Puppy Behavior 16 – 19 Weeks Old
There are many changes that a puppy may go through during puppy development. In this article, we will list and describe some of the changes in your puppy’s behavior from 16 weeks up to the age of 19 weeks.
At this point, during puppy development, you need to be vigilant and remember that this is the point where he is in effect an angry teenager. You may have thought that you have witnessed all the possible behavior problems in the earlier stages of your puppy’s life, but if you do not keep your puppy under strict supervision you may start to see other problems manifesting.
Puppy Behavior – 16 – 19 weeks
A step-by-step Guide of What you Should Expect
- Your puppy may show different sides to his character. He may be sweet and well-behaved one minute and then the next minute he may be quite ignorant and ignore your training commands
- Your puppy is showing the common characteristics of a teenager as he believes that he is all grown up and an adult – but he is still only a baby.
- You may see your puppy exhibiting nervous behavior, aggression, and dominance issues.
- Depending on your breed of dog – the genetic predisposition may start to show through – do some research on the breed that you have.
- Keep an eye on any fearful behavior. You may see your puppy running away from what he perceives as frightening. Of course, you should protect him from any actual dangers – but don’t be overprotective. If you are constantly picking him up – he will start to believe that he has a reason to be scared – by picking your puppy up and coddling him you are reinforcing his negative response.
- Although your puppy is acting like a teenager he will also start to bond with you and other members of the family.
- Your puppy may start to chew items around the House – he is challenging any authority by doing this.
- Expect your puppy’s behavior to start testing you. You may start to see house training issues with your puppy having accidents around the House.
- Watch out for anxiety-based problems – barking, separation anxiety, and barking can appear at this stage in your puppy’s life.
- You may even see food aggression. If you have a well-trained puppy – you should be able to pick up your puppy’s food, sleep in his bedding, and do anything that proves your standing within the pack without your puppy showing any aggression.
- Continue to be consistent in every aspect of your training program.
- You should start training your puppy basic commands – you will need to start letting him off the leash soon.
- Some people feel that puppy training classes are admitting failure. This is far from the truth as they are a great way to ask other owners questions, get access to a dog trainer, and socialize your puppy with other dogs of varying breeds, genders, and sizes.
- Your puppy should be wormed again during this period,
- Your puppy must be also checked for fleas.
- Expect some of your puppy’s teeth to fall out – don’t panic they are the deciduous teeth and will soon be replaced by adult teeth.
Puppy Behavior 16 – 19 weeks – Watch out for Separation Anxiety or Over Attachment.
- You must train your puppy to get used to you not being around – this will help with any separation anxiety problems or over-attachment – Start by leaving your puppy on his own for 15 minutes or even ignore him.
- Get your puppy used to being left on his own for periods (put him in his crate though.)
- Your puppy mustn’t associate you leaving the House i.e. when you go to work with you always being away from the House for long periods.
- Leave the House for periodic moments throughout the day – so your puppy doesn’t start to associate you leaving the House with him being left on his own for long periods.
- Don’t make a big deal about leaving the House i.e. don’t get him excited or jangle the car keys. Make it a matter of fact and just leave.
