Are you wondering what’s the difference between puppy love and real love?
Perhaps you’re tired of falling into puppy love and want to invite true love. Your feelings are totally understandable. After all, puppy love fades away, leaving you feeling lost and lonely.
So, while you can’t control your feelings, let’s learn to differentiate both here…
What’s The Difference Between Puppy Love And Real Love? 15 Differences
The simplest indicator of puppy love is that everything goes smoothly without any trouble, unlike real love. But there are many more stark differences. So, let’s take a quick look here..
| Point of Difference | Puppy Love | Real Love |
| Showing off | Couples show off | There’s no show-off |
| Depth | It’s superficial | It’s deep and non-judgmental |
| Maturity | It’s immature | It’s mature |
| Validation | Constant need of validation | No need of validation |
| Surviving beyond honeymoon phase | It can’t survive | It can survive |
| Sacrifices | There’s no sacrifices | There are sacrifices |
| Communication | It’s superficial | It’s deep |
| Support to reach goals | There’s lack of support | There’s plenty of support |
| Social relationships | Partners ignore social connections | Partners invest time in their social lives |
| Conflict resolution skill | Partners lack the necessary skill | Partners either have the skill or learn it |
| Dependence | Partners are overly dependent | Partners support each other to be independent |
| Time needed | It happens instantly | It happens with time |
| Conditionality | It’s conditional love | It’s unconditional love |
| Jealousy | There’s toxic jealousy | There’s balanced jealousy |
But if you have some time on your hands, go through the explanations. These will help you get a better idea and be more cautious.
1. Unlike puppy love, there’s no show-off in real love
Puppy love is all about you and your partner acting cutesy, taking pictures, and uploading them online. It involves a lot of showing off how well you match each other.
But in real love, you both know the value of your relationship. You don’t need others’ approval. So, you don’t always post your beautiful moments online.
2. Puppy love is superficial, unlike real love
In puppy love, you both spend time and have fun together. But it’s all just superficial. Nobody has tried to understand the other’s true self. Nobody is ready to show their vulnerabilities yet.
There’s real love in a relationship when you both break down each other’s walls and accept everything about each other. There’s no judgment even after knowing each other so well.
3. Compared to puppy love, real love is mature
Partners in puppy love are not mature. It usually happens to teens and young adults. So, you have yet to realize the meaning of being in love and the responsibilities it brings.
Things are not serious in puppy love because you both have a lot more to grow. Along with that, the relationship is too young as well.
But, in real love, you both understand that love isn’t all about the positive things. You know you’ll fight and hurt each other. But you’ll still forgive and choose each other after everything. It’s mature, and it’ll stay strong in the face of all setbacks.
4. Puppy love means needing attention, unlike real love
In puppy love, you both always want each other’s attention. You always want to feel reassured and told, “I love you.” When you’re together, you constantly want to feel loved.
But on the other hand, in real love, you both feel reassured without any verbal communication. You can stay in the same room without even talking to each other. You’ll rather bask in each other’s presence and feel loved.
5. Puppy love won’t last beyond the honeymoon phase, real love will
When the honeymoon phase ends, the real struggles begin. Partners notice each other’s flaws, and they feel that they have changed.
And if you’re in immature puppy love, you can’t handle this. You’re bound to give up because you feel betrayed.
But in real love, you know that every individual is flawed. You are prepared to discard the rose-tinted glasses. So, you don’t feel that there’s betrayal or no love.
6. Puppy love is selfish, real love has sacrifices
In puppy love, you both only want to feel loved. If that means the other person has to compromise, you want that as well.
On the other hand, in real love, you won’t think twice before adjusting. You’ll find a middle ground or let go of small expectations for your lover’s happiness and vice versa.
7. Puppy love communication isn’t as deep as in real love
In puppy love, you talk about the superficial things that revolve around showing affection in different ways. You talk about how much you love each other all the time.
But in real love, you discuss serious matters like struggles, values, goals, dreams, and even future plans.
8. Puppy love isn’t supportive like real love
As already mentioned, couples in puppy love need constant attention from each other. So, this can prevent you both from focusing on more important things like studies and careers.
But couples in real love want to unite in the future. You have a vision in mind. So, you support each other’s aspirations and goals.
9. Puppy love is doing everything together, but not real love
In puppy love, you always want to stick together like you’re joined at the hip. So, you more or less have the same hobbies and interests. While doing this, you might even lose your individuality.
On the contrary, in real love, you know that you are different individuals. You spare each other space to do your own thing. You don’t need constant company from your partner.
10. Puppy love can make people ignore others, real love never does that
In puppy love, you both forget the entire world and focus on each other. You skip get-togethers if your other half can’t join in. Sounds romantic, but that’s a recipe for a disastrous social life. It makes you lose friends and get disconnected from the world.
But in real love, you both spend time with each other and know there’s a world beyond the relationship. You mingle with friends away from each other. So, the spark stays, and the relationship doesn’t become suffocating.
11. Conflict resolution is tough in puppy love compared to real love
Puppy love happens mostly to immature people – teens and young adults. Most people in this age bracket don’t have a robust conflict-resolution strategy. So, when you get into fights, things get over-the-top emotional and it takes too long to resolve fights.
On the other hand, real love happens mainly happens to mature people. In this case, you may have good conflict-resolution skills. Even if you don’t, you learn to work things out with patience and understanding.
12. Puppy love may have unhealthy dependence, unlike real love
In puppy love, you both may grow to be overdependent. You need each other to feel happy and to function well in life. If you don’t have each other by your side, your self-esteem may hit rock bottom.
In real love, you both depend on each other when necessary. You cover for each other’s weaknesses. But you also encourage each other to grow and become independent. You support each other to maintain a sense of self and have personal growth.
13. Puppy love happens instantly, while real love needs time
Puppy love is superficial – like infatuation, so you can fall in it instantly and at first sight. You see a gorgeous face with some cool qualities, and BAM! You’re head over heels. This sort of love doesn’t take time.
On the flip side, real love happens with time as you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and accept it all. It may take months or even years.
14. Puppy love is conditional, real love isn’t
Since puppy love is similar to infatuation, you both idealize each other. You feel the other can never commit a mistake.
So, puppy love is based on a major condition – your partner must not make mistakes or let each other down. Otherwise, it’s game over!
But real love is unconditional and accepting. So you both will easily forgive slight mistakes. You won’t demand perfection from each other.
15. Puppy love has a lot more jealousy than real love
You both want to own each other in puppy love. You’re also pretty dependent on each other’s validation.
So, when your partner acts nicely to someone of the gender they like, you get extremely jealous. You may even suspect your partner of cheating. Such behaviors can also turn toxic later on.
You’ll also get jealous in real love. However, you know how to control this feeling. You understand you don’t own your partner. You deal with your feelings appropriately.
If necessary, you talk things out. But you never assume they’re cheating or demand them to cut off ties with others.
A word from ThePleasantRelationship
Remember, puppy love can also turn into real love if you’re both committed. So, when love happens, don’t judge it by the type. Embrace it with strong arms, communicate, and put in effort to evolve for the best!
