Help!

My miniature Schnauzer of 15 months suddenly will not leave my 10 year old neutered sheltie alone.  He is continually sniffing and poking at her,  this has been going on for a couple of days and it is driving me mad.   When I put her in another room he is frantically pawing at the door!  The Schnauzer is unneutered as we do a bit of showing with him and up until now he has shown no (sexual) interest in the sheltie,  indeed they get on very well together.

Do you think this will pass?  The sheltie is getting very fed up with him and and so are we!!  I don't really want him neutered as we quite enjoy the bit of showing we do with him - I wondered if one of those bitch sprays would help?  It is odd that after all this time he has started this behaviour.  Would you say this is normal? Is he likely to lose interest her soon?

I would be grateful for your comments!

Have her her anal glands checked.   Quite often if there is a problem with them, it will attract the boys (or in some cases, the other girls too!).  It could be there's a bitch in season locally, but if this is the first time, it would have to be a bitch new to your area.

In any case, even a castrated male will do this - castration only prevents unwanted litters!

Yep, anal glands first and if those are fine, pop a wee sample to the vet to check for a UTI as these can cause this behaviour as well (and it may be a mild one that's not kicked in with obvious symptoms yet).

Very occasionally low thyroid can cause it too, but I wouldn't rush to test that unless it carries on for a long time and everything else is fine.

Ah,  the sheltie has recently been diagnosed with chronic kidney failure which we are managing with medication so it could be something to to with that.  She is back to the vets soon to have more tests.  Meanwhile I am now about to give her a good bath.

> Meanwhile I am now about to give her a good bath.

Would this perhaps stress her too much, given her current condition?   I'd suggest maybe a sponge down back there would be enough?  (Blanket bath!!).

Given her condition I would definitely have a urine test done for.uti

Is she on steroids at all? I know that can cause a different scent which makes some dogs smell more interesting too