8 month old Puppy Peeing on other dogs

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He’s 8-MO, he’s in the midst of the testosterone flood leading to the massive peak of androgen secretion IN HIS LIFETIME; he’s secreting 5 to 7 TIMES the amount of testosterone, which would be found in the bloodstream of a 12 to 15-MO intact, male dog.

My suggestion is to neuter him immediately.
It will virtually halt inappropriate marking / leg-lifting instantly.

If anyone wants to claim this will “undermine his confidence”, I will state for the record that not one anxious dog, M or F, in all my over-40-years of dog-training, has ever “gotten worse” after neutering / castration.
If they were bold & curious, B4, they were bold & curious, after; if they were shy & shrinking, B4, they were shy & shrinking, after. No better, no worse; same dog, same personality, but with the sexually-fueled behaviors turned down to a mutter.


I have specialized in B-Mod since 1985, so I have had any number of shy, anxious, undersocialized, & outright neurotic dogs as clients’ dogs, & as pro bono cases from shelters or rescues, who needed B-mod before they could be listed as adoptable / available.

Some had been actively abused by past owners or by vicious strangers; some were born timid, with genes from shy parents or grandparents. Some were feral, & as terrified of humans as any wild animal would be.

Every one of them was desexed, M or F, of whatever age, often while I was working to make them adoptable, and ALL OF THEM improved behaviorally, & went on to become not only adoptable, but wonderful pets within the normal spectrum.
(A few of the neurotic ones needed anti-anxiety meds, but they needed them prior to their desex surgery, not only “after” - it was their crippling psychological problems that required Rx meds to treat, not the removal of their gonads. )

He’s awash in androgens, & sexually fueled behaviors in male dogs are often pretty obnoxious during the super-male phase. :shrug: All his hormonally driven actions are turned up in frequency, intensity, & fluency - less prompting is needed to bring ‘em on, such as the mere presence of a F puppy under 3-MO might prompt him to mount her, even tho she’s obviously not in estrus, nor even entering puberty, yet.

Since he’s anxious, U won’t want to use him as a sire, in any case; timidity & aggro are both highly heritable, & the sooner he’s snipped, the better.

- terry

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He can be both - anxious as his usual self, AND highly sexually driven, as a direct result of the stage he’s in. One does not prevent the other.

Sexual behavior isn’t “aggression” as such, it is hormonally-fueled behavior with procreation as a goal.

That doesn’t mean sex cannot BE extremely aggressive- mallard ducks in the wild are notorious for rape, which is often a gang activity, in which the duck actually dies; drakes fighting to mount her will pile onto her, shoving & stabbing at one another, & on land, she is smothered by the weight of their bodies; on water, she drowns. It happens every year.
Monk seals are critically endangered, & females are rare & precious - yet males frequently kill them, while mating.

Ppl on psychoactive meds are often shocked & depressed to discover that their Rx affects their libido, sharply reducing desire, which has serious impacts on their spouse or partners, & their own sense of self-worth.
But dogs do not fantasize, as humans do; they do not judge themselves on their body image, the size of their penis or their breasts, worry about their neighbors’ opinions about their trophy wife or the model & make of the car they bought...
Nor do dogs marry, nor form monogamous pair-bonds, as do wolves in the wild; dogs are willing to mate with any available opp sex dog, & neutering them does not cause k9-depression, suicidal impulses, loss of appetite, irritability, a flat affect, etc.

Neutering is simple, safe, & an effective way to quickly reduce sexually driven, hormonal behaviors.
As he is already 8-MO, his long bones are closed - no one can say it will make him grow “too tall”, LOL. — especially as research found that brothers from the same litter, measured at 2-YO, one neutered by or before 6-mos, the other intact, varied in height no more than variation caused by sexual reproduction.

This whole idea that “neutering causes timidity” only showed up about 4 years ago, as an unsubstantiated old husbands’ tale, on another UK forum. // In the USA, progressive shelters began pediatric desex of pups & kittens in 1972, & “pediatric” means they are neutered by or before 12-WO / 3-MO, in order to allow them to be adopted.
By the early 1980s, pediatric desex was S.O.P. in most urban municipal shelters, here; by the mid-80s, even small-town shelters would S/N pups & kits before releasing them to adopters. None of these millions and millions of pets have become hopelessly cringing shrinking violets, post neuter.

I have yet to see any published research to support the allegation that removing testes somehow also “removes” confidence, & IMO and across 40-plus years as a trainer, it’s unsubstantiated poppycock. :shrug:
Fully 2/3 of my group training classes in Va Beach were dogs who’d been desexed as pups, in a shelter or by a rescue, & they did fine - both Ms & Fs.


- terry

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Do take care when considering early castration/spaying.

Please read this article, and scroll down to "Neutered pets are better behaved, and early neutered ones even better still,- NOT SO

Neutering Your Dog – Making an Informed Decision

 

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Re training classes -
will the instructor provide sight-barriers if U ask, such as 8-ft long folding tables U could work behind, which block his view of the other dogs, & their views of him?

Or is the area large-enuf to work with him well away from any other dog, so that U can hear the instructor, but are basically working solo, at a distance where he doesn’t react?

If he is visually reactive (& most dogs are), wearing a Calming Cap may help a lot - it is a light mesh fabric that makes anything not directly beside or before him, out of focus & fuzzy.
Worn like fabric goggles, a Cap weighs almost nothing, & dogs quickly habituate to them.

Like anything else, a Cap is introduced at home, as a happy thing, pairing all curious approach or interaction with small high-quality tidbits (steps toward, sniffs, nose touch, etc...),
then U hold it for THE DOG to put their own FACE into the elastic end, reward that, then they shove their nose in & U buckle it on very briefly / reward, remove,... then they push their face in, *wear it very briefly* with multiple treats as a jackpot during the wearing, then U take it off.
Let them think about that for the rest of the day, & sleep on it that night; bring it out next day, & they should instantly look interested & approach to push their face into it, for a treat. Bingo! -
They are ready to slip it on for a brief wearing, indoors, while the house is calm or at least, normal. 2 or 3 brief wearings that day, at least one during a meal, & by the next day, they should be ready for a SHORT on-leash walk outside, while wearing the Cap.

It may take 4 to 7 days to get him comfy wearing the Cap on walks around the neighborhood, then adding it to his wardrobe for training class, but IME it’s time well-spent. The loss of visual acuity usually reduces reactivity quite a bit, without stress to the dog, & makes B-mod much easier.

I would also MUTE HIS TAGS - other dogs can hear him coming a mile off, as he can also hear them, b/c the jingle of tags is so distinctive & will alert them to scan for another dog.
All behavior is a conversation, he reacts to them, they react to him, he acts to their reaction... nip it in the bud, & silence his tags with a tag-bag made for purpose, or a wide rubber band, or several wraps of masking tape.


- terry

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