Hi everyone, I had a problem with my puppy today and need some advice on whether it is anything to worry about. Ash will turn six months old in two weeks time so he is just entering adolescence. He is a lovely affectionate puppy, very well behaved and doing really well at puppy training classes. His recall is great and we have had no problems with him and other dogs. He is very gentle taking treats and is happy for me to touch his food bowl when he's eating. I work from home so I take him for long walks several times a day as we are lucky enough to live near lots of fields, so he has lots of exercise. Last week he started to cock his leg to go to pee a few times so he is definitely becoming a teenager. He has also been climbing all over the top of me if I sit on the sofa which my friend says is a dominance thing. This morning Ash met a female labX in season. The owner didn't have her dog on the lead (and was across the field) so this dog kept running over to us. Ash was off-lead playing with his best friend (a neutered Golden Retriever) but this female wouldn't leave Ash alone. She kept backing up into him encouraging him to mount her, which he did try to do several times. He became very over excited and kept licking her behind. I was worried he might actually succeed in mounting her so I popped him on the lead and he went crazy. I had to go over and ask the owner to pop her dog on the lead too, as the female still wouldn't leave us alone. The owner said her dog was almost finished her season and not to worry. She was acting as if I had been weird for mentioning it. My friend is braver than me so she told the woman to put her dog on the lead which she reluctantly did. Ash has been in a funny mood ever since and didn't have his usual morning nap. This afternoon he became very aggressive. I shooed him out of the dishwasher as he was licking the plates (as he usually does) and he growled and turned round and bit me really really hard. I immediately took him out into the garden by his collar and he was snarling and growling the whole time. 5 mins later he was acting as if nothing had happened and was wagging his tail. Earlier tonight my kids got back from Scout camp and Ash bit my 11 year old when he tried to take something off him. That has never happened before. And when Ash went on the evening walk he cocked his leg and peed on every single bush and fence the whole route, definitely scent marking. Is this aggression typical teenage hormonal behaviour or something to really worry about? And do you think it was sexual frustration from this morning? I really want to follow the breeders advice and wait until he is a couple of years old to be neutered but now I'm thinking of doing it in a couple of weeks like my vet suggested if he is going to be aggressive and bite us. Has anyone else had this dilemma?
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I really don't know the answer to this, but wouldn't be surprised if it all linked to the female in season. No responsible owner should let her female in season off the lead - especially when there are other dogs around!! It sounds like the owner doesn't understand that they are still very fertile for a few weeks after her season! Your boy might well be frustrated
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! Im afraid I can't help with advice about the aggression but my two go loopy if a bitch in season is around. I know from their behaviour if one has been walked down our lane and when next doors jack Russell (now deceased) was in season they took ages to settle even indoors so a bitch in season can definitely affect an intact male dogs behaviour even when the bitch isn't around. :-\ I don't know much about bitches in season as I've only had male dogs but we walk with my friend who has two female rottweillers. When they are in season we don't arrange to walk but we do sometimes accidentally meet. My dogs will be interested in the females for the whole of their season but the females are only receptive and could possibly stand for them during the second week. As it gets towards the end of their season they aren't interested and will tell them to get lost in no uncertain terms if they get too interested. From my experience the female that came pestering Ash, I would guess, hadn't nearly finished her season if she was seeking out a male. If that lady isn't careful she will be hearing the pitter patter of tiny paws. :
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! A stressful experience with that bitch - poor you! To be honest I'd be giving him the snip asap. The things he is doing are not 'dominance' related but just a case of a dog pleasing himself and seeing no advantage in doing what you want. I'd look up 'resource guarding' on the main site and have a read. I'd also make sure he can't get access to the dishwasher interior, if that's something he values and wants for himself. I hope you and your child are ok.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! Here is that article I was thinking of http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-dog-growling-over-food/
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! Thanks for the article link. I read that one when he was little so I've been doing that with his food from day one, adding bits in as he's eating and petting him. However, it does bring to mind a recent food issue. The vet told us Ash was a solid 25kg. She says he's not fat but told us to start to reduce Ash's food now. She said to cut it by a third two weeks ago. Ash has been hanging round the kitchen ever since and trying to steal food more than usual; even bread thrown for ducks. Maybe he is genuinely hungry and the sexual frustration was the tipping point. I'm going to ignore the vets advice and feed him more and see if that helps.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! Hi there I honestly doubt any of the issues you mention are about "sexual frustration". My family have had 3 intact dogs, I own an intact dog now, and unless a bitch in season stays in close proximity I have never noticed any change in behaviour. All the things you mention seem to be behavioural and/or training issues. Please don't ignore your vet's advice and feed your dog more than your vet recommends. Being overweight is a very bad thing for a dog. Best of luck with it.