By seven months of age, puppies are firmly in their adolescent stage. This transitional period is full of energy, curiosity, and sometimes mischief. Understanding what to expect at this age helps you guide your puppy toward becoming a well‑balanced companion.
Puppy Adolescence
At seven months, your puppy is experiencing the canine equivalent of teenage years. Hormonal changes, growing independence, and bursts of energy can make this stage both exciting and challenging.
Testing Boundaries: Puppies may ignore commands they previously mastered, as they explore their independence. Consistency in training is essential.
Socialization: Continued exposure to new people, pets, and environments helps prevent fearfulness or aggression later in life.
Exercise Needs: Adolescents require plenty of physical and mental stimulation. Daily walks, play sessions, and training games help channel their energy productively.
Patience and persistence are key. This is the time to reinforce good habits and gently correct unwanted behaviors.
Feeding Twice a Day
By seven months, most puppies transition from three meals a day to two. Their digestive systems are more mature, and feeding twice daily helps establish routine and balance.
Morning and Evening Meals: Offering food at consistent times provides structure and prevents overeating.
Quality Nutrition: Choose a diet formulated for growing dogs, with the right balance of protein, fat, and essential nutrients. See our Purina food recommendations below.
Portion Control: Follow veterinary guidance or food packaging recommendations, adjusting for your puppy’s size, breed, and activity level.
Feeding twice daily also makes it easier to monitor appetite and digestion, ensuring your puppy stays healthy as they grow.
Unwanted Chewing and Biting
Chewing and biting are natural puppy behaviours, but at seven months they can become frustrating if directed at furniture, shoes, household items, or even hands and clothing. Puppies chew and bite to relieve boredom, explore their environment, and soothe discomfort from teething, which may still be ongoing as adult teeth settle in. Biting can also be a way of testing boundaries or engaging in play, though it should be gently discouraged when directed at people. To manage these behaviors, provide safe chew toys, bones, or rubber toys, and when your puppy chews or bites something inappropriate, calmly redirect them to an approved item. If biting occurs during play, stop the interaction briefly to teach that biting ends the fun. Puppy‑proofing your home by keeping tempting objects out of reach, along with crate training or supervised play, can reduce opportunities for destructive chewing or inappropriate biting. Puzzle feeders and training exercises also help keep their minds busy, reducing the urge to chew or bite out of boredom. Chewing and biting aren’t behaviors to eliminate entirely - they’re healthy activities when guided toward safe outlets.
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