Our Remington just turned 5 months old. My wife and I have noticed for the past few weeks the "puppy back talk" has increased. He will give us the "arooroorooo" bark. It can be when he is standing or when his rear end is up in the air and his head is down. The later is clearly in the playful mood. We typically will turn our backs and walk away to demonstrate we will not give in to his demands. He will typically stop. However, recently he have noticed some aggression with the back talk. He will bite clothing and latch on even when we give the "leave it" command (which he has about a 50% success rate with that specific command). So when we walk away, he gets dragged along. This causes damage to our clothing and I can't imagine being good for his teething mouth. He will even clamp down (softly) on our hand and arms while back talking. It is at this time, that he feels he has control over us and proceeds to hump. His dew claws were removed by the breeder, but his grip is getting stronger and stronger. My wife has trouble getting him off her at times. When this happens and I am unable to assist removing Remington off her, she sometimes lets him do his thing for 10-30 seconds. There is no contact....it is more of air humping while he grabs on with his arms, but when he feels he is done, he will walk away and the back talk stops and he is totally calm. It's like he just had to do that and get it out of his system and then he is fine. Is now the time to get him neutered? His testicles have not dropped yet, but he does have the distinct sign that he has some discharge. I realize having him neutered will not cure humping and/or aggression, but this tantrum like behavior seems sexually driven. On the other hand, he is in the prime teething stage. He has lost a tooth/teeth for the past 4 days straight. Could his teething discomfort be to blame? We give him plenty of toys to chew on. What do you think? Has anyone else experienced the behavior I described?
I think you a misintrrpretating a lot of your pups normal 5 month behaviours. I have not neutered any of my male dogs but have trained and distracted them through the this stage. Neutering before full growth has been achieved can lead to joint problems. I would read the pros and cons section on the site. I definitely would not chop his balls off before 2 if at all. I have not found it necessary. Getting rid of his testosterone will not help with this it may even make him worse. His teething will definately he making him feel silly. It hurts.
He is just inviting you to play. Not 'demanding' anything. This is not aggression, he is playing with you. You have ignored him and he doesn't like that and wants your attention. He is just over-excited and humping is one behaviour which is hard-wired into a dog genetically to perform when they are excited. It is not even sexual. It is often done when a dog can't calm themselves down and needs an outlet for their feelings. No, never is the time to get him neutered: https://www.avidog.com/research-on-the-effects-of-spaying-and-neutering/ Actually, it's not sexually driven and research shows that neutering INCREASES humping behaviour in dogs. You don't say what training you're doing with your dog; whether you play tug with your dog on a daily basis; what types of interactions you're having etc etc.... But really it sounds like your dog has typical energy and drive for a young labrador, and not sufficient outlets for it. He has to find or make his own outlets because you're not engaging with him, and one outlet, is humping. Humping is well known to be a self-soothing behaviour - hence why you've noticed he is much calmer after having done this. The more this happens, the more humping will be the way he self-soothes when he finds himself in this state.... But far better for you to teach your dog to manage his emotions in the first place and not to get so over-excited or have no other options, than humping....
I would be concerned about any male whose testicles haven't descended by the time they are 5 months old. Generally they have descended by the time pup is 12 weeks old. If his testicles haven't descended you should have a vet check as to wghere the testicles actually are as sometimes they are too high and require surgery before they cause health problems.
You would not need to remove retained testicles until a puppy is at least 18 months old. Source: Prof Gary England: Dog Breeding, Whelping and Puppy Care p.186 "surgical removal of the abdominal testis is not necessary until 18 months of age, as neoplastic changes are unlikely before this time". Even then, you only need to remove the retained testicle, not both. p 185: "as cryptorchid dogs get older, the chance of normal descent becomes more remote; it is very rare after 1 year of age". So - there is still a reasonable possibility up till the age of 1yo, but even after that the dog can remain intact and benefit from the testosterone until 18 months without needing surgery. At 18 months, if one is still retained, then that one needs to come out - but they don't both need to. I know of several dogs now which have had only the retained testicle removed. They can then still benefit from the testosterone produced by the other testicle and can maintain normal testosterone levels.
this is what I told the vet when we went with Kyko his face was something else when I said oh well if it doesn't drop he can have that one taken away only! Back in 3 weeks to see if his has dropped yet, looks more symmetrical to me, but not really sure how to feel them myself. Hoping my usual vet is working when we go back, as he has taken care of all my animals & I know he listens to me & what I think is best
