At what age will my Labrador calm down

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 16, 2024

Contributions sourced from

When Do Labs Calm Down? (Hang In There, They Will)

So youve adopted your first dog a Labrador Retriever!Youve covered all your bases and braced yourself for a year of craziness, training, and puppyhood.But that year passes, and another and another, and your lab is still bouncing off the wall.So what gives?When do Labs calm down?!?!Many people adopt Labs because of their excellent disposition, amazing personality, trainability, and companionship.

Its important to remember that a dogs first year of life is full of excess energy and excitement. It doesnt end once the dog turns one!But fear not. Like all breeds, your lab will calm down.Read on to find out what to expect and how to manage and enjoy these high-energy years with your pup.

When Will My Lab Calm Down?

No two dogs are the same, but on average most Labradors calm down between the ages of 2-4 years old.

Like all dogs,Labs go through a few different stages of maturitybefore they grow out of their puppy energy.

Unlike some other breeds, Labradors have longer stages as a puppy and adolescent than you may expect.

Are Labs High Energy Dogs?

This is a question with many answers. Labs are popular dogs for a reason

They are friendly, inquisitive, curious, and love to work.

Yet, its many of these same characteristics that may have your dog bouncing off the walls.

Labradors often exhibit an intense level of intelligence and a deep desire to please. Its important to provide them with tasks that challenge their intellect and will keep them engaged.When they become bored they will often look for ways to entertain themselves. This includes chewing furniture, digging holes in your yard, and barking like a maniac.

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Labradors love social interaction!

If your Lab is spending too much time alone it will be easy for their energetic personalities to kick in.

Long story short, Labs have a long list of great traits, but calm is not one of them.

This wont last forever, and there are many things you can do to manage your dogs disposition in the first few years.

Lab Puppy Behavior Stages

Puppyhood

This period of a dogs life is often called the juvenile stage. It lasts about 6 months according to most peoples timeline of having a puppy.

You can expect your Lab puppy to be high-strung.

They will be developing, pushing limits and seeking guidance from you.

Which makes this the perfect time to train your Labrador.

You must take the time to put in place a structure that will allow you to manage your dog as they mature.

Habits and rules taught in this stage are likely to last a lifetime. You will have an easier time managing your Lab if good training is stressed from the beginning.

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Labrador Adolescence

This stage is what it sounds like your dog is a teenager.

This period of development lasts from 6 to 18 months and may last up to the 2-year mark in some dogs.

You may feel as though your Lab is an adult but dont be fooled.

During adolescence Labradors have reached their final size and have filled out. Although their outward appearance does little to reflect their internal and mental development.

Its during this time you will begin to see if your early training has been effective fingers (and paws) crossed!

If it has paid off your Lab pup I mean teen may be well behaved.

Keep in mind that dogs in this stage are still mentally close to puppyhood.

This can result in chaotic moments from time to time.

Occasional bouts of craziness with your Lab, up to two years, are normal, and are a reflection of their stage of life.

Continued work andtraining are important. The good news is that your dog will not be stuck in these early stages of development.

Young Adulthood Adulthood

Past the ages of 18 months to two years, you can expect to see a notable reduction in chaos in your Lab.

Past 36 months, most dogs energy will level off.

This is when you will see the highest payoff in your early investments in training your Lab.Adult dogs are less likely to test established boundaries than when they were puppies.

But this doesnt mean you should expect a docile dog either.

Likely to be calmer in the home, Labradors are a breed that requires regular exercise.

You can expect your pup to race around the dog park for years to come.

This is part of what makes a Labrador great for families on the go or active individuals.

How to Manage a Dog with High Energy Levels?

Its one thing to know that your Lab will calm down. But its another task figuring out how to handle all the chaos while youre waiting for that day to come.

Luckily, there are a handful of effective things you can do to manage your dogs disposition.

Avoid Boredom

Im sure you know this but it is worth mentioning

Your Lab is a working dog with high intelligence and a desire to please.

Left unstimulated, your pup is likely to tear through your home, doing some damage in the process.

To prevent this, you shouldnt allow a young Labrador to get bored.

Plenty of exercise, toys, socialization or even a game will help keep your dog occupied and happy.

If your family goes to the lake, bring him/her along.

If you love to hike, your pup will make a great companion.

If youre a hunting aficionado, consider training your Lab to help out.

All these activities will appeal to a Labs instincts to run and learn. In turn, it will allow you to keep your home intact.

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Proper Training

Obedience training is important in all breeds. But is crucial in larger dogs like Labradors with lots of energy and high intelligence.

