[wkusigep460]

Hello,
I have a 9 1/2-month old miniature dachshund, weighing approx. 7 lbs. I have heard that it is better to wait longer to neuter for smaller dogs, letting their bones fully develop (especially ones who are prone to injury due to their breed, such as back problems with the dachshunds). I have also heard that you "lock" your dog into its current state when you neuter. This particulary concerns me as our dog is obsessive about finding one dog at the dog park each time and becomes fixated on humping it the entire time we're there.

So, I guess my questions are:
Should we neuter him now, and risk him staying locked in on his obsessive humping (and marking)?
Or should we wait a bit longer, say when he's one-year old, hoping that the humping slows down and his body naturally matures?

 

[jesirose]

If he's already started humping, he's not going to grow out of it. You need to train him that it is not acceptable. Same with marking. Marking = potty training issue.

I have only heard to wait with big dogs, not small dogs. All dogs need time to develop. If you want to do it now, I don't think it would be that bad.

 

[RRM_Mom08]

I have to agree with the above I have only heard of waiting with larger breed dogs due to bone and muscle devlopment (since larger breeds are slower to mature)

 

[Dogstar]

He's old enough to miss the very highest risk of bad effects, but if he were mine, I'd step up training and stuff and try and hold out for another 6 months or so. It really does make a difference in muscle tone development (and that's your best devense other than good genetics against IVDD.)

 

[wkusigep460]

If he's already started humping, he's not going to grow out of it. You need to train him that it is not acceptable. Same with marking. Marking = potty training issue.

As far as the marking goes, he marks outside. It's just frequent. He's potty trained...sits by the door when he needs to go.

He's old enough to miss the very highest risk of bad effects, but if he were mine, I'd step up training and stuff and try and hold out for another 6 months or so. It really does make a difference in muscle tone development (and that's your best devense other than good genetics against IVDD.)

What bad effects? And what are you referring to when you say "step up training"?

 

[hulkamaniac]

As far as the marking goes, he marks outside. It's just frequent. He's potty trained...sits by the door when he needs to go.

Why do you care if he marks outside? I have a neutered dog who also marks outside. I've never had an issue with it.

 

[wkusigep460]

I don't care if marks outside. It just seems that he needs to do it quite often, but I'm pretty sure that the marking issue is a combination of his hormones and him "working me" for a treat. (He knows that he gets a treat when he goes outside to pee, so he frequently sits by the door so he can go out). My wife and I have decided to randomly treat him for going to the door, hopefully putting an end to the frequency. Thoughts?

What I'm most concerned about is the humping.

 

[alphadoginthehouse]

When Butch is out (mostly at the dog park) he has to pee on every blade of grass in the place! It's a guy thing...although Roxxy isn't far behind and she's a girl!

As for the humping, Butch doesn't do it to much but sometimes at the park he will find a dog (male or female; he's not picky) and I can't get him to stop. I have no advice for that...I just had to comment!

 

[animalcraker]

The humping is a training issue. If you want him to stop then you need to teach him that it's unacceptable. Neutering him now or waiting till later won't have any affect on his humping, or marking, behaviors.

 

[Spicy1_VV]

I usually never neuter but if done around 2yrs is what I like. I like to only do it for medical reasons if one arises, which could mean doing it younger then 2yrs or much older. Especially for larger breeds better to wait even longer in some cases. As for smaller dogs most are growing and maturing faster so I actually think it is ok to be done younger.

As for the issues. If you want him to stop humping then you need to train him not to like anything else. Neutering or lack their of isn't going to teach him not to hump. Surgery is done for medical reasons on a personal decision not in the place of training.

Neutering also doesn't lock a dog into a behavior? Dogs can be trained whether they are intact, neutered, whatever the case may be.

 

[Mdawn]

I don't care if marks outside. It just seems that he needs to do it quite often, but I'm pretty sure that the marking issue is a combination of his hormones and him "working me" for a treat. (He knows that he gets a treat when he goes outside to pee, so he frequently sits by the door so he can go out). My wife and I have decided to randomly treat him for going to the door, hopefully putting an end to the frequency. Thoughts?

What I'm most concerned about is the humping.

As for marking to get a treat...I'm a little confused. Does he get a treat for every single time he eliminates even if its multiple times (thus getting multiple treats in one outing) or does he get a treat only once for going outside? If he is still in the process of being house trained, he only really needs ONE treat for each trip outside. If he is housetrained, then it would be fine to give the treats intermittently. My dogs are both 2 years old, and neither one gets a treat for going outside to the bathroom anymore. It's already a learned behavior and they don't need it anymore. As for marking, with Uallis, who is intact, I can tell when he just wants to empty his bladder and when he's just marking. When he just wants to empty his bladder it takes a little longer and he isn't picky about where he does it outside. When he wants to mark, then he'll get extra "sniffy" and be more choosy where he goes and its very little urine. He'll mark something at least 3 or 4 times when he's outside. But it doesn't change the frequency of how often he wants outside...for him, he needs to go out about every 5 waking hours and holds it all night (that will be different depending on individual dogs and what size they are). If it seems like your dog "wants" to go outside too often, a vet check may be in order for a UTI. Frequent need to urinate, straining while going are some things to look for.

