Originally posted by Mystify79@Sep 7 2004, 03:43 PM
I got Tuffy neutered between 5 & 6 months old and prior to that he never lifted his leg or marked. He would hump his toys or a pillow every once in a while but it wasn't a huge problem. Well, color me confused, but when we were recently staying at my grandmother's house Tuffy decided to make his way around the house marking everything and anything he could.
I was soooo shocked. He had NEVER marked before that day, even out on walks and when we had stayed at my grandmother's house previously. It was so bizarre for him to do it this time. All of the sudden I was like, did they get everything down there?
What I don't get is that besides when he was living at the breeders when he was a puppy, he's never been around other male dogs to learn the marking behavior. So in my case, Tuffy's male behavior actually got worse after he got neutered.. which is just messed up :wacko:
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Just to give you some perspective on males (human as well as animals). It isn't just the testicles that secrete male hormones. The adrenal glands in the brain do this as well!!. Therefore, even though you do neuter a male dog, that doesn't mean that they won't exhibit "marking or humping", especially if they secrete more hormones than normal.
My first Maltese, Geronimo, was examined by a behaviorist who advised me that the only way he would be less territorial would be do neuter him but that the dog was "raging with hormones" and it would only curb his desire, not totally inhibit them. At the same time that I was going through this, my Dad had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, way before the advances that they have today. At that time, I took him to Canada as the treatments were not approved by the FDA (subsequently they were). I learned that male hormones feed prostate cancer and therefore to hopefully stop the progression of the disease they had to inhibit the production of the hormones in both areas of the body. My Dad was on various therapies to inhibit the production of both testosterone and the secretion of the adrenal gland hormones. It worked, as he lived 8 years after being diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer that had already speread to the bones!
So as far as our little 4 legged babies are concerned, neutering only addresses part of the problem and I don't think that we're going to do any brain surgery on our little boys or give them unnecessary meds..so we have to live with their "wild animal nature"!
But thast's what "unconditional love" is all about!
Gigolo's Mom
h34r: 
