Fixing Problems

7 Puppy Behaviors That Really Do Fade, and the Sign They Won't

Some puppy problems genuinely disappear with age. Others only look like they will. Here's how to tell the difference, plus the seven behaviors you can reasonably expect your dog to outgrow.

By Leila Torres, Senior Living Editor

April 5, 2026 · 6 min read

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Every new dog parent eventually whispers the same hopeful little prayer: “Surely they’ll just grow out of this.” Sometimes that prayer is answered. Sometimes it is dangerously wrong, and the difference is the most important thing this article can give you.

So before the list, the test. A behavior tends to fade on its own when it is tied to a developmental stage, puppy hardware that gets replaced as the dog matures: needle teeth, an immature bladder, a half-built nervous system. A behavior tends to stick, and quietly get worse, when it is being rehearsed and reinforced every time it happens: barking at the window that makes the mail carrier “leave,” lunging at dogs that creates space, counter-surfing that occasionally lands a sandwich. Developmental behaviors expire. Practiced behaviors compound. If you only remember one thing, remember that a behavior your dog is getting paid for is not one to wait out.

With that filter in hand, here are seven behaviors that fall squarely in the “fades with age” column, grouped by what drives them, arousal, teeth, bladder, and fear, with ways to support your dog through each.

Over-the-top greetings and the “velvet shark” hour

Start with the one the standard lists skip most often: the adolescent dog who becomes a hurricane of teeth and limbs when overexcited, sometimes called the “velvet shark” or “witching hour” behavior. A tired, overstimulated young dog who starts grabbing sleeves and bouncing off the furniture is not turning aggressive; they are overaroused and underequipped to self-regulate, and that regulation is a skill that matures. Build it by spotting the wind-up early and offering a settle, a chew, or a nap before the meltdown, rather than trying to wrestle a frenzied dog back to calm. As the nervous system finishes developing, these episodes shrink on their own.

Bottomless energy

Living with a dog who runs on an apparently infinite battery? Charming, exhausting, and, mercifully, temporary in its most extreme form. Your dog may always carry a spark, most never become true couch potatoes, but the relentless puppy zoom does mellow with maturity. In the meantime, meet the energy with real exercise plus mental stimulation and enrichment, because a bored high-energy dog invents their own jobs, and you will not like the ones they pick. You will gradually notice more genuine “off” moments that are not just sleep.

Destructive chewing

Chewing is standard puppy equipment, used to soothe teething pain, investigate the world, and burn energy. The toilet paper roll is a perennial casualty. The reassuring part is that the heaviest chewing tapers as puppies mature. There is often a second, temporary “chew frenzy” in adolescence, but that one passes too. Protect your boots and your sanity with a stash of dog-safe chews and a couple of frozen stuffed Kongs, which do double duty teaching your dog what is fair game and what is off-limits.

Puppy mouthing

Puppy teeth are not “kind of pointy.” They are tiny daggers, and puppies explore the entire world with their mouths, so nipping and gnawing when they are excited, teething, or playing is completely normal. None of us enjoy being treated like a chew toy, but this one has a clear expiration date: mouthiness usually peaks around three months and eases off by about seven. Keep a rotation of appropriate chews on hand, make sure your pup is getting real exercise and mental work, and if the teeth come out on you, simply stand up and walk away. Removing yourself is the clearest possible feedback, and most puppies connect the dots and outgrow it even without formal training.

House-training accidents

The indoor surprises nobody signs up for. The reassuring biology here is that puppies are wired on your side: dogs instinctively prefer not to soil where they sleep, eat, and play, so you and your puppy actually want the same outcome. Most get the hang of potty training within a couple of months. Back when I taught classes for eight-to-sixteen-week-old puppies, the potty questions never stopped, and yet by the time those same dogs graduated to the older class, nearly all of them had it sorted.

Speed it up by supervising closely, going out frequently, especially after meals, naps, play, and enrichment, and rewarding the instant they finish outside, not when they come back in.

Submissive urination

Does your puppy spring a small leak when people greet them, or when another dog says hello, or at any sudden surprise? You will often see the supporting cast: a crouch, a tucked tail, a roll onto the back, ears pinned flat. It is more common than people admit, and the encouraging news is that most dogs stop this reaction by their first birthday.

There is a hidden upside, too. Dogs prone to submissive urination tend to be the softest, sweetest temperaments in the room, so the puddles are an annoying tax on a genuinely lovely personality. While you ride it out, move greetings outside or onto easy-clean floors, keep the carpet off-limits when company comes, and try tossing a treat just past your puppy so they turn away for a snack instead of greeting head-on. That small redirect heads off most accidents.

Adolescent spookiness

Here is the developmental fact that saves a lot of teenage dogs from being misjudged, and it is the net-new piece most “grow out of it” lists leave out. Dogs go through not one but two fear periods. The first lands around eight to eleven weeks, often right as the puppy arrives home. The second arrives in adolescence, anywhere from roughly six to fourteen months, and it can come even later in giant breeds. Each period typically lasts only two to three weeks, and during it a dog can suddenly act frightened of things that never bothered them, a manhole cover, a friend in a hat, the vacuum they slept through last month.

This is cold comfort if your once-confident teenager is currently ignoring you, acting maddeningly independent, and flinching at shadows. But it is temporary. Support them through it by letting them keep their distance, offering a treat or toy when they look overwhelmed, and talking to them in a bright, upbeat voice rather than coddling the fear. The confident dog comes back. What you should not do is flood them or punish the fear, because that is how a passing developmental blip becomes a lasting one.

The honest bottom line

Dogs do not magically outgrow every problem, and a few of the most stressful ones, reactivity, resource guarding, real fear, need deliberate work, not patience. But the seven above genuinely fade with maturity and support. The skill is telling them apart: if a behavior is tied to puppy hardware, ride it out kindly; if your dog is being rewarded for it, intervene now. Get that distinction right and you can relax into the parts that pass, and put your energy where it actually counts.