Hi,
Just wanted a bit of advice.
My 18 month old weim has recently started to have a go at other entire males which I guess is a natural thing as he too is un nuetered.
He will not come to me when this happens, and today on a walk he did the same thing to a neutered male but the other dog is not too friendly so clash of the titans it seems.
What i was wondering, should I have him neutered now, and would this stop him being aggresive to unneuterd males he may come across. He is extremely well socialised and has many doggy friends that he plays with on our daily walks, however they are all nuetered.
Also there is a 4 and a half month old staff puppy next door but I am worried how he will behave when the bitch comes into her first season, I cannot guarantee that they will have her speyed as I suggested.

>I cannot guarantee that they will have her speyed as I suggested

LOL, if you lived next door to me, you might not have liked my reply to your suggestion. In the nicest possible way, it is up to you to control your dog, not up to them to neuter their bitch for your convenience.

First and foremost, hopefully you are keeping your boy on the lead now to ensure that he doesn't get the opportunity to hurt (or scare) other dogs until you manage to increase your control?

M.

The people next door are good friends and i did not mean that they should have her speyed for my benefit but for the benefit of their bitch,any unwanted pregnancies would be a disaster.
And as you know it is not very nice for a dog with a bitch in season living in close proximity, so controlling him in these sort of conditions would be difficult.Luckily we have 8 foot fences around our gardens.
Thanks for your comments but you gave no reference to my actual post.

Actually, I did refer to your post, asking if you were keeping him on a lead to ensure that this didn't happen again, as your use of the words 'when this happens' suggest that this wasn't the first time?

M.

He will now be skeletally mature and neutering now would be fine. 

In my experience this breed is far more Male dominant than most gun dogs so his aggression is probably sexual for which castration along with more training would be useful. 

On the training front more work on attention so you can distract him from other dogs until you know they are not macho entire males also.

Try to practise relaxed vigilance as any tension on your part may make things worse.  Try to make the presence of other dogs a positive thing whilst you have him on lead, get him to do some exercise to earn a treat.

I would agree with the other poster, you have to accept that these are his problems not the fault of the other dog being entire or a bitch being entire next door.

I have owned entire bitches here for years and the neighbours entire males have always behaved and if they didn't their owners would ensure they did.  I know that a male can smell a bitch in season at a distance, but to be honest unless the dog is an experienced stud as long as they are not on the same ground that such a bitch uses are not going to be unduly affected.

This was the sort of reply on my post that i was looking for, it answered my question of sorts. I was under the impression that entire males were more prone to picking fights with each other as nuetered males are supposed to smell more like bitches after being done.
I had a reply from carrington last year when i enquired about castration
" Most of us would tell you to castrate a male after maturity depending on the breed 12 months - 3 years." That is why i have not done it yet.
Fully prepared to do some extra training if necessary.

To be honest if he is only ahving spats with dogs that invade his soace then extra trainign and vigilance may be all that is needed to get him past this stage.

On balance there are more cons than pros to getting a male dog castrated, so only do it if you wish to as the health benefits can be argued one way or another.

Having him neutered MAY change things but is no guarantee. Established behaviour may well not change, and it may be a training issue rather than hormones. Only have him neutered if you do not wish him to be entire, and do not base your decision on his behaviour. Also you mention that this has happened with entire males, and now with a neutered one, indicating more than one occasion. If my dog were "having a go" at other dogs, he would be on a lead whilst out in public, and I feel that you should keep him under more effective control.

I would also keep him on lead for his safety too, it is the worst time for him to also be attacked, testosterone is ruling him at the moment, and other dogs are also very much aware, it's a bit like some teenage boys who at this age get all macho and want to start fights, or get attacked all the time by others wishing to show their ego's off. So for other dogs and yours sake lead him immediately when you see another dog coming.  I'd personally hold off the neutering until he gets to over 2 to see whether things settle down, often they do, or you may have a dog that needs neutering only time will tell, in the meantime treat him as a timebomb his hormones will be all over the place and he is at his most untrustworthy. Better still get a long line lead so that he has freedom to move around and you can pull him in and control his recall.

