# Puppy Stages and Challenges



## WHEP92 (Oct 7, 2019)

We have a 14 week old Puppy, which we got at 8 weeks old.

I would be interested to know everyone's challenges at different stages during their puppies development, and how you overcame them, so we know what to expect over the next year. It will also help us understand what we need to address, and what's just a phase they should grow out of. 

For example:

When did their puppy start the 'Sharkies' and when did it stop - ours seemed to start at 11 weeks and is still in full force!
When did they stop needing constant supervision - currently we have to crate unless we're with her
Did yours go through a 'fearful' stage
Did they become more or less vocal - ours seems to do a lot of barking at us which I'm hoping she'll grow out of!

Please add any other stages your puppy went through.


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## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

1. I got my dog at 10 weeks And he came to us in the biting phase. He fully stopped biting me at around 3.5 months old For my fiance it took a bit longer, but I’m half convinced it’s because he tolerates it.
2. At around 3.5 months my partner could work without minding him all the time. He would take a nap for a few hours While my partner worked, but he does work from home so it’s daily practice for them both. And as for crates, we rarely crated him, but for many months now he would just leave the office to chill by himself on the couch when he could tell we were working. Can’t tell exactly when. I will say he stopped trying to kill himself (chewing wires, jumping down the stairs) at around 4 months. You can worry he’ll destroy your stuff but I wasn’t afraid for his life by then.
3. My boy started his fearful stage at around 7 months. He’s still in it At 8 months.
4. My dog was never really vocal. At ~4 months he barked at us for the first time, but that was his first naughty phase starting too. he started to think he didn’t need to listen to us and got really rebellious when we corrected him. That settled down in a couple of weeks and now he’s back to not really barking. He’ll talk though. Whine, grumble, etc. but not really bark. He did start barking at other dogs, horses and cows at around 7 months. Not a lot, but enough to make me feel really sheepish and embarrassed. He particularly hates the dog next door and will bark at it sometimes; the dog next door did NOT like him as a puppy and growled at him, and now that he’s big he thinks he doesn’t have to take it anymore.

The first couple of weeks were the worst and although the adolescent dog is a challenge, nothing quite rises to the level of challenge those first weeks gave us.


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## AbeeV (Mar 9, 2019)

WHEP92 said:


> We have a 14 week old Puppy, which we got at 8 weeks old.
> 
> 
> Congrats. I will say that months 2-6 were the roughest, and I mean so rough that I thought I had made a big mistake. By month 7 things improved and now, at 1.5 years, she's setting into being the V that everyone is so crazy about, but with some flashes of mania and quirkiness.
> ...


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

Up to 6 months was a big challenge. Then things stated getting better. By 1 year pretty good, but still challenging 1.5 years started to become a great dog.


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