# At what age does a puppy get affectionate?



## pancake

I understand that not all puppies are affectionate. They're just babies so they eat, poop, play, run around and get petted and sometimes I don't think even puppies really young know if they're getting praised or not. It's like they're all very happy go lucky. Just curious around what age did your dog get affectionate and start coming to you to be petted or praised, kind of rub his or her head on her legs, etc.?


----------



## Sunflowers

This was written when Hans was a little over 5 months old.
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/puppy-behavior/185213-all-you-who-have-had-landshark.html


----------



## chloesmama2

To tell you the truth I dont remember when this changed from landshark to lover. She is 9 months old right now and she is such a lover. I have had many loving dogs, but not ones that have been so affectionate as Chloe. I love to cuddle up with her especially on days that I am not feeling myself. She seems to always help me make my loving side show again.


----------



## Kyleigh

I don't remember the exact age, but around 6 months I would get on the floor and cuddle with her and she wouldn't try and wiggle away. 

At 16 months she now cuddles when I ask. We have certain places that we cuddle - on her doggie bed, I'll lay down on her bed and whisper her name - she comes flying over and flops down beside me, on her back legs in the air b/c she knows she's getting a tummy rub and a full body massage. 

On the sofa I'll call her up every now and then (about once or twice a week) and she sprawls out and I start with a nice massage, and rub down and then I slowly start to tickle her. This ends up in a big chase around the house, and inevitably into the back yard for a huge romp.

Weekend mornings, I'll call her up on the bed for about 20 minutes and we cuddle and whisper sweet nothings to each other. 

And finally at night, I'll call her up on the bed for a 10 minute cuddle and "relax" time so she's nice and mellow and ready for bed. I cuddle her and massage her paws, her ears, and her legs, then a nice tummy rub, and then I tell her to go to bed, and she jumps down, goes to her dog bed, and crashes for the night. 

I waited til she was about a year before I started inviting her on the sofa / my bed, and I made sure she REALLY understood "off" when I was done. I didn't want her thinking she could be on the sofa / my bed whenever she wanted, and she doesn't. She always waits for an invite, and I've set it up so it's not a routine, but rather a special "surprise."


----------



## starburst

Mine was affectionate right from the start , she is now 11 weeks and I have noticed she is even more so this past week and is biting less and less.


----------



## pancake

haha interesting, I'll read that link as well. Guess they're all quite different.



Sunflowers said:


> This was written when Hans was a little over 5 months old.
> http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/puppy-behavior/185213-all-you-who-have-had-landshark.html



This is promising


----------



## SukiGirl

chloesmama2 said:


> To tell you the truth I dont remember when this changed from landshark to lover. She is 9 months old right now and she is such a lover. I have had many loving dogs, but not ones that have been so affectionate as Chloe. I love to cuddle up with her especially on days that I am not feeling myself. She seems to always help me make my loving side show again.


I had a very similar experience with our girl. She wanted nothing to do with cuddling up until a month ago. She is almost 11 months now. Not that it stopped me from touching her a lot and encouraging her to get close to me. It is very important at a young age to establish the bond. It might also be different between males and females, too. It might take awhile, but your pup will eventually become a big mooshy cuddle bug. Now I can't get Suki to STOP cuddling - needless to say I am now covered in her hair 24/7.


----------



## Angelina03

I can't remember either; but it must have been after about 5 months. And, the cuddling increases with time. I remember saying to myself, "I miss my Sikh (my cat that passed last summer), I don't get any affection from Rocco." Now, Rocco is very affectionate; but not always. He just turned a year and he still thinks only about playing. However, he is super affectionate in the mornings and when he is tired (usually at night).
In the mornings he is the most loveable creature in the world. He'll cuddled up between Hubby and me and wiggle and give kisses. Needless to say, I love mornings...


----------



## doggiedad

i remember when our pup was 4 months old or older he
wasn't a cuddle dog. when he became a cuddle dog
i don't remember. our dog is 5&1/2 yrs old. now he
is a cuddle bear, on the bed when it's time to go
to sleep, on the sofa whenever.


----------



## pancake

Ah looks like its a couple of months minimum before they develop that quality. Good to know, I was just curious.


