My boy Hendrix is approaching a year and 4 months old this Friday (time flies!). He is very sweet natured, very excitable and boisterous at times.. So a standard lab! But for quite a while now we have had an issue with him mounting other dogs on walks. Of course it is always something I have strongly discouraged and told him off for doing, but that does not seem to phase him once the idea is in his mind. I appreciate there's a chance it could partly be a recall problem, I have tried every recall book out there and whilst he is perfect when other dogs aren't around, he isn't quite as good when other dogs are very close by as his sheer excitement takes over. We live in a city and in order for him to get the off lead exercise that he needs, the local park and beach are our choices, but they are both filled with other dogs. So whilst he is off lead I'm scanning the surroundings like a hawk in case another dog appears, so I can pop him back on the lead! It can be really quite stressful, especially if I don't react quickly enough. Of course I understand if he mounts someone's dog it can be distressing for them or their dog, but I'm always there putting a stop to it as soon as I can and apologising. One woman threatened to sue me for assault (side note - Please don't assume if a dog mounts your dog that they are overall badly trained, I have put so much time and effort into Hendrix's behaviour and development). So back to my point, walking him off leash is becoming something I dread some days, obviously some people think I'm being stupid and that neutering will be the quick fix. I've been reading up for months and since he's almost a year and a half would like to decide soon on whether it's for us or not. From what I can see there is no sure way to tell how neutering will change your dog? But I would like to hear from people who have had their dog neutered and if they changed in any way. Also anyone who had a dog that mounted other dogs a lot, did you manage to stop it? If so how please! He mounts dogs of both genders (so maybe it isn't hormonal?!), never people. We even tried to have a training session with a friends dog, but no matter how many times he was told off and put back on the lead he still tried to mount.
I got Stanley neutered when he was 1. It was for daycare purposes, I managed to get them agree to older than 6 months but couldn't push it any further and unfortunately I need them. He was a mounter - not dead bad and you could generally call him off, but it was a bit embarrassing. Since we had him neutered, he hasn't mounted a single dog. It could be coincidence that he stopped around the same time, I'm unsure. He also stopped marking as much on walks. Apart from that his behaviour didn't change at all which we were really pleased about. We'd read horror stories of it making them nervous or their personalities changing, but he's still the same as always
Have you considered a chemical neutering to see if it makes any difference? Suprelorin is the one I've heard of. You can search on that keyword on this forum to read the posts. If it works, then you can decide if permanent neutering is for your dog. If it makes not difference, then you know permanent neutering isn't for your dog. My boy is 5.5 years old. He's intact. He went through a wild time of mounting when he was younger, he was very excitable and boisterous. It has tapered off with age. But like you I keep an eye on him lest he tries to mount another dog. He gets mounted as well - I don't make a fuss if it's an excitable dog cos I know it means no harm, and it's why my dog mounts, too. My boy couldn't care less if a dog mounts him under these circumstances, he just stands and waits it out. If the dog is aggressive - thankfully very seldom - then he will stiffen and growl and I step in to pull the dog off - thankfully no fights have ever occurred.
Hi @Georgie! It does sound very much like you have a very normal..albeit excitable young lab, and boy do I know how tough that is! One thing I hope you don't mind me asking, is around your training strategy. I completely get that you have undertaken a fair bit, however he still young, and it is going to take time and patience. It does sound like he gets way over his arousal threshold..and only training will help with this. Sexual driven behaviours are more in line with intense distraction, like sniffing for example. Maybe neutering will help a little, but you will still have to address recall and over excitability. Telling a dog off doesn't actually help teach the dog anything, only causes confusion and anxiety. The risk in the scenario you have described with your friends dog (obviously I wasn't there, so please feel free to correct me! ) is that you can inadvertently cause frustration and increase arousal because he has not be able to interact with the other dog, he gets more excited, tries to hump, gets told off, and doesn't understand what he is doing wrong. He needs to be rewarded by calmly observing the other dog, and rewarded for his calmness. LAT is a great tool to use in these circumstances. You can use the search tool here on the forum, there are lots of useful posts around training through LAT.
