I've made the appointment

[SistersofPercy]

Murph (scottie) is now 18 months old. He's never shown any sign of humping etc so I kept pushing the idea of castration to the back of my mind, however, it concerned me as all my dogs in the past have been done. I was also quite aware that a fully intact male pedigree dog is a lot more valuable to a dog thief than a castrated one and that also worried me.

DH has never been keen on having him done but after another walk this weekend when he's tried to mark every other blade of grass and actually dribbled his way around Pets at Home despite having a huge wee outside I have managed to convince him the time has most definitely come to get him done. I know there is no guarantee of curing his 'marking' but I do think it's worth trying.

17th June is T Day...... I daresay he won't be best impressed with me.

Ah, he will thank you in the end. Well, no he won't. But you will thank yourself.

What's the 'T'? Testicle? Or Terrier? ;o)

Saw a scottie with a westie the other day in town and they looked stunning, together. Beautiful dogs.

Got my little girl from Dogs Trust so they neutered at 6 months. She was back to her normal self the following morning. Impossible to convince her not to run up and down the garden, etc.

Had my ddog a jackhuahua done at 9 months like you I didn't want to but he started marking in my fathers house as he has an intact female so I got him done and he went from marking all the time in my fathers ( where he goes daily) to not marking at all from the time he had it done.

He's never marked in the house thankfully but the problem out of the house has just gotten worse. I've tried distraction but he's not food motivated so it really doesn't work.

T day is Testicle day . We had a westie about 15 years ago and I saw a westie and scottie together and fell in love. Within 6 months we'd got a scott and really did fall in love with the breed. Sadly we lost the scottie first then the westie. I think we lasted a week before contacting breeders. Lovely little dogs but amazingly stubborn.

We go on holiday with him at the start of August so need to get him recovered and ready to enjoy himself.

We have a scottie too - had him done at a similar age with absolutely no ill effect, he recovered quickly and still worships the ground DH walks on, so has clearly forgiven him :) It will be fine

I think DH's issue was the slightly increased cancer rate but having read him the statistics about dogs actively living longer I think he's a little more relaxed about it. I did point out we lost our last castrated scott to liver disease not cancer.

I want to be able to take Murph into pubs etc on holiday (I appreciate this year will be too soon for any effect) and it concerns me that I can't take a marking dog into environments like that for worry he's just doing to dribble everywhere.

He's my baby so he'll have lots of cuddles and treats so hopefully he'll forgive us all

Sisters, I think it's more of a major op on a female, and so I was surprised how quickly my little bitch recovered! She was a bit groggy that night after the op when she came home but honestly, the next day it was almost as if nothing had happened! He will get over it quickly. I have had all my dogs - male and female - done, and always forget how fast they recover.

The very next morning, we were dithering whether to take her with us to watch my kid play football, and she was up and out of the door, and walking around.

we had our 2 rescue labs done at 6 years and the effect on their marking was obvious immediately...they still mark a little, but prob only 4 times per walk, so v bearable! good luck

I will be making the appointment today for my cocker spaniel, I always planned to have him neutered at between 8 and 9 months, but I am now starting to notice a change in behaviour.

Thankfully there is no humping, but he is marking more and more and last night he cocked his leg inside the agility tunnel at our puppy class - that was rather embarrassing and a complete bugger for the poor trainer to try and clean …………..

He'll be fine Percy and you'll be pleased you had it done. I know what you mean about being susceptible to theft though. We're not planning on having Monty done until he's at least two as he's obviously a larger breed, being a lab, but it does occur to me that he's going to be quite obviously entire for a couple of years. Labs have such short fur!

We didn't have Barney done till he was three. We didn't have a problem with him until I was pregnant and he started to become a bit aggressive and disobedient with me. All my trainer friends at my dog club said just have him neutered, it'll take away his hormones, and it worked. He became my lovely soppy spaniel again.

I have to say though, he did still mark quite a bit....

I've read figures of 80% for marking improvement so hoping he's within that. The problem I have with him is he just isn't food motivated, he's all about toys. At least he is until we leave the house where food or toys are of no interest.
I'm really really struggling for a distraction technique with him. I've tried everything from cheese to warm freshly cooked sausage and whilst these things are ok as a reward in the house they don't even raise a sniff on a walk.

I've been trying to work with him as well on the issue but other than keep dragging him along I'm struggling.

Have you tried garlic sausage? It really has to stink to be any good on a walk!

Not garlic no, it's part of the onion family isn't it? Didn't think it was recommended at all.
I've tried everything stinky but he really has zero interest. I've taken to don't most of my training in the house with a clicker which works when we are out for three most part, but obviously with the marking happening when we are out I can't really make steps to tackle it

He's a funny dog with food all round, he often skips his tea for 24 hours. I worry over him but his weight is fine according to the vet.

Ooh, never thought of it like that, yes, it might well be onion related.

Possibly don't try that then!

Chicken liver? Tripe? Fish? Disgusting but definitely smelly.

Monty is definitely food orientated but sometimes when I'm trying to get him to move for the reward he'll just sit down and look at it. I can see him trying to work it out in his head. He's not daft, that one.

Tried normal liver etc. In the house he's great, can train with treat or with a throw of his Kong wubba. First paw on the front step and that's it, I might as well be invisible.

At present I'm going with a high pitched 'Murphy!' And dragging him along. It's a relatively new behaviour though and according to something I read tonight because it's not established it should go along with his balls

Have you tried a whistle?

Fingers crossed anyway.