Re:  The future in-season bitch next door, your 8 ft fence probably won't hold him back, my brothers GSD's could easily get over my wall if they tried and your Weimer will have a really good jump on him, if he is incited by an in-season bitch he'll get over ;-) so I would make sure you are in the garden with him when this bitch comes in. :-)

Ditto Carrington's comments ;)
(I'm saving so much typing here hon! :D )

:-D

I would just like to say that it is not always my dog that instigates these little fights, but it has only ever been with entire males apart from this instant today,but having said that the other dog today would not leave him alone where my dog just wanted to play with his ball, and he kept chasing him, the other dog was quite dominant in his behaviour towards by boy.
Also my dog does not go up to other dogs, he is uninterested in them unless they come up to him.
I also have never worried about my entire male and other bitches until I read about them on this website. I am just worrying myself that he is going to be totally unhappy with a bitch nearby.
He is very social with other dogs , I just wanted to know if the hormones were to blame, and as carrington stated "testosterone is ruling him at the moment".Surely it would not hurt to get him nuetered anyway, as i so ofter read on the website, this can prevent cancer etc.. and unwanted pregnancies.
I would have no problems with keeping him on a lead but due to health reasons i cannot walk him very far and for long enough to get rid of his endless weim energy levels, he is off lead running and chasing his ball for minimum of half an hour a time.However if this was to become a regular occurance then he would be kept on lead but that would not stop dogs coming up to him.

To be honest if a dog comes up to your dog and tries to nick off with the ball, jump on him or engage in any uninvited and unwanted activity your dog is perfectly withing his doggy rights to tell the offender where to go.  He should be able to swear extremely effectively without actually fighting.  If the other dog is so unsocialised it can not appreciate it is being told to bog off your dog may then step up to issuing a non harmful but  physically worrying looking reprimand.  But other people may not see things this way! So you do have to try to stop this behavior developing. 

However if your dog possessive to save problems developing I would suggest you take more control over the ball... use it less and as a reward to the dog offering you some other action. Do not throw it near another  dog. And do not always use a ball..change the toy, change the way you play. You own the ball rather than it being a trophy in the eyes of the dog. The reward being giving it back to you rather than possession of the ball itself.

I would just like to say that it is not always my dog that instigates these little fights
a dog can instigate a fight by giving a challenge in the form of a 'look' or by a change in body language... or simply by by strutting. Like with kids it takes two to fight.   The odds are that where you think your male started a fight he was actually challenged or enticed into it by the other male.

I think at 18 months the boys feel grown up and hormones are raging and they are ready to take on the world... so I think they can have a spell of time where you do have to be more restrictive and in control much more maybe for 6 months or so until this stage passes so I would prevent these issues showing theit head for this age span while you train the dog to be under beter level of control .

I have had this discussion on here last year on here because my boy was keep getting attacked by unneutered males and although my boy never acted aggressive first he did strut about like he was Gods gift to male-kind! and so I decided to have my dog neutered as the advice was 50/50 for and against and I had no intention to breed and he was full mature.  I haven't had any boy to boy issues with my dog since he was neutered. 

I think training though is the key with dogs and no matter how well behaved they are it is good to keep up the training and make them as interested as you can in you so that they do not respond badly to the distractions that arise.

Can you get him to do a down stay? I find if dogs come and cause a nuisance if I put my dogs in a down and we stay still the dogs either go away, or if they are recalled it makes it easier for them to respond to their owner, or if they have absolutely no recall it helps to get their  owner  embarrassed that their dog is so out of control when yours is so good. 

What an elightening reply to my post. To be quite honest with you i took Dylan out this morning in a slight state of panic, I felt that i had an agressive dog on my hands which i know is not true. I agree with you whole heartedly on your suggestions. I consider my dog to be in constant training, i do recall with the ball and without.
I do not always take the ball with us, he is not interested in other toys.I must say that he is not obsessive with his ball, if another dog comnes around while he has it he will drop it.Not at all bothered if the other dog has it, but he is just so intent on having his running time, I think that he has ADHD.(probably just the way the breed is really).
I have said that he is fully socailised with other dogs and has many doggy friends.
I must admit he is so exitable that i cannot get him to do a sit and stay let alone a down and stay, and thats at home , no chance if in the park.I cannot go to the toilet without him being with me, although i can leave him alone in the house with no problems that i know of.
The dog that he had a ruck with yesterday certainly gave my dog the 'look' and his hackles were up and i think Dylan just felt intimidated.
There has been NO actual fighting or biting just growling and snapping and a bit of chasing around with teeth bared with any of the dogs that this has happened with, it has been only about 4 dogs he has snapped at, so not as bad as people think.Just wanted to know if possibly the castaration would perhaps help taking away his need to spar with other dogs.

I woudl be a little careful as it does seem that it is other dogs starting on him.  Just occcasionally in a dog that lacks confidence castration can cause them to be picked upon as a bitch, but as yoru boy is mature thsi is less likely.  You know yoru dog best, and if he is a confident well balnced lad then if you want to castrate him.  It can take several months for any differences to be seena dn eh may ahve grown out of thsi with continued training anyway, the choice as they say is yours.

