Well those of you who remember me will recall that about a year ago I began to struggle with my eldest dog's recall. He was about 16 months at the time and began to be so incredibly distracted by other dogs that he was at times deaf to recall and generally "over much" with other dogs,. After a few months of trying and agonising I opted to get him the suprelorin implant. He was given the 6 month dose in november last year and it wore off completely (testicles back to normal size, marking behaviour back to intact male type - this started to revert in about may but took time) about 6 weeks ago. His recall improved immensely during the intervening time and has remained good so far. He is not quite as calm as he was say 3 months ago, but MUCH MUCH calmer than he was last October.

Here I am, the youngest is now 16 months old, and guess what!? He has undergone the same ridiculous change his brother did! He has become the same dog obsessed, bouncing, distracted twit his brother was.

So now I face the dilemma of whether or not to get him the implant too. Or to ride it out since it seems to have been the worst phase of adolescence in the eldest at least.

I suppose I am at least slightly comforted that the change was at the same age and of the exact same sort. It is with interest that I note that of the ten or twelve male puppies I've known since I got my eldest whose owners intended not to neuter, all but 2 have and all between 15 and 19 months.

Personally I'd just keep him on a long line until his recall is solid again rather than messing with his hormones

It is simply part of growing up, just as annoying as human teenage/young adult males.

I'm leaning towards that Jo.

When my eldest was going through it the youngest was taking cues from him (and joining in!) which of course is the hazard with 2 only 12 months apart in age. So the suprelorin really helped. But the eldest is not inclined to lower himself to his brothers nonsense at the moment.

In general do people find more exercise or less to be a good idea? On the one hand I find keeping him exercised and busy (lots of brain work at home although he's too overwrought to even take a treat outside) is good for him. On the other I'm not sure a super fit muscle machine with tons of endurance is one to combine with bouncy-distracted-hormone-fuelled circus act...