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I've checked the manufacturers booklet again tonight and it says Ash was under the recommend amount of daily food before we cut his food down. The vet admitted she didn't know about raw diets but thought the amount sounded excessive. I said he doesn't eat the amount he's supposed to anyway so she asked us to cut his food further to see how he gets on over the next few weeks. I'm now not convinced she was right. It could still be an age thing. I spoke to a friend tonight and spookily she said her dog (a spaniel) bit her the very week he started cocking his leg too. She said her dog trainer said it was just him pushing the boundaries. I have the kennel club puppy training class tomorrow night so I'm going to ask them what they think. Ash is doing really well in his classes as we put in the time every day, so I'm not sure it is a training issue. Thanks for everyone's help and all the different opinions. It could be any one of these factors or a combination. We have decided tonight to have Ash fixed anyway as I don't want to breed him.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I cannot offer any opinion about whether Ash's behavior, but what I can tell you, having just gone through it, is that adolescent Labradors are hell on 4 paws. They forget what you've taught them and become very boisterous and disobedient, just like human teenagers. What I can tell you, having fed dogs on kibble for over 20 years, is that the manufacturers vastly over estimate the amount of food needed. The recommendation for Molly at 1 year is 300 grams, I give her 220 grams. She may score a few shreds of meat off my husband but I would estimate her extras amount to no more than 40 grams per day. Kibble is very concentrated, therefore very calorific so it is very easy to overfeed. Interesting info. According to my pack of JW Turkey and Rice kibble, if I chose to give my dog a 150 grams wet food sachet as a topper I should reduce her kibble by 40 grams. Makes you realise how much water there must be in wet dog food.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! Hi there....we've only had Dexter so not a lot of dog ownership experience to draw on..all I can say is we did have one really bad encounter with a bitch in season and Dexter was really unsettled by it... that same night after we got home from the walk was the first night he jumped over the garden wall and took himself off into someone else's garden...I'm not saying you can use it as an explanation for the biting as I don't know enough ....It accelerated and consolidated our decision on neutering to be honest ......
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I'm not a huge fan of neutering, but in your case I would be seriouslyconsidering it.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I would hold off the neutering until he is at least a year old. There is a yellow lab I know who was castrated at 6 months and his long bones have grown so much he looks more like a hound. I think when he bit he was just 'chancing his arm, trying it on' which is a no no and he needs some obedience training. At the moment he thinks everything is his, so bites to keep it, teaching a swop is better than a confrontation. I don't think castration would solve the problem.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I have now spoken to dozens of people including vets and a breeder and got some fantastic advice today from a trainer. She got a stud dog in for her female but the female refused to mate. The stud owner reported her dog had ripped up his kennel with frustration that night, so the trainer thinks Ash was definitely frustrated that day. Rather than neuter her own male dogs early she left it until nine months, then she got the vet to give them an injection that lasts a month and will tell you if neutering will work in that dog to correct behaviour. If not, she advocates waiting till much older. I'd never heard of this injection and think it's fantastic. If he is still showing unwanted behaviour in a few months time I will ask for it to help decide whether to neuter at nine months or two years. Thanks everyone.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! The trainer thought that Ash biting you because you removed him from licking the dirty plates in the dishwasher was a result of sexual frustration because at 6 months he had met a bitch in season earlier in the day? Is that what she said?
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! I really believe the trainer hit the nail on the head. It was only three hours later that he bit me, and Ash had tried mounting the female quite a few times. He whined all the way home and had been pacing rather than laying in his kitchen bed like he normally does when I clean & cook in the kitchen every afternoon. The next day it was as if nothing had happened and he was his usual well trained adorable self. Today he was in the dishwasher and there was a load of butter on the breakfast plates. I shooed Ash out and he got out immediately and sat nicely. This evening I even took his raw play bone off him as I wanted it out in the garden and he was happy for me to swop for a piece of dry kibble. Wouldn't food aggression happen all the time? If we do get a repeat of the bad behaviour I will contact the trainer straight away and rethink. This has all been rather stressful as I grew up with female dogs as family pets so I'm in uncharted territory. As a first time doggy mummy I want to do what's best for him.
Re: Agression - Sexual Frustration? Help! If I had a £1 for the number of times I've been told that X, Y, or Z would be solved if only I would have my intact dog castrated...but objecting to not being allowed to lick dirty plates in a dishwasher is a new one even on me. It's pretty well documented now that the problem behaviours that you have a good chance of castration helping with are urine marking, mounting and roaming. Every dog of course is an individual, and I'm sure castration is the best option for some dogs generally, but I wouldn't rush to have Ash castrated because of what you describe in this one incident. If you want to anyway, well that's different of course.
