Reactive behaviors usually crop up in adolescence around 6 to 18 months of age and tend to get worse as the dog reaches social maturity around 2 or 3 years of age. Your pup will not “grow out of” this behavior. Seek help as soon as you notice an issue.
Reactivity often erupts in adolescence. While many dogs lack innate emotional self-control, it's not a behavior set to excuse with “he's just a puppy”. Dogs don't outgrow behaviors like humans do. Dogs grow into behaviors, because they “work”.
It will get worse - unless dealt with
There are some things that dogs do that will go away on their own. Some puppy behaviours, like chewing, submission-weeing, digging, will simply evaporate if carefully managed. But there are other things - usually the things we really don't want!
While many puppy habits eventually subside, reactivity unfortunately is not one of those. If you have a reactive young dog do not assume that he will eventually grow out of his reactivity. In fact the opposite is often true: Reactivity increases over time.
A reactive dog is usually a fearful dog. Causes can be genetic, but they are more likely due to a lack of socialization, prior bad experiences or a lack of training. Aggressive dogs show similar signs but are determined to cause harm and destruction.
Dogs that are reactive overreact to certain stimuli or situations. Genetics, lack of socialization, insufficient training to learn self-control, a frightening experience, or a combination of these can cause reactivity, and fear is typically the driving force.
To begin with, the earlier you start behavior modification, the better the success in changing the behavior. Reactive behaviors usually crop up in adolescence around 6 to 18 months of age and tend to get worse as the dog reaches social maturity around 2 or 3 years of age. Your pup will not “grow out of” this behavior.
Dogs of any age can start training to improve their reactivity. You do need to keep in mind that the longer a behavior has been ingrained, the longer it will take to retrain the dog.
This kind of work can take anywhere from two to 12 months, as that's how long it takes for a dog to learn a new behavior. After that time period, you should be able to substitute negative reactions with positive thoughts.
You can walk your leash-reactive dog safely around your neighborhood, but she will need dedicated training and management.
For any reactive or sensitive pooch, it's always a good idea to visit the boarding facility beforehand. Just a quick walk around the grounds can allow your dog to sniff and smell the area, making it instantly more familiar when they arrive for their boarding stay. Ideally, the more pre-boarding mini visits, the better!
Like humans, dogs go through a rebellious “teenager” phase (around 5 months to 18 months). During this time, they'll often test their owners, seeing what they can get away with. Being firm and consistent with your training will help establish boundaries. And be patient!
Dogs considered highly reactive also include the Boston, Fox, Cairn and Yorkshire Terriers, Pekingnese, Weimaraner, Pug, Irish Setter, Shetland Sheepdog, Shih Tzu, Poodle, Bichon Frise, Springer Spaniel, the Westie, Chihuahua and the Dachshund.
Most puppies will go through a very trying stage when they turn about 5 months of age. Dogs often don't out grow that teenager phase for 2-3 years depending upon the breed. Many experts agree that the most challenging time is between the ages of 8 months to about 18 months.
If you're wondering when it's too late to train a dog, the answer is never! Training a dog as an adult can be beneficial in some ways — he may be less distractible and energetic than he was as a puppy.
To build your dog's confidence in a more general way, provide him with enrichment activities and relationship-based training. Simply feeding your dog via food puzzles and getting him involved in nose work (which, by the way, is fun for both dogs and their people) can make him more confident.
The dog owners responded to questions about the dogs' age, socialization, and behavior around humans and unfamiliar dogs and in new environments. The researchers published their results on Thursday in Scientific Reports. About 72 percent of the dogs exhibited problematic behaviors such as aggression or fearfulness.
In conclusion, one can learn things about a puppy's temperament as early as 4-5 weeks, although the older they get the more you can learn and the more reliable a temperament test. By 6-8 weeks, a breeder should be able to tell you many details about your pup's personality.
From ~6 mo of age to social maturity (12–36 mo in dogs and up to 48 mo in cats), dogs and cats are maturing physically and developing their first independent behavior patterns. The juvenile period is a period of intensive social exploration and learning, which ideally contributes to resiliency.
That being said, dogs may just become more affectionate due to old age, a lack of excess energy that they may have once had. They may have grown closer to you because they have more time that they just want to relax and they are accustomed to relaxing with you.
Hyper untrained teen dogs do not magically become calm and trained adult dogs when another dog is added to the mix. Reactive dogs (though not aggressive) will not suddenly become socially graceful and non-reactive by adding another dog to the home (even if the two dogs become friends). Two dogs are twice the work.
Reactive dogs are often motivated out of excitement (high-arousal), which can lead to frustration. Many times humans have unintentionally created this behavior because dogs were never taught how to be appropriately social around other dogs in an appropriate manner.
As you have probably guessed, rehoming a dog that is reactive can be very challenging indeed. You need to be aware, right now, that this is not going to happen overnight - it could even take months. If you acquired your dog from a breeder, this is your first port of call.