New from Toronto

I haven't been around in a long time, but welcome to SM!

On the plus side about the shaving, you'll be better able to assess his weight! If he seemed skinny before, he will seem really skinny once he's shaved down--it's always a bit shocking the first time. Here's a simple chart that will help you decide roughly how underweight he is and what he should look like at his ideal weight:

http://www.iams.com/iams/pet-health/body-condition.jsp

I actually shave/clip my dogs down on purpose from time to time--I just think they're still cute and much lower maintenance. If your guy was tightly matted before, hopefully he'll love the freedom of not being constricted by his coat anymore. :thumbsup:

He could be maltese or he could be a mix. The shelters just make their best guess. Often backyard breeders and such will mix their maltese with westies so that they get some larger dams/mothers in their breeding stock--the larger dams can have larger litters which translates to more money for them. You can also have purebred maltese that are larger than the standard. I wouldn't worry about it much--you'll probably never know for sure. I would guess he's maltese with a wee bit of westie in his background.

Neutering is a pretty simple procedure (compared to spaying anyway), so I would expect a very quick bounce back to his normal self after neutering. From what I hear, they often come home the same day and act like themselves.

Zora bounced back to her normal self pretty much as soon as the drugs wore off. So I suspect most boys will bounce back almost immediately. Tiff had complications (she just happened to have raging pyometra at the time but no obvious symptoms) but even she bounced back after a few days.

If the humping continues, here's an article that might help: http://www.petplace.com/dogs/humping/page1.aspx
(Just close the pop-up prompting you to register--you don't need to register.)

That article suggests that it can take a bit of time for the habit to die down on its own after neutering... but it might also persist if it's a dominance thing. On the second page there's a link to 10 or so general dog training tips that they suggest might help curb dominance humping. Worth a look imo!