I couldn't find anything pertaining to the subject, so I thought it would be interesting to start a thread and find out how old your dob was when you started to see them as a fully grown adult and out of that infamous "teen" stage. If it was a particular situation or something else?
Coco calmed down from the frenetic, crazy puppy energy around 18 months. She was also trustworthy to be free in the house at all times and no longer needed to be crated around 18 months. I think we were lucky as usually I hear they mature around 2 years. :butfly:
Rowan was 2 in February and that's about when I saw him really start to mature (maybe slightly before). However, he still has occasional relapses when he seems to misplace his brain.
I'm going to agree with most others that it was around 2 that we started to be able to trust her not to mess with stuff in the house, be not gated in the kitchen when we left, etc. She's still very puppyish, though, my girl. She still tends to make "good decisions", though!
My females seem to get their brain around two years old, give or take. My males, well it seems to take them a little longer. Their brains must have come from the USPS!
Didn't know they graduated to an adult stage. Emily is almost 4 and hasn't changed at all IMO. Love her for the gooberness that she has. Hope she never outgrows it.
I think there's a couple phases. Brooklyn had complete puppy brain until she was about 8 months. Then I think she matured quite a bit but definitely not all the way. At 13 months she is still very much a puppy.
Don't feel discouraged about maturing lol. I get some good laughs out of how goofy and playful my girl can be! Hopefully some of it never goes away.
Rowan is 15 months today and I have noticed a brain starting to appear and not as much manic energy but that could just be the crazy heat we have going on =). I'm hoping in the next few months probably when I'm not living with my current roommates he will have free rein of the house, so he'll be almost 19 m months
Mabel started to look and act more adult like at 2 and now at 3 I've noticed she's progressed even more into maturity. She's still a big goof and a loud mouth, but she listens better, has recall, and is just more grown up about things.
No just kidding. I always say Snoop (border collie mix) went from being a puppy to a dog at 3 years old. Hades at a year and a half was already better behaved than Snoop was at that age. Snoop is currently the best little gentleman in the world so I can only hope Hades will only get better.
I'm thankful that even when I first got him I never had to crate him and didn't have to worry about coming home to anything destroyed. I swear he must lay around while I'm gone because the house is just as I left it except his bed is warm from where he was laying. I need to set up a camera he and Snoop might in fact be having a party and just clean up really well before I get home!
Brie is 2 1/2 and although she is a sweet and playful dog she is also "mature" now. I can take her to an adoption event at Petco with me and she will not whine and cry because she wants to play with everyone, she will sit by my side. She is still hyper and loves to run after the freesbee but she can also settle down and watch tv if needed.
She is always willing to meet new people and dogs and although she has not been around young children she is always gentle with the ones that want to pet her or have questions about her "cut ears and tail"...lol
She is not as "clingy" as some of the dobermans described by members of this forum, even as a puppy she was fine being outside in the yard with our other dogs or even by herself. All in all she grew up to be a very nice doberman.
This is good info. G is still crated during the day because I was trusting him to be loose in the house until he ate an Advanced Reviewer's Copy of my favorite author's book. Um....yeah....can't replace that. And it was signed from her with a note. I came home and it was like it exploded spontaneously. He was in his crate like he had been there all day! So back in the crate! For a while at least. Maybe in a few more months I can let him loose in the house again.
Ruger is 2 years and 7 months now. Still the goofy puppy I love! I'm thinking he will always be this way, or at least I hope so. Just smile ( and get out of the way) when they get the zoomies! He is making better choices though since around 2, which I guess you could say he has started to "grow into adulthood".
I noticed a bit of a shift in maturity around 2 for Fiona, but she wasn't really "adult" until 3. And now at 4, she's certainly a settled mature Doberman (far beyond what glimpse I even saw at 2). But she was slow to mature physically and mentally. Some of that is personality for her, too. She's the Peter Pan of dogs and lives in Never Never Land nearly full-time.
Tali's personality lends itself to being more "together" in general but I did notice a shift still. So while she's always kinda had her sh!t together since I first met her, there was a definite maturity that settled in around 3 and she's remained very steady and so since.
Similar to brw here. Noticeable differences around 2 with my male, but that was just the first OK-I-am-kinda-out-of-the-woods step. More so at 3, and now at 4 1/2 I've even noticed a slight further settling in.
In my past female dogs I noticed an earlier change, but they weren't Dobermans. For example, out of the crates at 1.
Brandy will be 2 in October, and I am definitely noticing a difference. She can be silly still of course, but she acts a lot more mature, as she has learned a LOT since she has first got here, and it is finally all coming together! She is turning into a lady! Haha
We have had Rams a little over one year. He was a shelter dog and should be about three now. He definitely started to mature about five months ago. Between his reactivity to animals and his demand for exercise and attention, I didn't think we, or my wife rather, would make it thru the winter. Not only did we survive, he has settled nicely and seems more at ease with people and new situations. He is still reactive to other animals but much more manageable now. I will be interested to see where he is at in another year.
Hmmm.... Wheeler always was trustworthy in the house, but we began not crating when were were gone at 18 months. As far as calm and mellow.... well, I am still waiting. Wheeler will be 5 in November.
Lola was trustworthy in the house at about 9 months and is actually less crazy than Wheeler is. Mentally I think she is more mature at 15 months than Wheeler is at 4-1/2 years.
That said, even tho both are trust worthy in the house, when we are gone, one is either crated or locked in our bedroom. They won't chew anything up, but they play and wrestle and run through the house like maniacs and would certainly demolish everything in their path if no one available to referee.
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