When is a dog old enough?

[elshara]

Well, like anything else, dogs are known for being trained. You have to start at their pace. Yes they may be able to learn quickly, but I think it's a good idea to let the dog initiate interest.




Stick to 1 to 2 years depending on the signs your dog shows when interested in actual sexual activity. I think, for ease of mind, it'd be a good idea to have a dog close to a female in heat for the first time exposure to sex. Just to see normal canine behavior for yourself first hand. Females can sense instincts, something not all educated humans may know off hand. So if you can arrange it, you know what level they're ready to take on at that time in their life.




Generally 3 years marks the mature period in dogs of all ages. Take the ratio of dog years, and multiply them by 7 for every human year. So a 1 human year old dog would be about 7 dog years old. In every species it's different, as the number of years for example for cats, would be 8. That's been the theory going around for awhile, and it may help you to know that in the first stages of sexual excitement, dogs actually are scared with the changes in their body. That's why it is recommended to wait more years until they are used to them to show initiated interest.




To answer your question, 6 months is far too young. On Beast Forum, the general accepted age for first interest would be when the dog in dog years becomes 18. Which would be in human years, 2.5 years (912.5 days) old. For every 365 days for a human year, at a rough estimate, I'd say a dog turns another year older every 52 days. In my opinion, waiting until 3 years would be preferable where you don't have to worry, which is where all the puberty stuff will have disipated if the dog is properly socialized around both other canines and other environments. I swear a lot of domestic dogs protectiveness comes from the inability to balance out aggressive energy with passionate energy. So when normal every day personal activities gets interrupted, the dog sees it as a threat rather than a chance to continue after waiting. Of course, you can't breed impatience or non instincts out of dogs, but you can teach them how to behave around others better when they recognize what to do when encounter more unknown things in their life. Isolation for any species hurts them the most.