So what's wrong with fixing a teenager? Ha ha, I know what you meant. When to neuter seems to be another one of those things with a lot of differing opinions. I would have waited longer for Benjamin (he's now 8 months), but need to do it now because of daycare. Now I am so glad that it is happening soon! His neutering is 2 weeks away -- 12 days, to be exact, but who's counting. My previously mellow and easygoing puppy is becoming increasingly squirrely, and it's starting to drive me nuts! He only started to lift his leg to pee about a month and a half ago. Now he not only has to stop and sniff every single tree trunk, sign post, and fire hydrant, but has to wet on at least half of them. This slows down our walks considerably, and I can no longer honestly count them as exercise for myself. At least he has never marked indoors, either at home or at work, so I am thankful for that. In addition to the marking, he just goes nuts over other dogs, which he always has to some extent, but now it's like he is quivering to get to them, and pulling on the leash all the time when we are walking around the neighborhood -- there are a lot of dogs around here! He gets so involved in sniffing just about every square inch of territory we are covering that he's in another world, and completely ignores me when I say "let's go", or "this way", when 2 months ago he was doing great with that! I am planning to continue with our training after the holidays, and take a class called "Focus and Control", as obviously we have more work to do, but I am hoping that it least part of it is hormonal, and will be fixed once he is fixed. Ha ha, maybe it's like PMS for boys.
Oh yeah, he's been humping my arm like crazy. I can redirect him to do it to his stuffed animals, but it seems like it might be better to try to calm him down, as he gets himself into a frenzy sometimes. My poor little horn dog.
I'm sure it's not helped by the fact that it's dark and rainy and he can't play outside with is puppy friends as much. I'm looking forward to making it up to him next summer!
Am I being overly optimistic by thinking that the marking and other behaviors I mentioned will decrease after he is fixed? I know we need more training either way, but it sure would be nice if some of the intensity was reduced, at least.
-- Eileen
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