16ga.com Forum Index
Author Message
<  16ga. General Discussion  ~  Pup marking his territory - Inside my house
8mmFan
PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:56 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

I have two Ryman English Setter pups - full brothers to the pup I lost at Christmas last year. Great dogs - birdy and boon companions to the family. Neither is neutered. The smaller of the two, Argo, is the full-on alpha male: bosses his larger brother in all facets of existence.

For about the last three weeks he’s taken to marking every point in the house. An interesting piece of trivia is that he only has one distended testicle. My wife and the vet are adamant that he be operated on - either to bring down the undistended testicle or castrate him altogether.

I’ve never had one of my males neutered. Maybe that’s the answer. Anybody else here have any ideas for getting him to stop marking his “territory” in my house? Short of going around and marking everything myself, I’m at a loss...

8mmFan[/list]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
8mmFan
PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:03 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

Just kidding about the “marking my territory myself” part, of course....

8mmFan
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Riflemeister
PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:47 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 1111

If he's anything like my three male shorthairs, he'd feel obligated to come mark over my mark anyway.

We all know that maturity will likely cure this marking along with a lot of other puppy faults, but have you tried putting him up in a crate with regular outdoor pee breaks?

_________________
An elderly gentleman, his faithful dogs, and a 16 ga SXS. All is right with the world.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
eng-pointer
PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:41 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 353
Location: United States

He absolutely needs to be neutered. The remaining testicle is VERY likely to become cancerous, and will likely not be detected until the cancer is advanced. It is possible to only remove the undescended testicle but maybe hard to find a Veterinarian that would do the surgery for multiple reasons. I wouldn't do it but that is my personal opinion.

I tried to find some numbers on doing surgery to reposition the undescended testicle and what that did for cancer probability. I could not find any reliable numbers but if you look at human literature it depends on how old they are at this time of surgery. The younger the better but regardless cancer numbers are increased.

James Flinchbaugh DVM

_________________
A fine gun is nice. A fine bird dog is essential. JTF

"My degree of optimism is negotiated daily" Bill Snyder, Former Head Football Coach, Kansas State University
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dave in Maine
PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:22 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Sep 2010
Posts: 1972
Location: Maine

8mmFan wrote:
Just kidding about the “marking my territory myself” part, of course....

8mmFan

It's been known to work. You just have to have enough confidence in the strength of the fence/chain between you and the dog, while you take care of the business. Not recommended for inside the house.
Done it outside once or twice. In each instance, it shut the barking off and left the dog slinking away whenever it saw me coming. Best done after several beers - the sheer volume will make clear to the canine this is REALLY your turf, sidewalk, town.
Still not recommended inside the house.

_________________
“A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.”
Frederick Douglass, November 15, 1867, speech in Williamsport, Pa.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
8mmFan
PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 5:55 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

LOL - Dave and Riflemeister, thanks for the laughs... I wasn’t really serious about marking stuff myself (have done that, though, while deer hunting, when I’ve had to leave part of a deer out overnight after shooting it at sundown. Meant to keep the coyotes off of it. Seems like it works).

i don’t have a problem with the pup marking his territory outside, just in the house.

Sounds like this might just be a “phase,” but I can’t remember my previous dogs doing it. I thought it might have something to do with having two intact pups in the house.

James, thanks for the veterinary advice. Our vet told us much the same early on (the pup is about 10 months old). Advised to not wait much past a year. She did say that they have had success in bringing them down, but we didn’t ask if there was still a large chance of cancer from it down the road if that’s successful.

I guess I’ve always been averse to neutering my dogs, in the (maybe misguided) belief that an intact dog is a little more impervious to elemental discomfort and has a little more drive over time in tough conditions. I may be overblowing that line of thought.

At any rate, this pup is in all likelihood going to be neutered.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
eng-pointer
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 3:46 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 353
Location: United States

Just thought I would check in and see what you decided with your pup. I hope all is going well

James

_________________
A fine gun is nice. A fine bird dog is essential. JTF

"My degree of optimism is negotiated daily" Bill Snyder, Former Head Football Coach, Kansas State University
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
8mmFan
PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:41 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

Hi James,

Thanks for asking. We went ahead and had him neutered. The vet that did the surgery did not feel that he could successfully operate to have the testicle brought down. So the pup lost both testicles.

It's been about four months. He has stopped "marking" in the house (his intact brother continued with the habit until just about two weeks ago--seems to have stopped, for the most part. We did have some "go-arounds" over it). The neutering absolutely had an effect on the pup's personality. Although he's still the "alpha male" of the two, he seems to be more timid than he was before the surgery. He also seems to be a lot "needier." I remain biased against neutering a male bird dog. We'll see how it ultimately plays out in the field.

8mmFam
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
3birddogs
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 5:07 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 07 Sep 2011
Posts: 567
Location: wheeling, wv

Neutering will not stop his marking. My wifes little house dog was neutered as a pup, and he is the markingest dog ever. We had trouble with him in the house for years--he seems to be over it now at age 12.

_________________
we salute you bird of thunder
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Yahoo Messenger
nj gsp
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 11:20 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 437
Location: WI

Having had waaaay too many dogs in the house, and having owned a few dogs over the years, there is no medical reason to neuter a male dog, except health reasons. I neutered a dog that developed a cyst of a testicle that was not cancerous but could become so, and another that did have a rare form of testicular cancer that was resolved by neutering. All my other males have remained intact Neutering a male dog will not stop it from marking. Crate training and age does that.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Nasty-G
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:58 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 10 Apr 2013
Posts: 120

This seems to reinforce my preference for spayed females.

_________________
Nasty-G
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
3drahthaars
PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 9:23 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 May 2015
Posts: 127

First, marking is a learned behaviour... once it starts, neutering will only make you feel better... it will not stop the "habit".

I had a Ryman-Hemlock male... most difficult dog I ever had to house break. I think he was reliable when we buried him at 12 yo.

Personally, the only "cure" now is crating when not supervised. And, supervision means not letting them out of your sight...

Good luck,
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
8mmFan
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 5:05 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

These are both Ryman setters, as was their older brother. All three have had issues with it, although the older brother didn’t live long enough to really know for sure whether he’d outgrow it.

The neutered pup has stopped marking in the house; the other pup still has issues with it, but, it goes in streaks (no pun intended)—he’ll stop for a week and a half, and then a flurry for a day or two until he and I have a real heart-to-heart when I catch him.

All three pups have been absolute boon companions as I’ve said. Terrific personalities, conformationally sound (except for the one undistended testicle), loving, and very intelligent. Wonderful dogs, and I’d recommend them wholeheartedly. But hard-headed as hell on this one issue, and unless you like your house smelling like a vet’s office (which I don’t) get ready for a period of trial. I can’t see buying them to kennel them, either: too enjoyable of a personality not to have them with you in the house.

8mmFan
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
eng-pointer
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 3:43 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 353
Location: United States

No offense taken but there is no urine smell in my hospital Wink .

_________________
A fine gun is nice. A fine bird dog is essential. JTF

"My degree of optimism is negotiated daily" Bill Snyder, Former Head Football Coach, Kansas State University
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
8mmFan
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 6:07 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 203

You're right, eng-pointer: I shouldn't be slinging rocks at vet hospitals when my own walls are made of glass!

8mmFan
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
All times are GMT - 7 Hours

View next topic
View previous topic
Page 1 of 2
Goto page 1, 2  Next
16ga.com Forum Index  ~  16ga. General Discussion

Post new topic   Reply to topic


 
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum




Powered by phpBB and NoseBleed v1.09