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Old February 26th, 2009, 03:10 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Just east of the Hazelnut Patch, Wisconsin
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Are we brave or just too soft-hearted and soft-headed? After we survived the step-up to 6, we adopted two more. Currently at 8. But all were adopted at an older age--the youngest was umm....sheesh, I can't remember but I think Brier was about 8 or 10 months of age when he arrived. So, except for Brier making up for a lost puppyhood before he came here, we've not had the whole puppy thing going on.

If you have doggy daycare available, you might want to consider taking them a little more often if you can afford it and you're feeling overwhelmed. There's nothing like canine friends to wear out your furbabies. Plus it gives you and your hubby some much-needed together time while your dog rest up afterwards.

Setters (which is what we have) undergo SSMS (Sudden Setter Maturity Syndrome, as we call that transition to couch potato ) at about age 3, but they do get sane a few years before that. Typically the worst is over by age 12 - 18 months. The change is gradual--one day I just realized it'd been a while since the last episode of puppy insanity. The rough-and-tumble wrestling was replaced by loud chases around the yard with an occasional rolling, and the frequency of the play dropped. There was more moseying companionably around the yard.

These days, there's one, sometimes two games of 'popularity' (the popular one being chased down and cornered by the others, whereupon the popular one holds the Pack at bay with feints and twirls and body blows); followed by lots of wandering around to look for sticks to chew or squirrels to watch; a number of group points when mourning doves or grouse are spotted under the feeders; and then, blessedly, naps. Oh, and pesky cars driving by the house has always been a barkable offense

Yes, the naps are synchronized. But I don't remember how I trained the original Trio to nap in concert. I think it was just their own arrangement, and as the Pack grew, the rest of them just followed along.

As for rebellions....yep, 8 - 10 months is a prime rebellion time....also just over 18 months and then periodically with decreasing frequency as the dogs age. Our youngest is going through one right now--I have to keep rounding him up--but I'm hoping that this will be his last (he's about 2 now).

Oh, and if getting them into bed with you allows you to sleep later in the morning, I'm all for it! Ours do it all the time.
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