The Terrible Twos
Dr. Floyd Dorsey
Saturday, February 18, 2012
It’s been a while since I had a two year old in the house. But my youngest just turned 21, so I know about what it’s like to have a teenager at home.
You see, the two things are almost equals in the dog world. A two-year-old dog is finally an adult. Dogs are born very immature but progress at a rapid rate. Born with their eyes shut and ears closed, to running around and making great messes by six weeks. Then they go strait to the toddler phase. Something akin to the terrible two’s. By 6 months of age, most are 80-90 percent grown and able to reproduce.
But, like humans, this does not mean the are mature. They are reaching the teenager stage. From six months to around two years they are like most teenagers. Reckless, unloving, spoiled, destructive, etc.
In reference to human teenagers, James Dobson of focus on the family wrote, “Just get them through it and to the other side, to adulthood.” The same holds true for dogs. I’m listening right now to my son’s new Lab pup at the office. She was spayed last week and I’m keeping her while he is away. She is seven months old. I would have spayed her earlier but it was hunting season. The only time she has quit barking is when she was under anesthesia.
She lives on the farm with him and has freedom to run when he’s home with her. After surgery she puked up an amazing assortment of non-food items. Walnuts, acorns, pieces of plastic, dead things in all stages of decomposition. Most of it we could only guess at what it was. I was just glad it was making it’s way out without surgery.
I put a towel on her to keep her warm after surgery, and she tore it into bite sized pieces. The point is, she is a teenage dog. Left to herself she would hang with the wrong crowd, get pregnant, become rebellious, and want to run away from home with no visible support.
But, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I look at my old girl “Jet;” she is going on nine years. She never runs off, rarely barks, obeys commands the first time, never tears things up, (well if you take your eyes off her hunting, she will eat any dead bird left in her care) and is pretty much the perfect dog, and has been since she was about two. I know it will be a long time before “Maggie” reaches the “Jet” stage, but she will.
That’s why I’m writing this piece. We have been working with the shelter on the problem of overpopulation. Most dogs brought to the pound are young dogs. There are a few unmanageable types, but most are just teenagers. They have boundless energy and need a lot of exercise. Most are right on the verge of becoming adults. But this is also when they have the greatest needs. It’s when the TV needs to be turned off. The phone put down. The computer put away. They need a good control collar, and a 30 to 60 minute walk. A time to burn some energy, to bond and learn commands. Fetch a ball, play frisbee, retrieve a training bumper.
The sad fact is, this is when most dogs get abandoned. If you don’t do these things, they become destructive and neurotic. Some find it easier to give up than put in the work. Like so many other cases in life, people stop just when the goal is coming into sight. The shelter is filled with dogs that would make fine pets if someone gave them the time. Instead they sit on death row because time with friends, video games, and Facebook have pushed them there.
If you’re in this boat with me, don’t give up. Not every dog turns into a “Jet.” But don’t let it be because you didn’t put in the work. Get them through that teenage stage and you have ten to fifteen years of great companionship. Give up early and you just push the problem on to someone else.
As Nike says: “Just do it.” It will do great things for the both of you.