----------



## Jag

Grim has always come to me after "good boy" to have a head pat or a brief rub of his back. When he got to know me, he's lay on his side to get a short belly rub and scratch. However, he's not a really lovey dog because he's still a landshark. He will, however, hold one hand of mine pretty gently in his mouth while getting his belly rubbed. I haven't been able to do a lot of petting or cuddling with him, though. He only sleeps in his crate, the rest of the time he's pretty much go, go, go!


----------



## jmargel

Kyleigh said:


> I don't remember the exact age, but around 6 months I would get on the floor and cuddle with her and she wouldn't try and wiggle away.
> 
> At 16 months she now cuddles when I ask. We have certain places that we cuddle - on her doggie bed, I'll lay down on her bed and whisper her name - she comes flying over and flops down beside me, on her back legs in the air b/c she knows she's getting a tummy rub and a full body massage.
> 
> On the sofa I'll call her up every now and then (about once or twice a week) and she sprawls out and I start with a nice massage, and rub down and then I slowly start to tickle her. This ends up in a big chase around the house, and inevitably into the back yard for a huge romp.
> 
> Weekend mornings, I'll call her up on the bed for about 20 minutes and we cuddle and whisper sweet nothings to each other.
> 
> And finally at night, I'll call her up on the bed for a 10 minute cuddle and "relax" time so she's nice and mellow and ready for bed. I cuddle her and massage her paws, her ears, and her legs, then a nice tummy rub, and then I tell her to go to bed, and she jumps down, goes to her dog bed, and crashes for the night.
> 
> I waited til she was about a year before I started inviting her on the sofa / my bed, and I made sure she REALLY understood "off" when I was done. I didn't want her thinking she could be on the sofa / my bed whenever she wanted, and she doesn't. She always waits for an invite, and I've set it up so it's not a routine, but rather a special "surprise."


So when am I moving in? I need some of that.. lol


----------



## Jrnabors

Ours is six months old and is not affectionate. I don't think she ever will be. It's sad because we really wanted a companion dog, and this pup didn't turn out that way.


----------



## Jag

I forgot about this thread.. but Grim has changed. He LOVES to watch TV. Now that he's more dependable in house training, I've been letting him in on the bed with me for an hour or so at a time with his chew stick. He'll sometimes lay right next to me and even put his head on me briefly while he's taking in the TV program! :wub: When we move and have the big TV in the livingroom with the sofa, it will be interesting to see if he'll spend more time hanging out watching TV!


----------



## Susan67

My pup is 5 month old, and all he wants to do is bite me. Its sad because Im the one that wanted a dog to begin with, and now it seems like I am just a chew toy. He is not affectionate at all, with any of us, and my kids dont want to play with him because he hurts them. Hopefully he will outgrow this so we can enjoy him.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Zeeva

I think it depends on how you train them. Mine still aren't affectionate at 2 1/2 and nearly 4 as I've never really been all that affectionate toward them. I praise them when they deserve it, pet them when they deserve it etc but unnecessary affection isn't something all too common among us. If you coddle them, show them extra affection etc. I personally feel it confuses them. You are their master. Make them earn your affection so that it's extra special when they return it. And believe me it IS extra special when they return it if trained this way...JM humble O c:


----------



## Rallhaus

i've found that affection comes with training. as the pup learns to communicate with us they also become more loving.

puppies that i've started early have wanted more attention.


----------



## onyx'girl

My puppies were always cuddly, not snarky or sharky. 
I use to hold their chewtoy in the evenings so they could unwind as they chewed themselves to sleep. 
I did try to keep the pups very busy with mental stimulation and also played tug with them. 
I really think tugging(til they start teething) is a great oral outlet. My pups had the older dogs to chew on as well, not sure if that helped them not trying to bite me, but it didn't harm my bonding with them. The other dogs corrected if they got too ramped up.
Even now, each dog wants a person to interact more than each other as far as attention/play. 
My male wanted to train and many times just pushed toys at me to get going with it already! Any time he did that, I took advantage. 

Look at what _you are_ or _are not_ doing and see if your pup is just really begging you to stimulate their brain~ biting and playing is about the only way they've communicated with their litter-mates...they want interaction~if biting is the way they can get game on, then that is what they will do.


----------

