6 Month Old Cockapoo (Everything You Need To Know)

Just as you think you’ve learned everything about your sweet little Cockapoo puppy, they turn 6 months old and hit that adolescent stage. If you have kids and you remember what they were like during their teenage years, this is the same thing.

Your baby dog is becoming a teenager, everything is changing, and they’re slowly growing into adult bodies and brains. It’s almost like getting to know them all over again and all the work you put into getting them settled and starting their training might need to be brushed up on again!

What Size is a Cockapoo at 6 Months?

At 6 months your Cockapoo will be over half its full body weight and height. Most dogs will stop growing when they’re around a year old but will reach their full height at around 8 or 9 months. After that, they tend to fill out more to look abnormally lanky throughout their adolescents.

At 6 months old, your Cockapoo is well and truly a teenager, not far off their full height, but they will usually look a little tall and spindly until they hit adulthood and reach their full body weight.

How Much Food Should my 6 Month Old Cockapoo Eat?

At 6 months of age, your Cockapoo is no longer a puppy, so you can reduce their food from 3 meals a day to 2 meals a day, split between breakfast and dinner. Depending on your dog’s chosen diet, some foods are made to be fed until they’re a year old, while other brands will have a transitional food between puppy and adult food called junior food. Junior diets are made to be fed between 6 months and 18 months of age while your pup is still growing but doesn’t need as much support as puppy food.

During this period, you may notice you have to alter the amount they’re fed depending on their increased activity levels. If they shoot up in height quickly, some adolescent dogs can look quite skinny, so may need an extra bit of food here and there to make sure they stay a healthy weight.

How Much Should a 6 Month Old Cockapoo Sleep?

As they get older, their growth rate slows, which means they can put more energy into other things. You should expect your 6 month old Cockapoo to sleep for around 16 hours which means they will be awake more throughout the day. You might have to find more things to entertain them and keep them busy, as adolescent dogs tend to get bored quite easily. A bored teenager usually finds things to occupy themselves with, which sometimes isn’t ideal if it includes shoe thievery, digging up the garden or chewing your furniture.

How Much Exercise Does a 6 Month Old Cockapoo Need?

Every breed is different, an adult Cockapoo will need a minimum of an hour’s walk every day, but a 6 month old is still growing and developing. Puppies tend to all follow a similar rule of thumb no matter what breed. For every month of their life, add 5 minutes to their walks. When you first start to walk your puppy, you may only be going on 10 to 15-minute strolls, but a 6 month old Cockapoo can go for around 30 minutes.

While they’re still developing, if you take your pup on long hikes or play strenuous games, they can injure themselves, or repetitively straining themselves can lead to later issues like arthritis. 30 minutes is plenty for a 6 month old Cockapoo. If they still have lots of energy throughout the day, try breaking their walks into two shorter ones or play activity games at home, which will make them use their brain. Mental stimulation can be even more tiring than physical exercise! 

Why is my 6 Month Old Cockapoo Stubborn?

Stubborn is a funny word; we tend to think that our dogs might be doing a lot of things to spite us, like not coming back when called or deciding they have better things to do than sit for a treat. It’s not so much them being stubborn for the sake of it but a sign that your teenage dog is being flooded with hormones while their brain is developing. At 6 months old, your pesky little teenage Cockapoo is now smart enough to weigh up whether they want to do something or not. They develop the power of evaluation and preferences.

As a little puppy, your Cockapoo would have been super eager to give you a sit, even for a non-existent treat. As a teenager, they start asking the question – what is in it for me? The reward needs to be worthwhile for them to be willing to put the effort in. It doesn’t mean you have to bribe good behaviour forever; as they continue to grow, you can reduce the rewards until a scratch behind the ear or a good girl is plenty rewarding for them!

Why is My 6 Month Old Cockapoo Still Chewing?

While they are usually done teething at 6 months old, that doesn’t mean they won’t have the urge to chew. When they reach 6 months, they usually have all of their adult teeth, and their baby teeth should have all fallen out. They can still want to chew as their teeth settle into place as their jaw continues to grow and develop around them.

Even if their teeth are no longer uncomfortable, chewing can feel nice sometimes, so make sure they have plenty of options to chew on more appropriate things like toys and long-lasting chews.

How to Train a 6 Month Old Cockapoo?

6 months old is a crucial age for training. As your puppy goes through physical and hormonal changes, their training can often go back a few steps and will need some development and reinforcement. Your clingy pup who never leaves your side might turn into an adolescent that suddenly likes to explore and takes longer and longer to come back when recalled. It’s nothing to worry about, just a good time to go right back to basics and make sure they remember how to walk nicely on lead with a few extra treats or if you stopped using treats on their recall because they were so good, occasionally produce a treat for returning to you to make sure they remember what a great choice it is.

At 6 months, adolescent dogs are prone to frustration, so now is a good time to reinforce their frustration tolerance. Many people socialise their puppies by letting them play with lots and lots of dogs they see out walking. In reality, as adults, other dogs will be less forgiving, and your Cockapoo will need an awareness that not every dog wants to be their friend. This is around the age you see dogs becoming vocal on lead. They have either not seen enough dogs and get worried by them, or they’ve not had a balanced socialisation period. Socialising your dog means teaching them how to play nicely and greet and walk away or ignore entirely. Again, teaching this will mean a pocket full of treats to call them away from some dogs and make sure they don’t need to say hello to everyone they meet, which is a common issue with this friendly breed.

Their adolescent period is notoriously the trickiest time for you and your Cockapoo. Still, it’s also a period to learn a lot about each other and hone in on your training.