to chop or not to chop..

FloppyToby · 03-31-2010, 12:15 PM

toby is almost 5 months old and is starting to..well...act more and more like a little boy. people have asked me if i'm going to use him for breeding, but i'm just not interested in that because i don't know the first thing about it. my lab got fixed at the pound at just 2 months old so i haven't ever come across some of the things toby is doing. we'll be in the middle of a training session and all the sudden he gets really excited and quits focusing and starts humping my leg. it's getting annoying. would getting him fixed stop some of this dominant behavior? and at what age should i do it? my vet told me 6 months.

vb3 · 03-31-2010, 12:41 PM

We had Rosco neutered at 6 months because our rabies vaccinations were much more expensive without it. I have also heard it can help avoid some health issues later in life.

Mom2Flash · 03-31-2010, 01:17 PM

I had Flash neutered at about that age. In my opinion, unless you plan on breeding Toby, he should be neutered. My vet said there are many behavioral benefits to having a dog spayed or neutered. Flash still gets excited on occasion and does have a particular stuffed bear he's very fond of, if you know what I mean!

I've heard that it is just a display of dominance and really has nothing to do with sexual urges. I just try to discourage the behavior and redirect his attention to something else when I catch him doing it.

I'm not really educated on the subject though, so I'll be interested in what everyone has to say.

FloppyToby · 03-31-2010, 01:52 PM

when he barks at inappropriate time i squirt him with a squirt bottle. think this would help with the leg humping? oh and they told me for an extra fee i could get him extra pain management meds. this little guy screams his head off just when getting his ears cleaned i dont know if this is all bassets who are this dramatic or i just got lucky lol. do you think i should go ahead and get that?

Mom2Flash · 03-31-2010, 02:41 PM

Does the squirt bottle stop him from barking? If so, then he's probably learned that he is to stop his behavior when he's squirted so it would be worth a try. Flash has never leg humped so I really don't know what to tell you other than not to encourage the behavior at all. You don't want him thinking he is dominant over you! How are you cleaning Toby's ears?

FloppyToby · 03-31-2010, 03:01 PM

i do it the way the vet told me to. i squirt the stuff in his ear, that's when he starts throwing a fit. then i massage it in at the base of his ear, clean it out with a cotton ball and then let him shake his head out.

vb3 · 03-31-2010, 04:37 PM

Rosco doesn't yelp or anything but ear cleaning time is definitely not his favorite activity. It takes me holding him and my wife doing the cleaning to get it done, and then he shakes and runs his head along the floor when we are finished, as though we have put acid in there instead of a cleaner.

Miss Snickers · 03-31-2010, 05:10 PM

I was told by the vet to squirt the cleaner on a cottonball and then insert it into the canal and rub her ears for a few seconds. Sometimes she shakes her head enough to get the cottonball out, but I usually do it for her. It is also not her favorite thing, but after some coaxing she lets me do so.
As for the humping... it is a dominance issue, Snicks has this huge stuffed toy dog that she sometimes "gets it on with" and she has attempted to hump our leg, but is quickly discouraged. So I've discovered it's not just a male thing.. and boy was I surprised (dirty little girl LOL)
Good luck on whatever you decide to do!

Mikey T · 03-31-2010, 06:50 PM

!. Humping is not a dominant behavior it is a sexual behavior. The reason it started down is because of hormones however cutting off the hormones may or maynot stop the behavior,. Keep in mind female and nueter dogs do hump as well. The best way to effectively deal with is as any other inapropriate behavior.

Oh behave: Love and mounting

Quote:

I’ll tip the hand early and tell you the greatest likelihood is that mounting is a sexual behaviour. In fact, I think this could stand some screaming from the rooftops: mounting is sex, mounting is sex, mounting is sex! That this is not obvious to any onlooker is pretty amazing.
Let’s begin at the beginning. Fixed action patterns, or FAPs, are important behaviours that are pre-installed in animals, kind of like bundled software that comes with a computer. Fixed action patterns require no learning and are triggered by something in the environment. A classic example is a moving bit of string that triggers a six-week-old kitten to pounce. The pouncing sequence is stereotyped across all cats.

...Ethologists have coined the four big areas of endeavour under which most FAPs fall the “Four F’s”: fight, flight, feeding and reproductionEthologists have coined the four big areas of endeavour under which most FAPs fall the “Four F’s”: fight, flight, feeding and reproduction

...On to sex. At last. Reproductive behaviour is, evolutionarily speaking, the biggest and most important of the Four F’s. An animal that lacks super-duper strong courtship and reproductive FAPs doesn’t pass on its ascetic genes

...I am not sure whether the abstemious streak in North American culture whirls us, like a centrifuge, away from the S word when we see copulatory behaviours during play, or whether we’re so dominance-obsessed we co-opt nookie-nookie into some sort of power play. In any case, if you would like less of it, provide a non-violent consequence, such as a time out, whenever she does it. It could be two minutes outside the play area, or you could march her back to the car and take her straight home.

