03/12/2024
Sociability can be a complicated topic, your dog may display a wide variety of social behaviour depending on context, age & experience.
Itโs not unusual for dogs to alter social behaviour as they reach maturity. Have a read of this for some examples on what this can look like.
๐ค Ferris - The Big Man ๐ค
No one is immune to the peaks and valleys of raising a dog through adolescence.
You have probably heard that dogs will go through different periods as they mature and you should expect your dogs behaviour to change throughout this time - this much is true.
Navigating fear periods, exposure to the world, ensuring social interactions are positive and safe learning experiences on top of functional training & relationship building is a lot already, but throw hormones into the mix and you've got a volatile little party!
Interestingly, Ferris is right in the middle of some big changes and is reaching social maturity it seems, and I've observed some interesting behaviour lately...
> Increased energy (excess energy and normal activities were not wearing him out as they were before)
> Increased skin sensitivity/discolouration/itching & chewing
> Increased humping towards Glory (despite her not being on heat) and sometimes us - rude!
> Retaliation towards Glory (she told him off for coming too close to her toy - standard in our house, I monitor it heavily, but it was the first time I had seen Ferris puff himself up in response to that)
> Overtly dominant behaviour towards our other male Bane (7 year old entire male) particularly with what Ferris considers "his" (eg. my bedroom, my bed, me - areas that Ferris frequents and Bane doesn't) - including posturing at/over him, resting his chin on Bane's head/neck/back, reluctance to allow Bane space/movement, body blocking Bane when he tries to snuggle with me, overall obnoxious behaviour
> Risk taking with 1 other entire male (outwards reaction in response to the other entire male posturing over him - the first time he has ever responded in any way other than playful/indifference)
> Change in body language when interacting with males - particularly other entire males - his stance is less "hey i'm just a happy pup lets play" and more "ok.. who are you and what are your intentions..."
Originally, I thought that the skin/increased energy had something to do with food/gut issues - however, I have adjusted his food, his stools have been 10x better, but the energy still remains (he had cytopoint for skin, so I guess we can only ignore that now..) - BUT with the additions of the behaviours popping up over the last 3 months too, it just seems like too big a coincidence for me and it makes sense that he is having a fluctuation in hormones/testosterone, and is socially maturing at this time (he's 2.5 years old currently).
When it comes to Ferris, no one need worry - luckily, most of these behaviours I've already started to target and all the bad behaviour is now being managed/corrected. As with any change in behaviour - I've reduced his freedoms in situations I think it's necessary and am ensuring I can enforce training when needed and really guide him through what is appropriate and what's inappropriate in each context. This will just be a hump in the road that we carefully ride out until he is settled in who he is as an adult dog and understands his place a bit better.
But! I did want to take this opportunity to mention that
> It's totally normal that between about 4-5 months and 2.5-3 years you will see lots of changes in your dogs behaviour (I'm talking males here today) - some of it as a result of hormonal changes, growth stages/changes, some of it due to fear periods and their individual experiences with exposure/learning about the world. Some of it is simply testing of boundaries! (fun). This is totally normal. It's not the end of the world, simply something that you should take note of and have a clear plan to work through when it happens, so that certain undesirable behaviours don't stick around longer than they should.
> Obviously the "whether to neuter or not" debate is massive and I won't go into detail here (this includes any chatter involving the dog amendment bill and also includes the effects of sterilisation on health - that's an entire blog post on it's own), but obviously, whether your male dog is neutered or not will affect hormonal changes and therefore behavioural changes too. Eg. the removal of testosterone via castration can have a direct effect on a male dogs confidence, depending on his personality before the fact, so a plan to work through this in the weeks/months following castration is important.
> Every dog is an individual and whether they have their balls or not will not mean they are innately more "aggressive" - what is likely to happen though is that your entire male, especially when testosterone peaks (approx 10-15 months of age give or take) is likely to attract more unwanted aggression/reactions from neutered males - simple fact of the matter is that entire males smell male, and that smell is very different and tends to set off a lot of neutered males who don't know what to do with that scent.
> Neutering will not fix problem behaviours by itself - it will only really "turn down the volume" and whether this is best for a dog will depend on their individual personality. I have recommended in the past 5 years that 3 of my clients (male, entire) consider sterilisation, and those clients have taken my advice, and it has been a massive help for those dogs, but the procedure itself did not "fix" anything, it was a combination of turning down the volume dial, along with continuous training, confidence building and guidance through the adolescent stage. The males I suggested this for were big risk takers with other dogs when it came to showing aggression as a first option, particularly other entire male dogs. All 3 of these males, were halfway through a program when I suggested it, and so the foundations were already set and the confidence was already built. It did not fix the issue alone, but it did make the process much easier to navigate and the dogs much easier to influence in the right direction.
> I have never recommended that a dog lacking confidence or showing excess nervy behaviour be sterilised, if they are majorly lacking confidence and their testosterone is one of the only sources of this confidence, taking it away prematurely could be majorly detrimental to behaviour following, I wholeheartedly believe it's best if can wait and manage heavily, do so.
> Behaviours that are often considered problem behaviours like humping/marking can often start when the dog is younger and testosterone peaks, but quite often will become behavioural (rather than hormonal/sexual) the more the behaviour is practiced, so even these things won't necessarily go away with sterilisation (sorry to say!).
Anyway, Ferris and I will work through his "big boi" stage - I'm actually not at all upset about it, as much as I loved Ferris' baby energy, having a little more of a presence is never a bad thing in a helper dog. Wish us luck! :)
