Hi,

I wonder if anyone has some advice re my 11 month old un neutered male dog living with my spayed 11 year old bitch.

He seems to constantly sniff her lady bits, tries to lick her when she's having a wee, tries to sit on her head and generally just annoys her, she is very laid back and rarely tells him off.

This is my first male dog so his behaviour is very new to me and would love some advice.

I don't want to get him neutered as he's not nasty with other un neutered dogs, doesn't hump toys, legs etc and also I really don't want his coat to go woolly as I know so many of his breed that have when neutered (American cocker).

Any advice would be helpful, can I spray her with anything, will he always do it from now on or is it just a young dog thing ?

Thank you

Annee

Is this a new thing? Could your bitch have a UTI?  Could just be he's hitting teen stage and being a twit. Has he ever tried to mount her or is sitting on head his version

If it isn't a UTI I would just distract him and if she decides enough is enough let her sort him out

I agree training if you are sure she has no health problems how long has this been happening only if recent the other thing I would consider is pyo.maybe worth a vet check

Bitch is spayed or have I missed that they can still have pyo?

No, she can't have pyo.

It's a young male and occasionally female dog thing, either ignore it and he will stop or she will eventually get fed up and tell him off or you can distract him by offering to play with him or you could tell him off. My adult stud dog still lives in hope that his "wife" will become interesting again and checks her out regularly even though he must know that she doesn't smell right

I missed the spayed bit was reading about male . Uti but more than likely age and training. I wouldn't get him neutered  this early and it more than likely won't change behaviour

> No, she can't have pyo.

..... but it could, perhaps, be her anal glands!!    I have known my males to be more than usually interested if there was a problem with these glands.   Worth checking?    Otherwise I'd think this is just a phase - another thing to correct    

Another thought, it might be worth collecting some of her urine and getting it checked, especially if this is new behaviour with him.  Could be, as suggested, a UTI which is attracting him.   However,  I have a spayed bitch and an entire male (she's 7+ and he's 6+) and he always tends to dwell on where she's peed, and then over-mark (poor grass!).   He makes no attempt to mount (or sit on her face however) - respect!!   Unfortunately all too often a spayed bitch won't see off a male to the same degree an entire bitch will so you have to do the seeing-off for her.   Problem is it's never as effective as her telling him enough! is. 

ps   I doubt castration is needed and it would be a pity to put him through that if correction/prevention should stop what's going on.   It might be you have to let them out separately for a while.   More exercise for him??  A tired dog is usually easier to live with.

Certainly no harm in getting the bitch checked, but my money will be on an 11 month old ACS's hormones. Which will get better, but you also need to protect your bitch, don't allow him to pester her too much. Distract him with a training session or kong etc. I would not castrate at the moment. He needs to learn how to control himself. His testosterone won't be this high forever, just coach him through the rough patch.

Boys can be truly inappropriate bordering on unbearable at times during adolescence, it'll get better.

Hello,

Thank you all....it has started to happen more recently, as a pup he would have a little sniff but now he seems to be doing it an awful lot.

He tries to sit on her head when she's on the sofa resting sometimes almost body slamming her with his back end....yes he has tried to mount her.

I do tell him off and he does stop but then it's not long before it starts again....I'm hoping that it's just raging teenage hormones and "just a stage" that he has to go through.

Thank you for saying it will get better....that's put my mind at rest, I will get her urine checked too.

I do think it annoys me more than my bitch but as an old lady I don't want to see him pestering her.

Annee

Annee can you teach him to settle on a specific mat? Not as a punishment but as an actual settle. You may have to separate your bitch at first to teach it and introduce her after if he's really distracted by her.

Hello,

Settling him is a chore in itself he's such an excitable chap but yes, I could certainly try a mat.

One thing I also forgot to mention is that he marks an awful lot....everywhere I go, every tree, corner etc....I'm hoping that's just a youngster thing too.

He doesn't have a uti as has been checked.

He managed to get upstairs last week, found a toilet roll to play with and in the excitement peed against my wall and on the carpets....never done that in the house before.

And I thought boys were supposed to be easier than girls....it's a learning curve that's for sure

Annee

Clicker train the settling on a mat, bet he'll love it. There's probably lots on YouTube if you search for it. I've quickly found one, not watched it but Kikopup is very good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEx_KdF4p8M&feature=share

In my experience.... Boys are much easier! But adolescence is a trying time. The marking will be normal for his age, he will probably still mark when older, ours do, outside I mean, but they don't feel the need to do it on every vertical object. My youngest boy has all sorts of naughty marks on his record; a cocker spaniel's forehead, a mini schnauzer's forehead, a couple of trouser legs, the middle of a training hall....! It does get better. They can be horrible.

