When to neuter and reasons why

[lexxicakes]

My Bentley is 17 weeks old and I caught him humping for the first time last night. It was heart breaking, my little baby is growing way too fast. My husband and mother in law (whom we live with currently) strongly believe we should get him neutered and keep bringing up the subject. I would like to wait until he is a year old, but they think the sooner the better.

Is it true that the humping would have never started if we would have gotten him neutered before this behavior started? I mean I've only seem him do it once to my pillow pet, (I think he has always tried to dominate it because its bigger than him) but I didnt see what he was doing but i thought for a second he might be humping, so i layed down again waited for him to start and sure enough he was. I quickly stopped him and put the pillow away in the closet.

My husband and MIL also beleive that his constant chewing and biting is because he isn't neutered. He doesn't BITE bite, he just playfully bites when he is playing with us but when I firmly tell him no and quickly remove my hand he will stop completely. Husband on the other hand will push him away, but he will continue, I think because bentley thinks that my hubby is still playing with him. Bentley also likes to sit and lay on my husbands chest while is laying down, husband and MIL beleive this is because Bentley is trying to dominate him. To me, HE IS ONLY CUDDLING, he wants to be near us and will therefore sit or lay on or next to us.

He also is not potty trained and likes to pee on the rugs. We lay several pee pads around the house so he has a place to go no matter where he is, but he still chooses to pee on the carpet or rugs. In my opinion the blame is on us because we do not enforce this with him. He has free roam of the house now so we don't always have an eye on him at every moment of the day. He also like to go in private, so when he does go, he'll always sneak off. and sneaking is something he is very good at haha ... He will poop on or near the pads, but never pees on them. I know this needs to be better enforced and am working on it.

Hubby also thinks he should start going to the bathroom outside, but first off, we only have rock landscape no grass at all, it is also gated in, not brick wall, so he could easily slip through the gate being curious at whos walking past. Another thing is that there are coyotes that come out at night, not only am I worried about him being EATEN (theres already 2 small dogs, 1 of them, a yorkie missing in our neighborhood) shortly after they went missing, the home owners association made calls to every house warning us about the coyotes and small pets. I'm also concerned about the diseases that the coyotes carry in their feces and urine, and Bentley still has another round of shots to go before he's complete.

We plan on buying our own house within the next 6 months, which would solve many problems but I just wanted some advice. I beleive the biting, and rambunctiousness is because he is a PUPPY, not because he has yet to be neutered. Failure to be potty trained is definitely our fault, not because he isn't neutered.

Will neutering stop the humping? Will it calm him down or will his behaviour continue as is?

[dawn27]

Most vets will suggest neutering at 6 months here in my town. I have heard of some doing it sooner. I believe in neutering the sooner the better for two reasons: 1. He will begin to mark his territory in the house. The pee that they mark with is much stronger that reg pee to relieve them selves. 2. If there is a female in heat near by he will want to run off to find her. That can be a dangerous situation.

You are right that the sleeping on your husbands chest in my opinion is just cuddling. And when your husband is pushing him away he thinks that it is play time. Stop the unwanted behavior right away, with no hesitating. Be consistent with the discipline and reward the good behavior.

You are right to be worried about him being eaten or falling, I would be! But..Yes, start potty training him to go out side! Do whatever needs to be done to secure the bottom the you fence and never, never leave him unattended. If you are potty training you should be out side with him any ways...if not who will praise him when he does a good job? Now for some advise about the pee pads that you have in different areas of the house. You are pretty much giving him permission to pee anywhere he wants. My suggestion would to start cage training him ASAP. Only keep the pee pads by the door that you routinely take him in and out of to go pee. I swear by cage training..I have trained all of my dogs including the four Yorkies that I have using the technique.

Please research YT forum an find similar threads and post on potty training for help and feel free to read my page on training tip on my site. http://dawnsyorkies.piczo.com/?g=33521666

[Mardelin]

Originally Posted by lexxicakes

My Bentley is 17 weeks old and I caught him humping for the first time last night. It was heart breaking, my little baby is growing way too fast. My husband and mother in law (whom we live with currently) strongly believe we should get him neutered and keep bringing up the subject. I would like to wait until he is a year old, but they think the sooner the better.

Is it true that the humping would have never started if we would have gotten him neutered before this behavior started? I mean I've only seem him do it once to my pillow pet, (I think he has always tried to dominate it because its bigger than him) but I didnt see what he was doing but i thought for a second he might be humping, so i layed down again waited for him to start and sure enough he was. I quickly stopped him and put the pillow away in the closet.

