Neuter or Not

[aylinhyatt]

Hello,
I have a 2 year old Male. I am wondering if I should now get him neutered. When out he always sniffs stuff and then gets really stuck on spots to the point he gets all.drooling and his mouth starts to chatter. We don't interact with a lot of other dogs, but tonight while.i was playing frisbee in the park he spotted a dog or smelt before I noticed and he ran over and instantly went to humping.
He loves to try and pee on every single tree or post on walks - never in our house.


Please share some thoughts based on his behaviors.

[sandgrubber]

7 hours ago, aylinhyatt said:

Hello,
I have a 2 year old Male. I am wondering if I should now get him neutered. When out he always sniffs stuff and then gets really stuck on spots to the point he gets all.drooling and his mouth starts to chatter. We don't interact with a lot of other dogs, but tonight while.i was playing frisbee in the park he spotted a dog or smelt before I noticed and he ran over and instantly went to humping.
He loves to try and pee on every single tree or post on walks - never in our house.


Please share some thoughts based on his behaviors.

The tooth chatter sounds like a Flehman response

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response

If so, interesting, as it's not a k9 thing. 

Neutering doesn't have a great reputation as a fix for humping.  

[persephone]

Tooth chattering(often accompanied by frothing at the mouth)  in male dogs- especially if there is bitch-in-season scent is quite common.
FLEHMEN response is very different, and is where the top lip is turned upwards/inside out to expose  little ducts in the roof of their mouth to the air/scent  Teeth don't chatter during this time ..in fact the animal usually holds fairly still .  

Humping can be done out of pure excitement /aggression /territorial display  etc ....
sniffing is what dogs DO ..it is how THEY 'see' their world . We  check our phone screens, stop to admire a car, or a tree, or clothes in a window..a dog sniffs. 
If there are certain hormones in the urine/faeces that they sniff..their body reacts. 

Castration can  lower the sex drive, which may stop the teeth chattering . Leg lifting/marking is partly learned, so that may lessen a little ..it will never disappear. 
 

[Papillon Kisses]

Sniffing is fantastic for dogs. It even lowers their blood pressure! Not expecting a dog to sniff on a walk is like taking a kid to an amusement park and not letting them on any rides. My desexed dog doesn’t do the teeth chatter thing, but he gets to sniff and pee on all of the (appropriate) things haha. He has anxiety and one of his treatment goals was him feeling safe enough TO sniff when out. You could always put it on cue, but don’t deny your dog the mental and physical benefits of sniffing! Humping is more often than not stress-related.

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Papillon Kisses