Male Puppy Hormones!!!!!

[KEVIN]

Hi Everyone:

Just looking for some advice??

Nevis is now 17 weeks and over the past week seems to be a little!! how can i say it ammourous, this week he seems to be very active, jumpy and barking quite a lot he also likes playing with a large crocodile teddy (if you know what i mean) could this be him getting the scent of a female dog or just normal puppy behaviour?? Is this normal for a puppy at this age?? And is there any ways that we can get him to calm down?? Should i think about getting him the snip??

Confused, Please Advise

Kevin

[Steven]

Hi Kevin, perfectly normal behavior for a dog. It wont get any better our wee one is now 8 months and tries it on with our Kaiser all the time and is constantly sniffing around bitches. It is not always sexually motivated it is also a dominance issue especially if he tries it on with one of you. The snip is an option but does not always work, the dog will still try to hump though I have found with our Kaiser it has dramatically reduced the incidences. Hope this helps.

Stevie

[Ashley]

Even my Holly has been doing it since about 17 weeks (shes now 10 months)... every now and then she likes to dominate (ahem) her polar bear! I just shout "no"... to discourage the behaviour. It is perfectly normal though. I was a bit taken aback when she first done it
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Ashley with Holly & Murphy.
I hope to one day be as great as my dog thinks I am right now!!

[Allan Campbell]

good advice there from steven and ashley .. all perfectly normal (both dogs and bitches do it )

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[marcella]

as Stevie said it's perfectly normal. Typical male!!!!!! If it's just toys etc he does it to then don't worry, but if he tries to hump other dogs or humans then it's dominance. Make sure he always knows his place in the pack i.e. bottom of the pile!

[kendal]

[KEVIN]

Thanks

Will take all on board!!!

Only seems to be doing it with the crocodile, there is a bitch that lives below us so he might be getting the scent from her, can be quite funny at times, my eldest daughter (16) seems to think its hilarious, cant wait to get him back to puppy classes on sunday as it has been three weeks since our last one.

[Suzanne H]

Otto hasn't tried to hump anything since he had the snip.

But he will get jumpy and barky and do other things to try to dominate, particularly me, if we let him or wind him by being excitable around him. Just like kids really.

Key is to not get them too excited or put yourself in a position ie below them. If your energy stays low, so does the dog...so we don't play rough and tumble games with him that he will win, but instead play games that don't allow him to challenge.

Although, most male dogs will treat most games as a challenge - including football

[kerry]

Koda used to get to friendly with his butterfly ( from 9 weeks old ) we ended up taking it away from him as it only was with the same toy. The toy humping stopped but he does like the motion a bit to much, ask anyone who has been subject to Koda's charms lol he at least tries to flirt n ow by licking their ears but he has calmed down alot he has his moments
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We are forever responsible for what we have tamed

[KEVIN]

When we had him out last night he seemed to be getting very active because my son had his football out with him and he was running around like a mad dog, what sort of games can you play with him to keep his energy low??

[Ashley]

[Suzanne H]

You can tell the difference between playful (alert but still submissive and responsive to controls) and dominant over excitement (jumping on you or the furniture, stealing slippers, biting your clothes, running about like a maddy, out of control).

I can bring on the latter very easily because he's young and a high energy breed - so excitable, but I now know what games to avoid - anything that he can beat me at given he's fast and strong.

And when I do play football with him, fetch (as long as he brings it back, I won't chase him), hide and seek, find it - we have fun, but I don't run around screaming and rolling about on the ground with the ball - that's just asking for trouble.

Kids will lift a dog's energy level right up because they're excited and hi energy, but my nephews can play with Otto as long as they don't a) get on the ground b) run away from him. Then the play gets a bit rough as he's too excited.

[KEVIN]

He is a wee bundle of fun and i wouldnt want to stop that cause we can have so much fun with him and as you can imagine how it is is to try and calm a puppy down but when you have 5 and 9 year old boys carrying on like a bunch of monkeys when there with him its more or less immposible Any way hes only being a male its in our blood (Hee Hee)

Eight weeks have past so quickly with nevis, and to see him grow so fast and become his own wee character has been great and cant wait for all that comes in the future, never had the chance of having a dog when i was a kid my wife was always brought up with dogs its great to see how happy the kids are with him especially emma (12) who comes to puppy classes she is so besotted with him and also gypsy she would stay at classes all day sunday if ashw could

[Suzanne H]

I sometimes can't resist a game of tig or hiding under the duvet - even if I know it's going to end in having 20odd kilos of muscle and energy tearing after me!

They are such good fun!

Cesar Milan wouldn't approve!!