When do doodles calm down?

[Megan]

Brooksy will be one at the end of August and I've noticed that he's calmed down quite a bit over the last few months, but is still very puppy. People can tell he's a puppy a mile away. I love his energy and exuberance, but also love a calm doggie. How old was your doodle when he/she calmed down?

[Adina P]

Every dog is different as to their 'natural' time to calm down. However, nothing beats training in creating a well behaved dog. My vote is TRAIN a well behaved dog and the 'calm' will be a side effect.

[Adina P]

Both of mine are F1's -- Thule is 4.5 years old now...and I'd say it was about this 4th year that she really became calm. But she's still not reliably trained to where I want her...she still goes deaf when guests come over. I am trying to put in more time with her until the baby comes so I can count on her reliability a bit more.

Rosco is 3.5 yrs and has always been 'calm' (just not well trained until about a year and a half +) and if he gets any calmer with the years he may not move!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The conventional wisdom on the age when large breed dogs such as retrievers and GSDs "calm down", or become true adults, is between two and three years old. That is the minimum age for them to become police K9s, and I believe, Guide Dogs for the Blind. But I do think it depends on the dog, and as Adina said, on the training.
Jack was a pretty calm and well-trained dog at 14 months, but I did notice a kind of maturing between 2 and 3.

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas still gets very excited to meet people, but he calms down more quickly than he used to. He still has some puppy energy at almost 2 years old, but it is usually short-lived, and he knows when it's ok to act like a crazy dood. I think training does make a big difference. If I was more consistent about not jumping up and sitting calmly to be greeted, then he'd probably even be calm when he meets people. But I've always felt that Halas was more calm than a lot of other dogs that I've known. Even as a young puppy, he seemed more calm than most.

[Kathy Spyker]

Lilly is 14 mon.old and is not there yet. She is better then she use to be. In the evening is when she is worse. I go to sit down and watch tv and in about 5 min. she brings me about 5 of her balls and other toys. She keeps getting them until I pick one to play fetch with her. Sometimes I just ignore her and she had as many as 8 toys on my lap. I too would like a calmer dog, but until that happenes and IF it happenes I guess we just have to play, play, play :)

[Michele Barton]

That's an interesting question, thanks for posting it. My goldendoodles are only 3 months old, so I'm interested in reading the responses. My old golden retriever was 3 years old before she began acting like an adult, and she never fully outgrew some of her puppyness (she lived to be 15). She jumped up on people until her arthritis stopped her; I tried and tried but could never break her of that behavior. But I sure did love her!

[GBK]

I have always heard that 2 years old was the magic number and for me it was for Buddy, Kona calmed down even sooner.
I didn't think I would live through Buddy's puppy stages, but now he is such a good boy. We do training classes still, and I agree training is the key to a well behaved dog.

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

Yankee was a pretty calm puppy when I got him. I even got a comment about it from the vet. He only gets excited and jumps on certain people like my daughter when she comes over. He doesn't even run to the door when I come home. He is 20 months old and has always been calm. Finn is not calm at all so I will be interested to see how long it takes for him to calm down even a little.

[Karen & Lucy]

Lucy turned 3 in April. I saw a BIG difference in her after that, BUT she still likes to act like a kid, esp. in the evening. She is a puppy at heart. Still lots of energy.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Kirby has always been the same (we got him at 13 months)...he is playful, but will settle down quickly (especially if we tell him to).

Now Dexter is another story :) We noticed him calm down a bit at 1.5 yrs, then some more at 2 yrs and at 2.5 yrs he was a lot calmer. He's just about 3 now and he's actually starting to become a bit lazy after he burns some energy - he will chase/wrestle with Kirby several times a day.

So with an active exuberant doodle I would say probably around 2.5 yrs.

[Megan]

Awww, thanks everyone. I really love, love love the doodle personality and energy that Brooks brings to our house, but I have noticed now that he's really adjusting to our schedule more. If I lay down for a nap on a Sunday afternoon, he'll lay with me or calm down - before...he'd do anything to get my attention. With us..he's a pretty good boy. However, we are still working and working on the training..jumping on people is still an issue and its so hard to break him because sooooo many people love these dogs and they allow them to jump up, kiss...its hard to be consistent! :) I hope it doesn't take him 4 years to calm down :)