Your Dog's Personality Changes With Age
Dogs are a lot like us. Just like humans, a dog's personality changes over time with age. A recent scientific study monitored the behavior of several hundred dogs, and the resulting discovery is that a dog's personality shares many similar characteristics with that of humans. Among the findings, older dogs are less active or excitable compared with younger dogs, and aggression and responsiveness to training are highest among 6- to 8-year-old dogs. A dog's personality is associated with important factors such as chronic health conditions and human-dog relationships.
It only seems logical that dogs will decrease activity as they age. However, their curiosity levels also decrease as they get older. In the study, dogs were given an exploration test, a frustration test, a novel object test, a ball-playing test, an obedience test, and a problem-solving test. These tests took place repeatedly at different times in their lives.
Using the test results, researchers found that dogs' attentiveness and problem-solving skills improve until around 6 years of age. Curiosity, seeking play, and enjoyment of new situations decline after the age of three. Dogs' ability to tolerate frustration and desire to socialize both remain the same over their first four years. However, activity levels unsurprisingly decrease as they age.
How a Dog's Personality Changes
When the researchers compared the dogs, they found that the most active and curious ones in the first test were still the most active and curious four years later. However, individually these dogs were less active and curious than in the previous tests.
The findings of this study are good news for people who may have overactive puppies. As these dogs get older, their personality will change or mature. In other words, a hyper dog will eventually settle down and chill out.
As dogs get older, their activity levels will certainly decrease. This is important because disease and chronic health issues often creep up with age. Exercise and diet are very important to maintain good health, so as your pet ages, you may want to consider a supplement to keep joints healthy.
FlexPet Supplements for Dogs
As dogs age, not only does their personality change — they begin to experience pain and inflammation just like us. FlexPet is a daily supplement that supports joint health, a healthy inflammatory response, and the immune system. There are powerful all-natural ingredients in FlexPet. FlexPet supplements are made in the USA with human-grade ingredients, and they also contain a digestive enzyme to help your pet process the joint-supporting ingredients.
About FlexPet: FlexPet is a joint supplement for dogs built around CM8® (cetyl myristoleate) — made in the USA and trusted since 1999. See what makes CM8® different →