Isn't he too young for this?

[debo 1]

I took Oliver over to a friend's house for his first play date. She has a 3 year old female Havanese and a 10 month old male poodle/maltese. It went really well - Oliver and Charlie had lots of fun, but Oliver was trying to mount both dogs! Havie put him in his place and let him know very quickly she was having none of that, which was good for him to learn, but Charlie was a different story. Oliver was all over him !

Does this mean he's maturing early or that he has a dominant personality?

I've also noticed the last two days when Oliver pees his little leg is starting to hover in the air. Could he be trying to hike his leg?? He's only 12 weeks old - isn't he too young for this? My vet says he can't be neutered until he's 6 months; my friend says as soon as his testicles descend.

I hope he doesn't start hiking his leg in the house before I can get him fixed. I went through 14 years of that with my poodle... there was no stopping him!

[CrazyTzuLady 16]

The mounting just sounds like a dominant thing. Gizmo was fixed just before he turned 5 months old so was Delila.

Gizmo has lifted his leg to pee since he was around 3 or 4 months old, I can't remember exactly now, and he has never done it in the house anything outside is fair game though. LOL All three of my boys lift their leg to pee so as soon as one pees the next one is right behind him to do it then the next one. Sometimes they will circle around and start all over again it is actually quite funny. We call it the pee pee train. :(

[debo 1]

Thanks Barb! Should I ask the vet if he would do it before 6 months? Why the wait? Is there a reason to wait?

[Luna 8,676]

My boys have always started hiking the leg around 4 months of age - if I had one that wasn't at least making the attempt by then I'd probably be worried, lol. Gus kicked his up for the first time right around 4 months (and fell down, as a lot of them do, lol) and he has NEVER urinated in the house.

Testicles descending has nothing to do with the timing of a neuter. Realistically, a male's testicles ideally should be down by the time he is 8 weeks old...any later than that and a breeder of show dogs is going to start fretting about a potential show prospect, although I've seen testicles retained for up to 6 months of age before descending.

In toy breeds, I've always felt that altering is safest after the dog is 5 pounds or 6 months of age (whichever comes first). However, I used to neuter my boy puppies going to pet homes at 16 weeks regardless (the only fail-safe way to enforce a non-breeding contact).

[Stacey 7]

Bert is not fixed and is now 11 months old, has never hiked his leg or attacked another dog for humping except lea. I think he may be an exception to the rule of hiking at 4 months lol......... has never ever marked in the house..........

If a dog hiked their legs in the house generally speaking its because they are not taken out enough and/or the odor of urine is still in the house from before and they think its a potty spot. After the urine smell/odor is cleaned up 100% then you have to retrain the dog to go out every hour on the hour to potty regardless of how old they are in order to retrain them to go outside and even mark outside once they are retrained you can start doing every 2 hours, then 3 then 4.. then your good to go lol..... new smells cause marking, so taking them for walks and allowing them to mark on other things outside will retrain them NOT to mark inside the house................ victoria stilwell teaches this methord on its me or the dog

Most of the time at this stage is just puppy play sexual maturity, could possibly dominance, if its maturity it may stop once fixed, but it its dominance, it will still continue to happen, maci humps lea on occasion and she's fixed.

Thats pretty much my take on it..............

Edited July 4, 2009 by Stacey