My husband and MIL also beleive that his constant chewing and biting is because he isn't neutered. He doesn't BITE bite, he just playfully bites when he is playing with us but when I firmly tell him no and quickly remove my hand he will stop completely. Husband on the other hand will push him away, but he will continue, I think because bentley thinks that my hubby is still playing with him. Bentley also likes to sit and lay on my husbands chest while is laying down, husband and MIL beleive this is because Bentley is trying to dominate him. To me, HE IS ONLY CUDDLING, he wants to be near us and will therefore sit or lay on or next to us.

He also is not potty trained and likes to pee on the rugs. We lay several pee pads around the house so he has a place to go no matter where he is, but he still chooses to pee on the carpet or rugs. In my opinion the blame is on us because we do not enforce this with him. He has free roam of the house now so we don't always have an eye on him at every moment of the day. He also like to go in private, so when he does go, he'll always sneak off. and sneaking is something he is very good at haha ... He will poop on or near the pads, but never pees on them. I know this needs to be better enforced and am working on it.

Hubby also thinks he should start going to the bathroom outside, but first off, we only have rock landscape no grass at all, it is also gated in, not brick wall, so he could easily slip through the gate being curious at whos walking past. Another thing is that there are coyotes that come out at night, not only am I worried about him being EATEN (theres already 2 small dogs, 1 of them, a yorkie missing in our neighborhood) shortly after they went missing, the home owners association made calls to every house warning us about the coyotes and small pets. I'm also concerned about the diseases that the coyotes carry in their feces and urine, and Bentley still has another round of shots to go before he's complete.

We plan on buying our own house within the next 6 months, which would solve many problems but I just wanted some advice. I beleive the biting, and rambunctiousness is because he is a PUPPY, not because he has yet to be neutered. Failure to be potty trained is definitely our fault, not because he isn't neutered.

Will neutering stop the humping? Will it calm him down or will his behaviour continue as is?

Humping at this young age is not a hormonal thing...It's much the same as a young baby discovering it's toes. The one thing you need to check if is the pups testes have dropped and seated. If the haven't the humping behavior assists in getting them to do so. Nothing worse having the testes having to be removed surgically....a little bit longer healing time and of course he'll have to be cut open. You don't want to schedule his nueter until his testes have dropped and seated themselves.

Another thing you may want to consider is not nuetering until he's dropped all puppy teeth he's going to drop. That way you can have any retained teeth removed at the same time as having him nuetered. Therefore undergoing one anesthetic process.

In addition you do not want him nuetered too young; interferring with his growth process...in other words, not until his growth plates have closes...Discuss this with your vet.

Your husband is incorrect about his constant chewing and biting being because of his not being nuetered. Your pup is teething; his mouth hurts. May I ask how old your pup was when you brought him home?

I prefer my dogs to be piddle pad trained first...For a couple of reasons; weather and of course it makes it easier traveling with your dogs if you have to stay in hotel rooms....PeePads can go down anywhere. By the way don't expect miracles with your pup until approximately 6 months of age....he's growing and everything hurts.

[kjc]

My neutered 14 Year old still humps... I'm thrilled he still has it in him! (I do humpy interuptus when we have company though!)


And I totally agree with Mardelin.

[Britster]

No, I don't think a 16 week old should be neutered. I like to wait for the growth plates to close before neutering. I got Jackson fixed at 7 months old and I personally believe that's a pretty good age for a small dog. If I had a large breed, I'd probably wait for as long as I could. I strongly believe in neutering but I also don't agree with early spay/neuters.

I do think neutering earlier helps prevent marking issues. But I don't personally think your pup is 'marking' -- it sounds like he's simply not potty trained. He never will be potty trained if he's continued to be given free roam of the house, either. It's very important to ALWAYS keep your eye on him and keep him locked in a crate or an expen if your eyes cannot be on him like a hawk. Case in point: my dads female JRT mix was never properly potty trained and allowed free roam WAY too soon and she is now almost 4yrs old and has an accident every day almost. It's a pain the butt! Now they have just gotten to a point where they are lazy with her and it doesn't even seem worth it to start all over again (I personally would, though... lol. My dad is just lazy).

I'm with you -- the biting and rambunctiousness are all part of just being a pup! That changes with age and just maturing.

[gemy]

I don't believe in early neutering and at 16wks that is way too young. I would wait until growth plates closed, (speak to your vet about when that is), but also do some research on toy breeds to find out the latest opinions on plate closures. I have heard a number of different months; remember not all lines mature at the same pace, so it would be natural to vary.

In terms of the biting, or shall I say nibbling, you can substitute a good chew toy for your finger, or just remove your hand, stop the playing, if he is on your lap or couch put him on the floor, etc.

