over again. I love him dearly but don't know what to do/how to handle it. I never had a dog and never even wanted one to begin with (SO did, and once we adopted him I just fell in love with the little guy) so this is so confusing to me.


You are not really talking about Temperament or "personality" here, you are talking about behaviors.


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## Puppywoes (Aug 10, 2016)

Sorry, I guess I mashed everything together. I was talking about personalities, aka friendly or aggressive. I've met dogs of the same breed with totally different personalities,like people.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

IME core personalities don't really change. What does change is that they become more independent, and begin to become more opinionated on what they like and don't like.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Buuuut things like DA aren't usually present in young puppies, and stuff like prey-drive is... unrefined and unfocused. Which is why my answer was what it was. To be clear, it's sort of tailored to OP, here.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

CptJack said:


> Buuuut things like DA aren't usually present in young puppies, and stuff like prey-drive is... unrefined and unfocused. Which is why my answer was what it was. To be clear, it's sort of tailored to OP, here.


I didn't read the other responses, and I'm not sure what the OP's background is.

I put DA or stronger drives into the category of having stronger likes and dislikes than they did as puppies. Drive being strong like and drive for something, dislikes being a dislike of other dogs. They have a lot more opinions than they did as puppies, and are more likely to act on them (hence the independent part)


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

elrohwen said:


> I didn't read the other responses, and I'm not sure what the OP's background is.
> 
> I put DA or stronger drives into the category of having stronger likes and dislikes than they did as puppies. Drive being strong like and drive for something, dislikes being a dislike of other dogs. They have a lot more opinions than they did as puppies, and are more likely to act on them (hence the independent part)


The thing with DA in particular is that a lot of pits like dogs as puppies, and then those opinions you mention come into play and they become a lot more selective of which dogs they like and a lot more opinionated about how they want to play and what's acceptable adn what they do when they dont' like it. You're not wrong, I'm not disagreeing, just explaining based on some of OP's other posts, having a pit puppy and the idea that pits who are DA are owned by thugs or not trained, and the implications here and there that it's something that can be prevented or you'd see in a 6 month old. Or younger. 

It's typically not, for this specific thing.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

CptJack said:


> The thing with DA in particular is that a lot of pits like dogs as puppies, and then those opinions you mention come into play and they become a lot more selective of which dogs they like and a lot more opinionated about how they want to play and what's acceptable adn what they do when they dont' like it. You're not wrong, I'm not disagreeing, just explaining based on some of OP's other posts, having a pit puppy and the idea that pits who are DA are owned by thugs or not trained, and the implications here and there that it's something that can be prevented or you'd see in a 6 month old. Or younger.
> 
> It's typically not, for this specific thing.


Ahh, yeah, I didn't realize it was a pitty puppy. I absolutely agree that DA in certain breeds can crop up seemingly out of nowhere once they hit a certain age.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Based on what you're describing, environment and training can affect the 'personality'. In my experience, if you socialize a Pit and expose him to a lot of friendly people and friendly dogs, then he should remain fairly mellow and playful. If he has a few bad experiences, without some good experiences to 'repair' the damage, then he may not stay as friendly.

My current example is Mikee, a 1.5yo Lab/Shep rescue. He was not socialized with people, but was socialized a little with dogs. After two months, he learned to play nicely with most dogs, but he may remain dangerous around aggressive dogs, although he will not start a fight [he is capable of trying to finish it.] He was scared of most strangers, barking but not biting. After two months, he loves attention, but will still bark if excited or approached too quickly... he is not dangerous to people. So, in two months, he had a completely change of 'personality'.


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## Jen2010 (Feb 12, 2013)

I can't really say for Kane yet, he's only two. But Pepper is almost four years old and there are two things I've noticed. 

1. She FINALLY starting to calm down, especially at home. She's been an extremely excitable dog up to this point. At least at home now, she can just relax in the evenings instead of constantly running around looking to play (or getting into trouble). I think this change is mostly because of age. Take her out though and she reverts back to craziness. People often ask how old she is, thinking she's a puppy, then are quite surprised when I say she's almost four.

2. Dogs. She used to LOVE ALL PEOPLE AND ALL DOGS! Everyone was her best friend and she just wanted to PLAY! She still feels that way about people, but she's become a bit dog selective (just in the past 6 months or so). Particularly with greeting dogs. She'll sniff for a second, then decide she doesn't like them and go snarly. I don't know if it's frustration (that she can't play) or if it's just her personality. Either way I don't like it, but it's just something we have to deal with and work on.


I'm not sure what we have in store for us with Kane. I hope he gets better and not worse. He was a very shy puppy and that has developed into some fear aggression (was probably always there, but I thought he was just a shy puppy). We've been working on it and he's getting better, but he's still only two.


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## Piddle Place (Jan 9, 2015)

Dogs are similar to us in the way of behavioral changes. We can expect changes throughout the weeks, months, and years. Be on the lookout for negative behavior and try to reinforce positive behavior. In order to keep behavioral issues at a minimum we can train them, reward them for good behavior, and make sure to be aware of behavior changes and try to correct them.


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## mikebusano (May 28, 2016)

I believe its the phase the dogs go thru, example transitioning from puppy to young adult, adult then elder dog. It's not necessarily behavior or personality change.


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