Do 7 month old puppies get easier?

[Sunnydaysarethebestdays]

We’ve got a 7 month old puppy and she is HARD work!
She’s constantly stealing food, socks and gloves, generally everything she shouldn’t have. She barks at me for no reason.
She constantly jumps up at me for a fuss.
She has been to puppy classes and we practice the stuff we’re learnt but she is just such hard work.
To be fair she sleeps soundly at night, she is fine being left for a few hours when I’m at work and she’s good with children and other dogs so she’s not all bad.
She’s part of the family and we love her to bits but just wondering if they get easier at some point (preferably soon) and if it’s normal at this age go be so normal?

[barebetty]

What breed is she?

Generally they are teenage idiots at this point!

[MichelleofzeResistance]

Yes. Mine was an absolute nightmare at this age, and didn't really settle until about 15 months! Is absolutely chilled and gorgeous now, but just never stopped at that age. One thing that helped a lot was going back to the strong routine of over the top/hyper behaviour after sufficient exercise and input means overtired and naptime in the crate. Often the really silly stuff was tired and overstimulated with no knowing how to stop, they're still babies at this age. Given a biscuit and put in his crate he'd crash and sleep in minutes.

If it's any help to know, he loves his crate and goes in there to nap in the evenings of his own accord. He's currently asleep down my back and will be until bed time, where there was a time when at 7pm every evening he'd be leaping about causing havoc and could never chill out with me and relax. It does get better, honest!

[Chocolateandamaretto]

Yes - mine is 7 months and can be a total teenage dickhead at times. His recall fell out his arse at Christmas and shows limited signs of reappearing. I’m keeping the faith that we just have to keep drilling stuff and be patient!

[PeckyOwl]

My 7 month old is currently an idiot. He's nearly as hard work now as he was when he was a tiny puppy. No recall, food faddy, prey drive gone crazy. I love him so much though . I have to keep telling myself - you wouldn't give in to a toddler so you are not giving in to this little beast!

[Sunnydaysarethebestdays]

Thank you, I’m pleased to hear its normal and just a phase.
I’ll go back to basics with her and get her using her brain a bit more, or failing that just ride the storm and hope it passes soon.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

Go back to basics, keep her busy and you'll come out the other side.

I have a pup of 8 months who yesterday decided to piss on the floor and jump on the bench in the hall (scattering stuff) in the space of 2 minutes, and then flatly refused to sit before I opened the door for her walk. She knows she has to sit and wait, but at the moment she just cannot be arsed, so we had a stand-off. I know it passes, this is not my first puppy, but my God, it's exasperating while it lasts.

[BiteyShark]

My WCS was an arsehole from 6 months of age to 1 year with peak shithead season at 8-9 months of age.

He is bloody lovely now btw (4 years old).

Have lots of

[Hoppinggreen]

Yes they do - by the time they are 3 or 4!

[weebarra]

My lovely lab is ten months (today!) and is still being a bit of an arse. He got totally hyper when the DCs were doing Joe Wicks this morning. He's also thoroughly overexcited by the snow.
But we're very firm, keep him in routine and exercise him as much as possible.

[SJaneS49]

Honestly you will get to the point where you can leave your slippers in the living room without needing to worry they’ll be a chewed up mess by the time you get back. Your DDog will still have arsehole moments but the urge to destroy everything in reach does go away!

[Imiss2019]

Yeah they’re dickheads at this age. In another 6 months you’ll be sitting there and one day suddenly realise that you don’t actually regret getting them anymore!

[Stickystickystick]

I could have written this post about my 8 month old lab. I had a minor breakdown today as amongst the home schooling and another child to look after I can’t give him the constant attention he craves. He eats walls, steals socks, food or anything he can get hold of. He’s great and night and with the kids like yours but I am struggling to cope. Don’t get me started on his recall!

[MaryLennoxsScowl]

I got a pulley when my pup was about that age as rescuing socks/pants/tights/bras from him every few minutes was infuriating - he would nose his way along the radiator deciding what to destroy next. We had already revamped the hall to have closed shoe storage instead of open baskets, after losing at least 3 separate shoes (none from the same pair!). Is there anything you can do along those lines to stop your puppy reaching all these things? We used to jam a sock in the bedroom door to stop him being able to open it and raid the laundry basket.

[MaryLennoxsScowl]

And it does get easier as they get older!

[Tumbleweed101]

Mine is just coming up to two and I realised even a year ago I couldn’t have left out the stuff that gets left out now without it being chewed or run away with. He’s also pretty chilled out in the house and does as he’s told most of the time. Just sort of gradually happens! But you are in the middle of their teenage phase now so it will be hard going for a while.