My boy marks outside but never indoors.  He seems to have a penchant for male cavaliers!  Especially if they have a coat on!
His favourite friend is another Cocker girl spayed and never once tried to mount her or over sniff.  Luckily legs haven't been a target☺

Just a little warning spayed bitches can suffer from something called stump pyo. If a little of the tissue is left it can happen, rare but possible so always worth considering.

:- Most dogs and cats that are spayed early in life will not develop pyometra. However, a uterine stump pyometra may occur after incomplete ovariohysterectomy which allows a segment of the uterine body or horn to become infected. Typically, either a portion of the ovarian tissue is still present or the animal has been subjected to progestational hormones to allow this situation to develop.

I'd like to come in on this post as I am considering the same with mine.
14month old toy poodle boy and 8year old spayed girl who does tell him off but I feel is becoming quite stressed by constant humping efforts.
He paws, and chews (gently) but she sits behind pots in the garden and has started to pull lumps of her hair hair out now and I do blame his constant attention.
I had a male before who I don't recall being such a pest but he was the elder.

Karen

Are there any other indicators apart from unwanted attention? My girl walks off lead and comes into contact with a lot of dogs and has never really had any problems.
Coincidentally yesterday I met a lady with a 6 year old intact cocker who was 'interested'. The lady said he was humpy with her whenever  attention was diverted from him, phone ringing, doorbell going that sort of thing!
Karen

There may also be an element of dominance in the behaviour of sitting on her head and body slamming her, it's rather a shame she won't tell him off but some bitches are very tolerant, my spayed alpha bitch only has to look in the direction of the stud dog to have him walk away, it's quite funny as when she wants to play he always looks worried as she is quite rough with him and he daren't answer back!

I really wish she'd tell him off and yes, I agree he's being dominant to her by slamming into her etc.

If she does have a go sometimes he's had a go back at her resulting in a bit of a scrap and I've stepped in....I know I'm not to step in but he's getting older and stronger and she's getting older and weaker.

She's such a laid back lady and she'll not change, I guess I just have to keep telling him not to do it and hope that he will stop one day.

Annee

Dogs have 2 sex hormone surges, one around 6 months & a bigger one around 12 to 15 months. This is nothing to do with "dominance" just hormones, very much like teenagers. He is just being a young dog with excess testosterone floating around. Distraction & removing him(not the bitch)from the situation, teaches him to associate the behaviour with being removed from the object of his desires.

> I know I'm not to step in but he's getting older and stronger and she's getting older and weaker.

You do need to step in.  Forget anything about 'leaving them to sort it out' - IME that doesn't end well in situations like this.  He has no manners, he sounds like a bully as well, so you need to be stepping in every time, distracting him and rewarding him for coming away.  Try to intervene before he's made contact - watch out for him getting ready to barge her or pester her and distract him then.  Get him in the habit of not following through on his intentions, and make coming away from her a very rewarding thing for him to do.

Hi,

I am stepping in each time and do stop it when I first see the signs, I'd never leave it for them to sort it out, as I said...she's an old lady and I won't have her bothered (even though it doesn't seem to bother her).

I saw the vet last night and he said he's just excerpting his dominance as she was top dog and now the tables are turning.

I don't think he's a bully at all.

Annee

A truly dominant dog is confident and calm: they do not need to try and assert their position through physical means.  Sitting on another dog's head and body-slamming them is extremely rude and common in bullies or at the very least, dogs with very poor manners.  He certainly sounds like the latter and as Tommee has said, is ripe for a hormone surge too which won't be helping.

Interactions that could be construed as one dog trying to gain dominance over the other also tend to happen between same-sex animals, not male to female, although it's not impossible.  But everything you've described does not make me think this is the case.

As an aside; vets are not behaviourists, and are not trained in behaviour unless they specifically choose to be, and it's not common.  Many of us here are behaviourists or at least highly experienced in dealing with interactions between dogs of various ages and temperaments.

Oh please, he's being a young dog pushing the boundaries of his acceptable behaviour. He's neither a bully nor trying to become "top dog" "alpha" "pack leader"

He is the canine equivalent of a stroppy hormonal teenager aka a "Kevin"(& my apologises to anyone called Kevin)

What will stop him is something called training a little & often & away from your bitch. You need to train him to leave, watch(give you his full attention & eye contact.), sit, stand & down etc. Clicker training is excellent for this & over the past few years I have become a complete convert. Google Kikopup on Youtube the videos are from the US but still give you the tools to push your dog to use it's brain

Thank you Tommee,

I think so too, he's not a bully and I do think it's a Kevin stage.

I do so much training with him and just completed a bronze award last night with him...he's super great at the watch me etc.

I take him out on his own after both dogs have been walked together to do even more training.

He has seen a behavourist because he could be a bit snarly with other dogs when play got rough but this has got so much better now we understand why he did this.

He is clicker trained too.

I guess I just have to wait until he grows out of it and in the meantime stop him doing what he's doing....he is very good, if I say "No" he will stop immediately.

Annee