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From one second to the next, the teen turns from a lovely little one into a stubborn monster.

Rebellious and disrespectful, paired with mood and emotional swings, not fish and not meat.

That is the time between eleven and 18 years.

A state of emergency for the child, which parents can sing a song about - and dog owners too.

What they suspected for a long time is now proven:

Our best friends also hit puberty and behave accordingly.

Their behavior is reminiscent of us humans in sexual maturity, says a British research team from the universities of Newcastle, Nottingham and Edinburgh in their study, which is the first to provide empirical evidence.

Source: Getty Images / Brigitte Blättler

Dogs then (again) test the limits.

They ignore masters and mistresses while still listening to other people.

Analogous to adolescents who increasingly come into conflict with their parents during puberty.

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At around eight months, the four-legged friends enter this phase of life, which is accompanied by strong hormonal changes and in which the brain reorganizes itself, as the scientists working with Lucy Asher write in the journal "Biology Letters".

For their study, they interviewed the owners and trainers of a total of 285 dogs about their behavior, upbringing and bond with the owner.

The researchers also carried out behavioral tests on 69 of them.

It was shown that dogs with a weaker bond with masters reached sexual maturity earlier than their conspecifics with a stable relationship.

A parallel to us humans: because girls who have a less solid bond with their parents are also more likely to reach puberty.

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When the four-legged friends became sexually mature, they resisted more often and no longer listened so well to the commands of their owners.

This disobedience was even more pronounced in dogs with an insecure relationship with the owner.

On the other hand, all four-legged friends reacted well to strangers.

"Sit Bello, sit!"

Source: pa / dpa Themendie / Christin Klose

The researchers suspect that the different behavior towards people is not only due to changes in hormones and the brain, but that gender development is also influenced by social relationships - both in four-legged and us two-legged.

Between humans and dogs, this is even across species.

Puberty is "a very important time in a dog's life," explains behavioral scientist and study author Lucy Asher from Newcastle University in a press release.

“Then they are often given away because they are no longer the cute puppies and their owners suddenly discover that they are challenging and they can no longer control or train them.

But owners must be aware that their dog is going through a phase similar to a teenager that will pass. "

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The scientists also emphasize that during this time the owners should not try to make their four-legged friends docile by force, or turn away from them emotionally.

Because, like us humans, such behavior only makes things worse.

This article was first published in May 2020.