I think most people here refer to anything under 2 years as a puppy cause breeding a female dog under 2 years old is frowned on. Most breeds can start having puppies between 6 months an a year old but its a bad idea to let them. 2 years is pretty standard as the time a female is old enough to breed safely. The way they act also usually changes about the 2 year mark too. So everyone uses the term puppy until then.
I don't know what ages are aloud in puppy classes at shows. I dont show. I breed Pugs. The standard I breed for would never win shows. I want dogs that live long healthy lives doing normal dog things but are still clearly pugs. That means mine are to lean an have to long a nose to show... I want to do Shetland Sheepdogs one day though an I might try showing then.
Here is the look I go for in Pugs..
Aaaw too cute! I like Pugs
I didn't hang around in the showing circles for very long at all .. one can only take so much 'competition and showmanship', didn't take me too long to work out it was not my cup of tea
Chasing the "puppy" rabbit trail...our dog Eve (my avatar) is now 13 months old. Since she's partially deaf and can't hear her correct name, we got in the habit of calling her Puppy. Since we like to play with words, Puppy became Poo-pay (not sure how to spell that), and got shortened to The Poop. So now, I have a hundred pound dog called The Poop. She'll be called a bastardized form of puppy all her lifecause that's a name you're just not outgrowing.
I have a 4 year old cat that I still call kitten ... she was the runt of the litter and so very very tiny (250gms) and still is tiny