Lots of good threads on potty training in the training section, so have a browse through there.

Enjoy your pup

[lexxicakes]

We tried crate training him when we first got him (8 weeks, yes I know now that this is too early to be away from his furmomma) however when we put him in there he would cry and bark and yelp for hours to the point where his stomach would fill up with air. I tried only taking him out when he was quiet and rewarding him but he still would yelp forever. I didn't think his stomach filling up with air was a good thing so I quit trying. It was also hard to listen to a barking puppy through out the house for hours...

Is it too late to try again? Any tips?

Would keeping him confined to just one room be just as effective? He does well as far as barking and crying goes while were gone because we do confine him to just our room for his safety while were away. He stops barking after he knows were gone and he has his choice of laying on the bed, floor or just playing..

I'm just worried he is going to some how hurt himself by barking for so long... Exhausting himself, or being unable to breathe cause he was just barking for so long.

[Mardelin]

Originally Posted by lexxicakes

We tried crate training him when we first got him (8 weeks, yes I know now that this is too early to be away from his furmomma) however when we put him in there he would cry and bark and yelp for hours to the point where his stomach would fill up with air. I tried only taking him out when he was quiet and rewarding him but he still would yelp forever. I didn't think his stomach filling up with air was a good thing so I quit trying. It was also hard to listen to a barking puppy through out the house for hours...

Is it too late to try again? Any tips?

Would keeping him confined to just one room be just as effective? He does well as far as barking and crying goes while were gone because we do confine him to just our room for his safety while were away. He stops barking after he knows were gone and he has his choice of laying on the bed, floor or just playing..

I'm just worried he is going to some how hurt himself by barking for so long... Exhausting himself, or being unable to breathe cause he was just barking for so long.

I believe you should try x-pen training him...I hate crate training since it should be a place that they love going too....

In other words you should keep him in a confined area....x-pen with bed, pee-pad, water and food and toys. Only take him out when you can watch him 100% of the time. You would never bring an infant home from the house and place it in the middle of the floor and say ok kid this is your home. Same thing with a pup....it's an infant it has to have boundaries and gain the right to have free roam....

Eight weeks of age was way too young away from his momma...he had no time to get trained or socialized. That is another contribution to his biting....

[dawn27]

Originally Posted by lexxicakes

We tried crate training him when we first got him (8 weeks, yes I know now that this is too early to be away from his furmomma) however when we put him in there he would cry and bark and yelp for hours to the point where his stomach would fill up with air. I tried only taking him out when he was quiet and rewarding him but he still would yelp forever. I didn't think his stomach filling up with air was a good thing so I quit trying. It was also hard to listen to a barking puppy through out the house for hours...

Is it too late to try again? Any tips?

No, I do not think that it would be too late to try again. Whether you choose to crate or pen train. Something should be done to limit his roaming free. When I crate train I always made sure the the cage was in the main area of the house as the family. It should not be put somewhere where he would be secluded form the family. They tend to bark/cry much longer than what they would normally do.

There is another training technique called in house leash training you may want to look into. Which is keeping him on a leash in the house so that you have full view of him and his actions at all times. You just tether the lead to you hip. It is a good way to get him use to being on a leash while training him at the same time. I have used this technique when I have had trouble with my pups potty/chewing issues among others.


Would keeping him confined to just one room be just as effective? He does well as far as barking and crying goes while were gone because we do confine him to just our room for his safety while were away. He stops barking after he knows were gone and he has his choice of laying on the bed, floor or just playing..

I'm just worried he is going to some how hurt himself by barking for so long... Exhausting himself, or being unable to breathe cause he was just barking for so long.

Good Luck in what ever decision you make.

[Louies Mom]

My dog, Louie, just turned 6 months and is getting neutered on Friday. My husband doesn't think I should, but I want to do it before he starts marking his territory everywhere. I think 17 weeks is WAY TOO YOUNG!!!!

Be patient about the potty training. Mine is trained to go outside (doggy door) and he has only been "officially" potty trained for the past few weeks. I must say that I was a proud momma once he went a few days without having an accident in the house. You don't want to confuse him, and my biggest issue was all the rain we got. Louie doesn't like the rain, so he wouldn't go outside.

My husband also plays rough with Louie, but it hasn't caused any issues. He is really gentle with me. Somehow he figured out that it is not appropriate to play rough all the time. Give your baby time; he will figure things out.

[DvlshAngel985]

I pretty much agree with everything Mardelin said about everything. If humping behavior is really bothering the family, distract him with something else. A toy, a treat for a well performed trick, you get he idea.