My own bitch, Amazon, is just now "turning on" ... at coming up on 3 years.

I haven't bumped her yet, but I can tell she's ready: pulls like holy hell at all animals now (before, she ignored them).

She has never been aggressive toward, nor (really) even interested in, other animals.

But now, she digs, and she digs deep, when she sees other critters ... no prompting from me, nothing.

It is actually quite fascinating just to "watch" your dogs: study them, learn their behaviors.

Every dummy wants to force-start their dogs at 1 year, and/or breed them when they first bleed, but I think it's much more interesting to allow them to (and watch them) develop on their own, as individuals.

Jack