Sorry to the puppy club but....

[texican]

Having a 2 year old dog soooo nice!!!! Trust me, those of you struggling with a puppy, it gets sooo much better. I still remember the day I went into the lounge when the pup was 9 months and he looked me solidly in the eye and then fully weed over every cushion on my new sofa. Low point. Tonight he has only brought my attention when he has moved from his dog bed to the sofa to the floor to his bed.

Anyone else grateful to have passed the puppy stage? I loved it but have to say it does get so much easier!

(PS don't get me wrong, my smugness runs out when I mention recall, socialisation or dogs on tv!!)

Aw just gets better OP. I adored my puppy, but now he’s elderly, he’s just a bundle of sweetness.
Glad you made it through the puppy stage, treasure your time together.

I accidentally said earlier "maybe we should get another puppy". That was a mistake!

Ha, I was just thinking this. Out for a walk today with the springer who's three and a half now: lead pulling mostly sorted with a harness, responds to commands, recall nearly 100% there, happy to sit and snuffle about while we had a picnic, not remotely reactive to other dogs or people (never has been to be fair), happy to come back and have his lead out on when it was needed at various points, walked all afternoon then gave us a lick and fell asleep within five minutes of getting home. Bliss. When he was a year old I was thinking we might have made a bad mistake with the breed because they are famously 'crazy' but he's such a lovely, easy going, eager to please dog now.

Haha yes my dog is also two and DH said today ‘wouldn’t it be nice to get another puppy!’

You’re not wrong. Puppies are horrible, teenage dogs are horribler, but they grow into awesome dogs.

Eventually.

We were talking about this yesterday as our dog is 15 months and beginning to resemble a decent member of society.
Ideal time to start looking for another Lab in a few months…..but……despite the cuteness of the photos coming up on our FB timeline memories…..I’m not sure I could start doing it all over again

My delinquent is calming down too but he does occasionally still wee somewhere random.
I love puppies despite them being tiny dictators though.

My dog was still a dick at 2 - think it depends a bit on the breed (golden retriever). Amazing around the house from very young, but a dick when out for walks until he was about 5!

I think age 2 was when I stopped thinking of how nice it used to be when I didn’t have a dog

@Motorina

You’re not wrong. Puppies are horrible, teenage dogs are horribler, but they grow into awesome dogs.

Eventually.

God yes, the teenage bit is awful - especially with bigger dogs. I have one who is finally well through it (lasted ages though - golden retriever) and one where it is still to come (extremely clever lab - no idea which way that will go, does clever make it easier or harder...??).

I love the little puppy stage though. Both of mine house trained quickly, which helps a lot.

Being serious for a minute, the only thing really stopping me from getting another Lab is the 12 months of restricted walks. Ours is coming up to the age where we can go out for a full hike with her. A puppy would mean one of us having to stay while the other does the hike, which has been fine for the last 15 months but a bit dull to face that again.
But…..Labs…..❤️

Oh yes! We've got lurchers - the most gorgeous, crazy 18 month old - she's just starting to settle down a bit. But, our 6 year old is just the light of my life. We adopted her at 10 months and she'd had no training. She now the most wonderful dog you can imagine

Oh definitely! Ours is almost 2 years and really starting to settle. To the point that I was concerned if he's ill as he just lies down a lot on the sofa.. a year ago he was pure mischief into EVERYTHING! But I'm assuming that lying down and chilling is what grown up dogs do a lot of?
Obviously he's still bonkers on walks and is very 'helpful' when we are trying to get any jobs done around the house.. obviously he has to inspect and supervise everything , but this new chilled do that is happy to just lie down and chill is a game changer!

Haha I thought that today. Couldn't find him anywhere, had the regular 'he's either dead or destroying' automatic thought but he was just lying under the table chilling in the shade of the sun.

I loved the puppy time too, but adolescence almost broke me. So nice to come through that and have a lovely little well-mannered friend with me all the time. I see now how it's all worth it.

I hated the puppy stage and adolescent BiteyDog drove me to .

But I often walk through the forest and watch him now as an adult cocker spaniel flushing and hunting knowing he keeps me in sight and always comes back thinking all the shit was worth it in the end 😍

Actually quite looking forward to it! Today's exciting chases for my 7 month old Labrador's ill gotten gains have been to get back a favourite kitten heel, a PlayStation controller, a bit of glass when I dropped a bottle of bubbly (never moved so quickly!), a peg basket and a daffodil.

Puppies are dickheads, and adolescent dogs even worse. GrouchyNewfie is now 3 1/2 and mostly magnificent, although she jumped on me a few times today so I'm a bit grumpy with her, tbh. (She doesn't know that.)

Mine is four and I totally agree with you.

He is a million times easier now. His recall is better (he's a beagle so it will never be perfect ), he's no longer destructive, I can leave him at home for a while without him panicking, he sleeps until late every morning - it's just so nice to see all the hard work pay off.

He was actually a relatively easy puppy but the adolescent stage was a nightmare and he had me in tears a LOT.

Our lab turned 1 last weekend and seems to be already settling down, touch wood. I’m so looking forward to a summer of lovely trips out with him 😍.

Agree with the op.
Ddog is 2.5 now. We’ve had the most lovely walk in his favourite woods . He’s been charging around, greeting dogs that he wanted to and ignoring others and coming away when called ( wow !). He’s been buggering off to running/ sniff rabbits etc and the coming back when encouraged without going AWOL for ages. Lovely ❤️

I swear dogs live just long enough on average for you to forget quite how awful puppies/adolescent dogs are ! I hate kittens too... cats are fine.

That's a fact @Didiplanthis - and always too short really.

I have a 7 month old EBT. Every month that goes by I do an internal cheer. So different to my kids where I do an internal sob! 2 years feels like an eternity away but I know it will speed by and already she is SO much better than a couple of months ago. Adolescence so far has been a little bit tricky (random and incessant barking has started) but she was such an awful pup I don’t know if she could’ve gotten any worse! Thanks for the incentive to keep going OP!

I'm a bit late to this thread but came on to wholeheartedly agree! My boy is 19 months and while we still have moments he is generally a delight. He chills out in other rooms when I work and if I can't see him he's often off sleeping somewhere. He's playful but polite with other dogs. But the biggest thing has been the improvement- I felt like we went straight from puppy into full blown adolescent and that all the work was wasted as he continued unwanted behaviours and if anything got worse no matter how much I did. Now there are still bad moments or days and like all dogs he can be a bit of an asshat if the mood takes him, but the balance has shifted so he's mostly lovely. I always loved him but now I enjoy him!

Oh yes I will never do the puppy stage again and mine was pretty easy for a lab He settled down around 18 months and now at 7 I adore him he is everything I wanted him to be