# When did your golden grow up?



## retrieverbear (Jan 19, 2014)

I'm curious when you feel like your golden puppy became more like an adult dog.
What changes did you notice? More sleep/less sleep, calmer, eating less dangerous things, more experienced with the world, etc....anything else?
I'm wondering if there is an average age a golden "grows up"


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

You should make this an actual poll. 

Mine usually grow up between 2 and 3 years. Some old souls have matured earlier. At barely 2, Gibbs is all adult: confident, strong, energetic but with an off switch, emotionally centered and loving. He has gone from goofy monkey to adult lion in the last six months.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

Still a work in progress for both my boys who are 2+ years old. I still see a lot of puppy in them, but yesterday when Duke did a perfect heel for the entire 3 mile walk, I was thinking how much I'm going to miss his puppy ways when he does finally settle down.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Because you used the word "calmer", I marked over 36 months.  

My dogs have all had a really good "off switch" by the time they were 3 months old. That is training. 

Actually moving slower and less hyper.... that's around 4-5 years old. My Jacks is going to turn 7 next week and still has a lot of energy that he needs to burn off every day. He's a lot like one of our past boys who did not slow down until he was 9-10 years old.


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## Zazoo (Jul 1, 2011)

Zane is 3.. I saw a huge change in him after we moved south last year 2013.. He became a calmer, more laid back dog. He has his goofy moments, when we play, but as soon as I say Ok, he settles back down. We love long walks, he carries his own leash. We walk downtown with people all around, people smile and just watch him as he calmly walks beside me. He sleeps a lot!! and is my constant shadow.. I love him and wouldn't want it any other way..


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## CharlieBear80 (Oct 13, 2013)

I'm not sure if mine was actually born grown up or whether he just seems that way because he's my first Golden and all I have to compare him to are GSDs, but he's always been mostly calm (he'll accompany me on a 5 mile hike happily, but he's equally happy laying in my lap) with the exception of an occasional bout of the zoomies. He's always been loving and confident, and his focus is getting better with age but was always decent. He just turned 1, by the way. I was out on a walk with him just yesterday and a neighbor stopped to say he. He asked how old Will is and I told him, and he said, "Oh wow, then I bet you're out walking him ALL the time." I just kind of looked at him and he explained that he has a 10 year old Golden that was very rambunctious until about the age of 7. I dunno...


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## DJdogman (Apr 23, 2013)

I was just wondering the other day when this would happen. Mine are 2 years old and while one has calmed a lot, he is still pretty puppyish in a lot of ways. The other is all puppy as he had no training for those 2 years but we're getting there. 35kg puppies are a bit more destructive than 10kg ones!


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## MyCodyBoy (Sep 27, 2008)

He is almost 7 and I don't think he has grown up yet.
He still jumps on people occasionally. He has 2x the energy as my other dog who is only 2.


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## mddolson (Jul 10, 2012)

*Bella is 3*

Bella just had her spring check up, she turns 3 next week (Apr 13)
She's put on 7 pound since last year (now 65 lbs)
I have noticed she's much calmer in recent months compared to last year.
Oh she still has her chaise the ball & squirrel patrol alerts.

Mike D


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

Going by experience with my previous goldens, they usually started growing up more between 2-3 years and at 3 they were the more calm adults. 

My Ben is almost 17 months old and he definitely has a lot of puppy left in him, LOL.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

I'm still waiting for that. Lol.


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## Reddog Lover (Apr 21, 2015)

*Growing up?*

In my experience with my 2 goldens they both retained a youthful outlook and energy well into their later years. But there was a point where they seemed to know when to let it out and when to maintain. With my 1st golden, Jenny, she matured early, between 12-18 months. My 2nd, Emily, matured a little later, 18-24 months. Both of them could draw on that youthful wellspring at any age for any favorite activity. For Jenny that was any water activity, road trips, family gatherings. For Emily, parties(she was a party girl), rafting trips, squirrel chasing, and steak dinners.


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## Door (Apr 2, 2010)

My older golden grew up around the early months at age 3. My younger is 1 1/2 and in a way, even though he can be exasperating at times, I hope he keeps his puppy behavior for a long time. Love him just the way he is.


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