Did I post this link for you to look at the pros and cons? http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

Thanks for the link... still not sure but will just be more careful for a while with dogs that we do not know on our walks.. and see what happens over the next few months.  Training will be ongoing also.   Castration is not cheap by any means.

Hi
I think you need to try and stand back and dispassionately assess what is going on (hard when it's your dog I know!) .........on balance is he picking the fights or is he merely responding to the other dogs?  Does he give a warning or does he go straight in when he has a go?  Answers to these questions may determine what route you choose to take.  Also, some breeds are more known for male/male aggression than others and indeed within a breed sometimes certain lines have a reputation.  If you trust your breeder I would consult him/her for advice.

Finally, you need to work on teaching him to recall away from a 'stand-off' without feeling that he is losing face.  I don't know really how best to explain this but with my 4 year old entire GSP, if he is being eyeballed by another male and they are shoulder to shoulder I have a special recall whistle which signifies a jackpot treat and then use a silly voice for tons of praise as soon as he looks away from the other dog and focusses on me - continuing with the praise all the way back to me, prasing him to the gunnels.

HTH

PS  re the in-season bitch part to your question, you need to ensure that he learns to keep his testosterone under control and sorting the issue with other entire males is part of this.  Similarly, if he has any humping issues, you need to get on top of them  now.....it's all just part of teaching him how to handle himself. Good luck

In general he is a very social boy and enjoys running along with another dog by his side.He has a couple of friends that he romps and plays with,pinning each other to the floor and general rough and tumble.
He likes to meet and greet other dogs in the proper way of standing and smelling the other dog, he gets upset if he cannot greet in this manner,but will usually run off if the greeting is not forthcoming.
However I usually know within the first few seconds if the greeting is not going to go well, hackles rising, there is then a snap with the teeth and he will follow this is up chasing and snapping at the other dog unless they move away. I will then put him on the lead to avoid further confrontation.As I said he has only done this with un neutered males apart from the other day and this has only been about 6 occassions.
He is extremely stubborn and will not recall when this has happened until the initial confrontation has ended.There is one particular dog that he confronts when we meet, both dogs are aggressive towards each other and we put both dogs on the lead when we approach, we always make a point of approaching each other so that both dogs know it is unacceptable to scrap.If they have scrapped, after a couple of minutes on the lead they are ok around each other, but stay on lead.
My breeder is unavailable as she moved and left no forwarding address.
Also He has never humped anything or anyone, he may well be ok when the bitch comes into season.

Hi
A few comments that may be worth pondering based on what you wrote............

1.  You say he gets upset if he cannot greet in a particular manner.............unfortunately not all dogs are model citizens so dogs have to be able to cope with all sorts of greetings from a formal 'how do you do' to 'wotcha' to ......well, let's not go there! :-D So, how does he react when he is upset and what precisely is it that upsets him?  (BTW...until you get the problem sorted it may be best to avoid strange dogs that you are unfamiliar with whenever possible.)
2. You say you know within minutes if things are not going to go well, with hackles rising...........right, hackles can rise for reasons other than aggression - namely, nervousness and insecurity.  The next time this happens you need to focus very carefully on what happens prior to the hackles rising. Google 'Turid Rugaas' and have a look at some of her work .........it is very good at interpreting canine body language and may well give you some insights as to what is going on. 
3. You say there is one particular dog that he confronts and that you leash both dogs when you approach.  Remember that dogs will not naturally elect to meet head on if loose, so if you are leadwalking and on a collision course try and regroup and approach by coming in from an angle if possible.  Read Turid Rugaas and you will see what I am warbling on about!  :-)
4.  You say there have been six incidents todate.........I think that is probably enough to begin to show a trend and flag that something needs to be done, which I guess you acknowledge by posting on here for help. (I want to say well done for acknowledging that but think it will sound patronising, which I don't intend, so I won't!! :-D) It can be difficult to decide where to draw a line between what is bad luck, just circumstances and when there is an issue.
5.  If your breeder has gone awol, have you considered contacting the owner of the stud dog - assuming the breeder didn't own both, which of course she may!
6.  Good to hear that there are no humping issues - that was just a wildcard guess on my part!  Wrong as ever!  :-(  All you can do to prepare him is to try and pal up with people who have entire bitches and with their permission train him around them when they are pre-season.  You will often find that an experienced bitch will do some of the training for you and tell him to *** off   anyway!  :-)