Key Stages In A Puppy's Development

When a puppy moves into the family, it becomes a new family member who is allowed to grow up and spend his whole life in a safe and good environment. And when it comes to questions about how long a dog grows, what stages it has to go through and when a dog is grown, it can be nice to know about these different parts of a dog's life.

We make you much smarter about the stages from puppy to dog. We will talk about the dog's development, and you can learn a lot about questions such as:

• When is a dog considered grown?
• When is a dog an adult?
• How long does it take a dog grow?

You get that and much more right here, so you can follow your dog's development up close and understand the different phases that you and your dog must go through.

Different phases from puppy to dog

If we look a little closer at the different phases that your dog has to go through, there are a number of different elements that characterize them, and we will take a closer look here.

But first let's get around one of the classic questions. How long is puppyhood? It usually depends on the breed, and the bigger your dog is, the longer the development from puppy to adult will take. Very small dog breeds will be puppies for about nine months, whereas the large breeds will be puppies for up to 15 months.

Let's take a closer look at the different phases of the journey from puppy to adult, where there is a special focus on the dog's personality traits and development potential.

The first weeks as a puppy

When you adopt a puppy, it will typically be around eight weeks old, unless you have been responsible for breeding puppies yourself. You can look forward to receiving it when it is in the socialization phase. Here the puppy has to get to know everything, and it is also here where there is ample opportunity to train the puppy so that it will have good manners for the rest of its life.

The dominance phase comes after

From 13-16 weeks, your puppy will begin to test the owner's limits. This is where hormones enter the picture (kind of like human toddler period), and your puppy begins to create a personality. This can create situations where you have to put the puppy in place.

4-6 months: new teeth

Your puppy will enter a period where furniture, shoes and other loose objects in the home are exposed to his teething period. Because when the teeth come out, the puppy has a great need to bite things because the gums are itchy. When your puppy is 4-6 months old, the teeth will pop out.

Teenage dog in puberty

Just as it applies to humans, your dog can also go through puberty, and the puppy enters that phase at 7-10 months old. This is where the physical sexual maturation takes place, and your dog can change behavior from one day to the next. Fortunately, it is simply due to hormones during the puberty phase.

For bitches, this means that they are coming into heat for the first time, and the males will start to lighten their legs. In addition, both sexes become much more territorial towards each other.

10-22 months

Here comes a longer phase where your puppy becomes mature, and it is also in this phase that we come to answer the question of when a dog is fully grown. Here, your puppy will soon have grown both physically and mentally, and already after 12 months some breeds are considered adults, while others only become so when they are 24-36 months old.

When is a dog an adult?

A dog is an adult when it has both physically and mentally passed from puppy to adult. But what does that really mean? The dog must go through the various phases and at the same time develop physically, which involves everything from bone growth, teeth, fine motor skills and much more. As mentioned above, there will be noticeable physical differences when a dog is an adult.

How long does it take for a dog to grow?

If we look more closely at the physical changes during the growth period from puppy to adult, there is also a difference in how long a dog grows. Just as it applies to mental development, physical development will also depend on the breed. In general, the smaller dogs will develop faster than large dog breeds. The small breeds finish growing when they are around 12 months, and the large dogs can grow for up to 36 months..

How old can a dog get?

When we talk about the dog's development from puppy to dog, it is also interesting to know the dog's expected lifespan. Fortunately, as a dog owner, you have many good years to look forward to with your dog, and it is very different from breed to breed.

In general, the size also has an influence on how old a dog can become. If the dog weighs more than 45 kg, the average age will be approximately eight years, while for dogs under 45 kg it is approximately 11 years. For many small dogs, the typical average age will be between 13 and 16 years. Thus, there is a big difference between the breeds.

In addition, there are also very large differences between dogs within the same breed. Genetic factors can play a role here, just as it applies to health, physical condition, weight and diet throughout life.