Physical exercise is one part of the equation when it comes to a happy Lab.

Training also provides mental stimulation and teaches your dog manners. This can help to bring your dog under control in many situations.

It is the best antidote to destructive behavior and anti-social tendencies.The sooner you begin training your Labrador Retriever the better.

Watch This Video: High Energy Labrador Dog Training Before & After (6:34)

Its important to be consistent with your training sessions.

Set aside time every day to work on basic commands and reward positive behavior.

This will set the tone for years to come and will make calming your Lab manageable.

Curb Bad Habits

Every dog is different, but most are likely to present unwanted behavior early in life.

High energy breeds such as Labs have hyperactive behavior that need to be addressed, such as chewing, barking, and jumping.

If you dont get a handle on it, this destructive behavior will worsen over time. This makes it harder to prevent or reverse when your Labrador reaches adolescence and adulthood.

If you see your pup chewing, invest in safe alternatives like bones or other safe chew toys.

If you observe excessive barking, try not to reinforce or reward the behavior.

Labrador Retrievers are eager to please and receptive to positive reinforcement.

This is why rewarding your Lab when they exhibit desired behaviors helps their brain develop.

Dont Meet Chaos With Chaos

When you bring home a new Lab puppy, it can be easy to meet the energy of your new furry friend where theyre at.

But, meeting excitement with excitement in areas like the home, or in public, can reaffirm hectic behavior where it is not appropriate.

Instead, try to ignore or discourage over-excitement in areas where it could be a problem.Labs, and all dogs, are receptive to the moods and behaviors of their owners.

Getting worked up and encouraging roughhousing with your puppy will send the wrong message and can be hard for your pup to unlearn.

No Puppy Is Perfect

Its important to show patience with your Labrador in the first few years of their life.They experience longer periods of early development than some other breeds of their size and are always learning.

A dog that may behave one day could be jumping and racing around the next.

Frustration is common, but allowing that frustration to get in the way of enjoying time with your Lab is silly.

Instead of punishing your Lab for acting out, continue to reward them for showing appropriate calm behavior.

These episodes of chaos will continue to lessen as they age and will become rare occurrences.

The Good News? The Craziness Wont Last Forever!!

If youre worried your Lab may never calm down, you can take some relief from knowing this isnt true.

Their long early development, paired with high energy can make the first few years of life with your new pup a little crazy.Hang in there, this will begin to wane over time.

In the meantime, its important to do what you can to prevent boredom by providing mental and physical stimulation your Lab craves.

The best recipe for success is to give them lots of exercise, consistent training, and a gentle way to control bad behavior.

Life with your Lab can be crazy and challenging, but also rewarding.

The love, loyalty, and companionship provided by a Labrador is incredible and makes every chaotic moment worth it!

Dog Calming: How To Make Your Lab Less Excitable

In how to calm down a dog, youll discover the kinds of activities that are calming for dogs, and those that get them excited.

Well look at when you can expect your Lab to calm down and Ill show you some great dog calming techniques to get you through those difficult months with your bouncy and excitable young Lab

A great many people search the internet for help with getting their dogs to calm down.

If you own a young lab between 7 and 8 months of age, It probably wont surprise you to discover that more people are looking for when do Labs calm down than any other breed of dog.

Its not just because Labs are especially bouncy of course, but also because they are popular and big. A a large bouncy dog usually makes more impact on those around him than a small one

In this article we look at the peak age for excitable behavior in Labradors, and offer you some tips for coping with your lively young dog.

When do Labs calm down? someone asked me recently.

He is just such a handful!

And its true, a boisterous young Labrador can be quite a handful.

But fortunately there are several things that we can do as their owners to help our young Labs relax and calm down a little. Well look at those in a moment.

8 months old and the boisterous stage

It is not unusual for young labs of between 8and 12months of age, to start causing injuries through their exuberance. This is a very bouncy age for my Labs and probably will be for your Lab too.

Knocking children over, barging into old ladies, and jumping up at visitors are common crimes.

This is the peak age for excitable behavior. It can feel as though every social occasion is doomed to end up in tears, and it is no coincidence that this is the age at which many rescue dogs are given up to animal shelters or simply abandoned.

When do Labs calm down?

Labs can be a little later than the average puppy in reaching the point at which you suddenly realise your pup is all grown up. But hang on in there, it will come!

With the right handling techniques, most young Labradors begin to calm down around their first birthday. And are fairly settled in temperament by the time they are eighteen months old.

