©Scott Sheaffer, CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, USA Dog Behavior, LLC

Do dogs go through puberty and adolescence? Yes, just like humans. It is also associated with behavior changes as is true with humans.

“These dogs are not “bad dogs”. They are fearful dogs.”

Canine Adolescence

The adolescent period for dogs normally occurs around 6 to 24 months of age. This can vary by breed and size of dog but is normally in this range. In addition to secondary sex characteristics that develop at puberty (e.g., increased size), there are a number of behavior issues that can present themselves during this period. For this article, I am going to focus on how adolescence can affect aggression in dogs - which is the most significant behavior change that can be influenced by puberty.

When I perform a complete behavior assessment of a dog, I spend a significant amount of time asking about the dog’s early development and behaviors. This is true whether the dog is six months old or fifteen years old.

Early but Subtle Signs of Fear

Owners who bring their aggressive dog to me almost always say something like, “My dog was such a sweet young dog before she started showing signs of aggression.”

Upon further questioning, we frequently find that owners are interpreting their young dogs’ shyness and compliance as being “sweet”, but in reality their dogs are exhibiting behaviors that indicate they are afraid of their environment.

Puberty’s Effect on Dog Behavior

Once dogs reach puberty and start getting larger and more mature, they learn they can use aggression to control their environment and therefore feel safer. Using aggression to keep scary things away (e.g., unfamiliar dogs and humans), makes dogs feel less afraid. Please know that aggressive behaviors such as growling, barking and biting are hard-wired in all dogs - they do not need to learn these behaviors.

Not all dogs follow this path however. Some dogs that are fearful at an early age continue to use avoidance as they pass through adolescence as a way to feel safer around scary things such as unfamiliar humans and dogs. They do this by avoiding, hiding from, or moving away from these scary things to create distance. However, the majority of dogs use aggression, versus avoidance, as a way to manage their fear.

Escalation of Aggression

This flowering aggressive behavior is continually reinforced, and gets worse over time, because the aggression brings a degree of relief to the dog. For example, if an unfamiliar human or dog comes in contact with a fearful dog, the dog will use aggression to move the human or dog back and create distance. When the human or dog moves away from the dog as a result of the aggression, the dog feels some relief (i.e., behavior is reinforced) and will repeat the behavior.

In addition to the impact of the dog’s increasing size on this behavior, there is also a social learning aspect. This simply means that while dogs come into this world knowing how to behave aggressively, they perfect this skill through repeated use. In short, they learn when and how to use aggression more effectively through experience - which normally means using it more intensely and more frequently over time.

What should you do if your adolescent dog is fearful?

There are many reasons dogs develop aggression - fear is the most common.

The short answer as to what to do if you find your young dog is fearful is to get some help from a certified and experienced dog behavior consultant. This is not a dog training issue, but a potentially serious behavior problem that will increasingly rear its ugly head as your dog moves through adolescence into adulthood. These dogs are not “bad dogs”. They are fearful dogs.