Ole is 16 weeks old today!

Sixteen weeks is very significant as at 16 weeks Ole's ( and all other puppies) brains are 3/4th's of the way formed. Brain growth now begins to slow down and will slowly continue until his brain is fully formed at 12 months. At that point he won't have read the users manual yet but at least it will all be there ready to go. He will still be a little sponge for learning new things but his brain isn't quite as adaptable as it was yesterday. Now his body growth will speed up and most of his long bone growth will happen between 16 weeks and 7 months. His optic nerve also is now fully formed and he will see things that he didn't notice before and may show concern because things now look differently to him. He also had a surge of testosterone that will now begin to rise until 12 months of age. At one year, It gradually will dip and peak until by 3 years it reaches ( lowers to) normal adult male levels. he no longer smells like a puppy to adult dogs but instead smells of adolescence and potential for out of control behavior , so all the adult dogs he meets will immediately want to put him in his place. Adult mentor dogs will be and are important in this phase of his life as they will teach him the ropes so to speak and let him know when he is out of line with out harming him in the process. Puppy breathe is gone and he smells like a teenager! Watch out world. He is teething and his adult canine teeth will be the first teeth to come in. He needs lots of available safe items to chew on to help eliminate this discomfort in his mouth. Raw bones are on the top of the list as well as stuffed Kong toys and other appropriate items. Adolescent pups also tend to test the waters more with their owners , so my husband and I will have to be very patient with him and make sure that we follow through and show him what he has to do when he doesn't do what we wish. The big words here are patience and consistency. Teenage is a stressful time for puppies and their owners. Sounds like working with kids doesn't it?
Ole lifted his leg for the first time this morning. I was a bit surprised as that doesn't usually occur until around 10 months. He's been watching Elmo's manly displays of marking near the wood pile I guess. Elmo is very proud of his student.
I dropped Ole at Day care this morning and took Shelly and Elmo to our favorite place on Fiesta Island for an off leash romp. Then we headed home where i got a few things done and then headed off for an appointment. I picked Ole up on the way back and Romi told me that Ole figured out how to walk the big dog " A" Frame by watching the older dogs do it. He just watched and then ran up and over it all by himself and then he kept on doing it cause he was so proud of himself. My boy is gifted, I'm so proud! She also said he has a puppy crush on Bella the little 5&1/2 month old Westie. I guess that makes her a cougar as he is just 16 weeks.
I brought him home , fed him, gave him a potty break and then put him in his crate. I had work to do in my studio. This evening was puppy class in University City. Everyone showed up which is always nice and we taught them all a bunch of tricks that their pups can perform for the class next week. It is always fun to see what the pups can do by week 4. We will also have a little agility race next week. Elmo and Ole got to come to class tonight as demo dogs. Shelly stayed home as she finds the class too noisy and busy for her liking.