It is important to recognise that it is possible to prolong the boisterous phase and make it much worse by making a few simple mistakes.

In a moment well look at some ways to avoid some of the excitable puppy behavior that may be causing you problems. But first lets look at how to cope when your Lab is on his worst hyper behavior

What do I mean by hyper dog?

A hyper dog is not a happy dog. He might seem happy as he leaps about air nipping, barking, jumping at people, and so on.

But he is actually a dog that doesnt know where to put himself, and he is often actually quite upset.

Many people are quite shocked when the nice game they were playing with their young dog begins to get rougher and rougher. You may be tempted to shout at your dog if he nips you, or to give out a squeal.

Unfortunately, noises and angry behavior from you excites the dog more, until eventually he loses control completely

If you are scared, your dog will be scared too, and like most scared kids will behave even more inappropriately. So its really important that you intervene before things get to this point.

Remember that the hyper dog isnt able to listen. Hes completely over the threshold and unable to calm himself.

He needs you to help him.

How to calm down a dog 5 steps

There are five different steps you need to complete in order to calm down a hyper dog.

The first two steps will help you cope with the situation when it arises. The remaining three steps will help prevent your dog having a hyper episode in the future

Take control of your dog
Calm your dog
Change what you do around your dog
Provide activities for your dog
Teach your dog to relax

Lets take each of these in turn

#Dog Calming Step 1:Take control of your dog

This is about physically managing your dog to make sure he doesnt hurt you or anyone else. When your dog is over-excited youll need to take steps to control the situation

It is important to be able to control a lively young Lab and youll find this easier to do if he is wearing a body harness(paid link).

You do not want to have to fight to clip a leash on a 70lb dog while he is nipping at your sleeves or barking in your face, so have your hyper dog wear a training leash outdoors(instructions in that link) and a house line indoors.

Dont take them off until you put him in crate or sleeping area and leave him on his own.

Or until he has outgrown this silly phase

Never use a choke chain or slip lead on a dog that has hyper episodes, he doesnt know his own strength and hell hurt his neck.

The next step is to reduce the dogs arousal or excitement levels. Lets find out what is calming for dogs

#Dog Calming Step 2: Calming your dog

Outdoors, the best thing to do is to stop whatever you were doing with the dog when he got carried away and start briskly leash walking the dog up and down.

Dont hesitate, dont try to engage a leaping, nipping dog in conversation just pick up the leash and start walking.

Keep walking until the dog begins to relax as he walks along next to you.

If other people, children, or animals were exciting your dog, move him away from them.

Dont forget to attach a training lead to the harness so that you can pick up the end and lead him quietly away when he is being silly.

Walking briskly but calmly around can help to lower your dogs arousal level and let you get back in control of the situation.

Indoors you can use time out. Stop all play and place the dog in a crate or room by himself to calm down for a few minutes.

Give yourself a chance to calm down too, before bringing the dog back out again.

Now dont wait for another hyper event, start putting the following steps into action to change the way you interact with your dog.

#Dog Calming Step 3 change what you do around your dog

Very often the owners of the dog are unwittingly causing the excitability, or at least contributing towards it by their own behavior. It is not difficult to wind up a young dog.

This is not your fault, its just that humans and dogs play differently and interpret one anothers behaviour differently. Its a kind of language barrier if you like.

Add a very bouncy, friendly, young dog that everyone wants to play with to the mix and its easy to lose your way.

Fortunately, you can soon put all this right.

Be low key

Lots of over excited greetings, squeaky voices, rewarding behavior when the dog leaps around, and a failure to reward when the dog puts his feet on the floor or stands quietly are a common cause of over-excitement in young dogs

To reverse this, you need to reverse your previous behavior

Try to pretend to be underwhelmed by your dog. Talk to him quietly and calmly, and persuade other family members to do the same

Avoid physical play

Another common mistake that new puppy parents make, is getting involved in a lot of physical play with a large young dog.

Inexperienced owners and teenage children will often rough-house with a dog, pushing and pulling him, even rolling on the ground with him. This is something you will need to avoid completely in future. No more physical play.

Have a look at this article how to play safely with your dog for ideas for better ways to engage with your growing puppy

Reward the calm!

Your dog will be calm sometimes. Dont ignore those times.

My husband took one of our dogs to the vet one timefor a booster.In the waiting room was an elderly couple with a golden retriever. When they arrived, the young dog lay down quietly and the owners ignored it completely, chatting to one another.

After a few minutes the dog whined and both owners turned to the dog and made a fuss of it.