You can also put it on cue like the author of the article,

When to get a dog fixed is a different matter. There is nothing magical about wait till six months vs immeadiately vs not at all. However the limited scientific evidence does not support neutering of male dogs with a health benefit.

Mikey T · 03-31-2010, 06:57 PM

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/humping/page1.aspx}humping

Quote:

One out of three neutered male dogs and the occasional neutered female still engage in humping years after neuter surgery

...In one mixed-sex colony of intact dogs, neutering of males did not change the frequency of mounting or even penetration of bitches by these males for years following neuter surgery, indicating just how potent the memory of pleasure was in these.
But sexual motivation is not the whole story because inexperienced neutered males and some females hump as well. The conclusion must be that mounting behavior ("humping") is genetically encoded in both sexes and may be activated by not only testosterone but also by other natural forces.

You are likely to find humping is your dogs reaction to stress while training, Some dog sniff, flat basset etc. I would use it as more a signal at the dogs fustration, limit that fustration and the behavior stops. That is make the task easier, less repetitive, boring , more reinforcing etc

03-31-2010, 12:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
FloppyToby Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Texas Posts: 186	to chop or not to chop.. toby is almost 5 months old and is starting to..well...act more and more like a little boy. people have asked me if i'm going to use him for breeding, but i'm just not interested in that because i don't know the first thing about it. my lab got fixed at the pound at just 2 months old so i haven't ever come across some of the things toby is doing. we'll be in the middle of a training session and all the sudden he gets really excited and quits focusing and starts humping my leg. it's getting annoying. would getting him fixed stop some of this dominant behavior? and at what age should i do it? my vet told me 6 months. __________________ A basset is an asset!

03-31-2010, 01:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
FloppyToby Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Texas Posts: 186	when he barks at inappropriate time i squirt him with a squirt bottle. think this would help with the leg humping? oh and they told me for an extra fee i could get him extra pain management meds. this little guy screams his head off just when getting his ears cleaned i dont know if this is all bassets who are this dramatic or i just got lucky lol. do you think i should go ahead and get that? __________________ A basset is an asset! Last edited by FloppyToby; 03-31-2010 at 02:07 PM.

03-31-2010, 03:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
FloppyToby Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Texas Posts: 186	i do it the way the vet told me to. i squirt the stuff in his ear, that's when he starts throwing a fit. then i massage it in at the base of his ear, clean it out with a cotton ball and then let him shake his head out. __________________ A basset is an asset!

03-31-2010, 05:10 PM	#8 (permalink)
Miss Snickers Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Middletown, PA Posts: 103	I was told by the vet to squirt the cleaner on a cottonball and then insert it into the canal and rub her ears for a few seconds. Sometimes she shakes her head enough to get the cottonball out, but I usually do it for her. It is also not her favorite thing, but after some coaxing she lets me do so. As for the humping... it is a dominance issue, Snicks has this huge stuffed toy dog that she sometimes "gets it on with" and she has attempted to hump our leg, but is quickly discouraged. So I've discovered it's not just a male thing.. and boy was I surprised (dirty little girl LOL) Good luck on whatever you decide to do! __________________ I could sure go for a Snickers Blizzard right about now!

03-31-2010, 12:41 PM	#2 (permalink)
vb3 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Missouri Posts: 523	We had Rosco neutered at 6 months because our rabies vaccinations were much more expensive without it. I have also heard it can help avoid some health issues later in life.

03-31-2010, 01:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
Mom2Flash Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 78	I had Flash neutered at about that age. In my opinion, unless you plan on breeding Toby, he should be neutered. My vet said there are many behavioral benefits to having a dog spayed or neutered. Flash still gets excited on occasion and does have a particular stuffed bear he's very fond of, if you know what I mean! I've heard that it is just a display of dominance and really has nothing to do with sexual urges. I just try to discourage the behavior and redirect his attention to something else when I catch him doing it. I'm not really educated on the subject though, so I'll be interested in what everyone has to say.

03-31-2010, 02:41 PM	#5 (permalink)
Mom2Flash Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 78	Does the squirt bottle stop him from barking? If so, then he's probably learned that he is to stop his behavior when he's squirted so it would be worth a try. Flash has never leg humped so I really don't know what to tell you other than not to encourage the behavior at all. You don't want him thinking he is dominant over you! How are you cleaning Toby's ears?

03-31-2010, 04:37 PM	#7 (permalink)
vb3 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Missouri Posts: 523	Rosco doesn't yelp or anything but ear cleaning time is definitely not his favorite activity. It takes me holding him and my wife doing the cleaning to get it done, and then he shakes and runs his head along the floor when we are finished, as though we have put acid in there instead of a cleaner.

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