As for the the humping...my dogs are not allowed to hump one another. I don't really care for the act itself but their size differences is the reason I don't like it. My Mastiff is considerably bigger than my Lab. My Lab can't hold up 200lb of my Mastiff's body weight and I worry about injury to my Lab. My Lab doesn't hump at all...I don't know if its because he's neutered or because he can't "reach" my Mastiff to hump...lol...but regardless, whenever my Mastiff starts to hump, he's immediately interrupted and redirected to something else. It's very few and far between that he even tries it now...

And finally about the neutering, all of that is really just based on personal opinion of who you believe to be "right" in the debate. Some don't see any harm in neutering a younger dog and some prefer to wait until the dog is at physical maturity. Personally, I prefer to wait. My Lab wasn't neutered until he was 19 months old and my Mastiff, at 2 years, is still intact and we have no immediate plan to have him neutered. He probably will be in the future but when I don't know.

 

[wkusigep460]

As for marking to get a treat...I'm a little confused. Does he get a treat for every single time he eliminates even if its multiple times (thus getting multiple treats in one outing) or does he get a treat only once for going outside? If he is still in the process of being house trained, he only really needs ONE treat for each trip outside. If he is housetrained, then it would be fine to give the treats intermittently.

Every time Cooper sits by the door, we let him outside and say, "Go potty." When he returns, he gets a treat (if he actually eliminated, because sometimes I think he just sits by the door because he likes being outside). However, he's been sitting by the door quite frequently, and now he sometimes eliminates a good amount, others just a little. I'm not sure if he just wants to go outside, he wants to mark, he wants a treat, or a combo of all three. Nonetheless, we're going to try treating intermittently to see if it helps. He holds it through the night too.

As far as the humping goes, I think I will try to stop him every time he mounts, and reward him with a treat/praise about 10 seconds after he dismounts.

 

[Mdawn]

Every time Cooper sits by the door, we let him outside and say, "Go potty." When he returns, he gets a treat (if he actually eliminated, because sometimes I think he just sits by the door because he likes being outside). However, he's been sitting by the door quite frequently, and now he sometimes eliminates a good amount, others just a little. I'm not sure if he just wants to go outside, he wants to mark, he wants a treat, or a combo of all three. Nonetheless, we're going to try treating intermittently to see if it helps. He holds it through the night too.

As far as the humping goes, I think I will try to stop him every time he mounts, and reward him with a treat/praise about 10 seconds after he dismounts.

It could be that he just wants to go outside more and play, with the weather getting nicer...but a good rule of advice is if your concerned about his urination habits a vet check may be needed to at least rule out an UTI. My dogs have had them before and so have I...so I KNOW how painful they can be. I'm not saying that he DOES have one...its just something to consider...and look out for if your plan of action isn't working.

Treating intermittently is a good idea, IMO...because eventually you can start phasing the treats out all together. Like, I said, neither of mine get treats for using the bathroom outside anymore. I didn't even use treats that heavily anyway even when house training them...only until they were pretty reliable about letting me know they needed to go.

Also, IMO, 10 seconds may be too long to wait to treat when your first correcting him. If it were me, I'd treat as soon as all 4 paws hit the ground first...and build it up from there. Thinking back, I'd didn't use treat either when getting my Mastiff to stop (I didn't realize I was so tightfisted with the treats...lol) but it was just a simple interrupt and redirect to something else.

 

[hulkamaniac]

The jury seems to be out on early s/n. You're certainly not doing him any harm by waiting until he's fully grown. You just have to be extra careful about keeping him under your control at all times.

 

[peppy264]

Remember the first question is Should I neuter? Do your research. Don't just mindlessly go neuter your dog because everyone else is doing it or the local humane society (who is concerned with population control, not what is best for YOUR dog) recommends it. For some dogs it is necessary (e.g. not well contained, may escape and cause a pregnancy) and for many it is a totally unnecessary operation.

 

[alphadoginthehouse]

Remember the first question is Should I neuter? Do your research. Don't just mindlessly go neuter your dog because everyone else is doing it or the local humane society (who is concerned with population control, not what is best for YOUR dog) recommends it. For some dogs it is necessary (e.g. not well contained, may escape and cause a pregnancy) and for many it is a totally unnecessary operation.

No, it's WHEN not IF. But then you know how the majority of the members on here feel about it so I won't belabor the point.

 

[peppy264]

Sometimes the voices of the minority speak with more logic than those of the majority.

http://www.dogforums.com/2-general-dog-forum/50525-leaving-male-intact.html