nearly ten month old entire male

[shoutymcshoutsmum]

Hi everyone,
Pup is now nearly ten months old!! last night we left some bottles of water on the floor And found he had weed on them this morning. Now he just cocked his leg and weed on a big bag on our floor. He also runs much further from us on the common then he ever used to. he comes back when I call really loud but I would prefer to be able to see him all the time. It all sounds like adolescence to me but I am a dog owner novice. Would you neuter?
Thanks

I wouldn't rush to neuter I would equip myself with the highest value treats I could find to reward him with when he does come back do you become a whole lot more exciting than everything else.

Thanks, recall is not really my problem though. My problem is the marking of new objects in the house :(

By all means neuter him if you want to (although I would wait until he is older personally) but the problems you have are training/anxiety problems and neutering isn't a training aid. It can also make dogs more anxious.

Hi OP.

My pup was exactly the same at the same age- marking like mad, obsessed with the ladies and a bit cloth eared when he chose to be! Also became a bit 'spooky' around things he'd previously been fine with. (cars at night, horses) I didn't neuter, but upped the training and reminded myself like mad that it would pass! And it did, I promise!

Made sure that my boy was super confident and steady, then had him done 6 weeks ago, after discussing with my trainer and vet. Only really went for it after realising that far too many knobs walk entire in season bitches in my area. Off lead! Also 2 entire males and an entire bitch have recently been stolen where I live, from gardens and what not and I became nervous after a man stopped to ask about my boy, questions about how old he, if he was entire etc. PottyPup now has an extra tag that says 'Im chipped and nuetered' in addition to his other tags. not paranoid at all me

Not made a massive difference to be honest, he doesn't mark as much but other than that he does still have the odd 'nah, balls to you I'm RUNNING' moment and still likes a flirty game of chase with certain blond girlies [golden retrievers mainly!]

I think the rec advice is to wait also in the case of large breed dogs until growth is complete, not my area but there is a few vets and breeders in the doghouse who I'm sure will be happy to explain.

HTH

Thanks everyone. Will definitely up the training to see if it helps. Might get the cheese out to help him remember how great it is to recall ;)

Livercake is a fab recall treat, dogs go WILD for livercake!

Recipe here

My lab's nearly 2 yrs old and not been castrated. He's never marked in the house but once weed on a bag of hamster food in Pets at Home. When I told the assistant, and offered to clean it up, she said they all did it there and gave it a brief swipe with a mop . Now when we go to PAH (to get him weighed) I keep him on short lead and walk fast and he hasn't done it again.
You could set up a training scenario and practice regularly with a new item likely to be weed on (but make sure you get rid of every trace of wee smell, you need to use bio liquid or special spray).
Watch dog carefully, at first sign of imminent weeing, sniffing, getting into position etc say NO firmly and give dog a treat for stopping.
When he's left unsupervised remove anything he might be likely to mark. Good luck

With a pet dog, I would neuter as a matter of course, irrespective of behaviour.

I accept that there are a variety of valid arguments as to when to neuter, but whether to neuter or not should be a given.

I took cheese out to the Park today as high value treats were suggested - once I calmed the giant pup and stopped him from jumping up to retrieve the cheese (!), his recall was super. As to the marking, I am keeping all new items firmly locked away so no more marking - thank goodness.

If and when to neuter - a tricky one. It seems that there are different camps with different opposing valid arguments, which makes it tricky for a novice trying to do the right thing. I called the animal behaviourist I used for training pup when he was little - he thought neutering the right call. The GSP judge who advised me when I was looking for the right pup thought the opposite. Big sigh....

I've spent 2 years wibbling about whether to castrate my dog. The vets I've spoken to are very much sitting on the fence, its my decision etc. None of them have been able to say there are definite health benefits in getting him castrated.
I won't go into everything, hard to sum up the 2 years of reading everything I could find on male labrador castration but for my dog there would be more risks than benefits in getting him done.

Everyone's circumstance, and dog, is different so people need to inform themselves and make their own decision.