They then started chatting again, ignoring the now quiet dog. Within a minute or two the whining began again. And each time the dog whined, the owners again paid it a shed load of attention, and each time it laid quiet they ignored it.

Needless to say, within twenty minutes, the dog was whining almost constantly and starting to become agitated, panting and pawing at the couple.On and on they went, encouraging and rewarding his bad behavior.

They were no doubt convinced that the dog was upset because he was at the vets, when in fact he had been perfectly happy when he arrived.

Rewarding and reinforcing good, calm, behavior is really important.

#Dog Calming Step 4 Provide activities for your dog

Young dogs need exercise, mental stimulation and attention But it needs to be the right sort of exercise and the right sort of attention. Ignoring bad behavior, jumping, nipping and so on is important. But it is not the end of the story.

Your young dog needs an alternative way of engaging with his family.

Labs are active, intelligent, sociable dogs and they need to be engaged in activities with a human companion every day for some time each day.

The way to achieve this is through exercise, training and brain games.

Indoors, you can use puzzle toys and indoor games to entertain your dog in a calm and controlled way.

Outdoors you can focus on training your dog to do what he was born to do fetch stuff for you.

Buy yourself a couple of retrieving dummies and learn how to use them

Try to increase your dogs daily exercise and to spend some of that time engaging with him in training exercises.

This will help him learn to focus on you and to enjoy the rewards that training brings.

Once you have got your Lab fetching simple retrieves, you can make these more complicated so that he has to work both his brain and his body to complete them.

Once his body and brain are tired, and you have put a stop to all rough play, youll find your dogs behavior improving. But there is one more thing you can do to help.

#Dog Calming Step 5 teach your dog to relax

This is the final step in the process and the icing on the cake.

Dogs can be taught and encouraged to relax at home, and even in public places. Youll find this a useful skill to teach your dog.

Its a whole topic of its own. So do check out our Teach Your Dog To Relax article

What can I give my dog to calm down?

Some of you may have heard that there is a product called DAP which can help calm a dog. Or you may be wondering if there is some kind of drug that might reduce your dogs hyper behavior

DAP is short for dog appeasement pheromone. Even if it were desirable to reduce excitability with some kind of drug, this is not the role of DAP. The dap diffuser is intended to reduce stress or anxiety not excitement.

It may have an important role to play in dogs that are frightened of fireworks for example. But it isnt going to make your bouncy dog any less bouncy.

Its a good idea to have a chat with your vet if you are worried about your dogs behavior. Especially if changes in behavior have been sudden, or if your dog seems to be showing signs of aggression.

Your vet may want to refer you to a behaviorist to help you with your dog. But he or she is not likely to want to prescribe any kind of drug to alter your dogs activity levels. Even if that were possible.

The way out of your predicament with an excitable young Lab is to follow the steps outlined above. Heres a quick summary of all the points we have covered

How to calm down a dog summary

A young Lab who has frequent hyper episodes doesnt understand how to interact constructively with people, and doesnt understand what is acceptable behavior and what isnt. He is very unsure where his boundaries lie, and quite apart from the misery it causes you, this isnt a happy state for a dog to be in.

Your first step is to make sure you have the means to manage your dog safely during a hyper episode.

(paid link)

Make sure your dog is wearing a harness and line so that you can control him, and remain very calm yourself. Stop all rough play and walk the dog around until he calms down.

Once calm is restored you need to take steps to avoid overexciting your dog in futureIf you are expecting visitors that you know enjoy deliberately winding up your dog, it might be simpler to put him out of the way until they have gone. Show willing visitors how to reward the dog with a treat only when all four paws are on the ground or when he is sitting quietly in his bed.

Most are only too happy to join in the training game. Carry a clicker and treats around with you and treat the dog for calm behaviors whenever and wherever you can.

Remember that dogs do what works for them.

If your dog wants attention and you give it to him when he whines, barks, or jumps at you, he will whine, bark, and jump a whole lot more. If you play rough, he will play rough back. And he will not be able to control just how rough the game gets.

Take comfort in the fact that dogs learn fast, and most young dogs grow out of this phase very quickly if people around them are consistent and reward the right behaviors. You might also find it helpful to join our forum where you can chat to the many other dog owners who have been through what you are experiencing, and come out the other side in one piece!

More information on Labradors

Check out our Labrador Training section for more help and advice on managing a lively Labrador.

If youd like all of our best Labrador information together in one place, then check out The Labrador Handbook.

The Labrador Handbook is available(paid link) worldwide, and looks at all aspects owning a Labrador, through daily care, to health and training at each stage of their life.