Okay one thing after another it seems! Now Loki is humping any dogs he meets, knees if they are bent, stuffed animals and blankets! The vet said 10 months old to neuter him, but is it possible to doit earlier? I dont want to stunt his growth or anything, hes around 65-70 pounds. And his age is a guess going by his teething, so they thought he was about 3 months around christmas. Im starting to wonder if hes older than they think. The humping is just getting a bit too much!


When we got him:



Most recent pic I have:

You can use obedience to correct this behavior. Google it and go to youtube. I'm sure there are tutorials. Neutering won't necessarily solve this, just like it might not solve marking, aggression, etc. My dogs hump as a display of dominance, but as soon as I see it, I correct it with a "PAW PAW OFF" and he jumps down. Sometimes I throw a loud clap in there as well to get his attention. If he disobeys, he'll see me charging at him, and he knows he's in trouble, so he hops down. It only takes a few times to where my verbal command is enough to get him to knock this off.

Being that it's a male dominance issue, I'm not sure if I'll ever get it to go away, since he's the alpha male out of the dogs. But he knows I certainly won't tolerate it, as it's embarassing. He is not usually in a situation where he can get away with doing this. And I understand it's just his way of showing others that he's the dominant alpha male among other male dogs. He doesn't hump females or small dogs, just other big male dogs. O, and he does try to hump Nara from time to time, but she'll put him in his place in a heartbeat. She's the alpha female, and between the two of them, he knows she'll kick his butt if she wanted to. Haha!

Good luck!

Neutering earlier isn't going to stunt his growth by any means! I had my male neutered at 4 months old (we did this because he was already having an operation from eating a toy squeaker and the vet thought it was best to do it all at once) and depending on the time of year, he pushes 70 pounds, which is above average for a Siberian Husky.

Neutering at what age should be you're choice, not you're vet's, unless you're dog has some sort of health problem. I would get a second opinion from another vet if I were you.

Humane Societies neuter at really young ages all the time and they don't have issues with it. 6months is a standard time I have heard of getting it done. Early spay or neuter is said to sometimes make dogs larger not stunt their growth. Doing it too young can affect a dogs hormones that tell it when to stop growing, or something like that, usually more of an issue for the bigger breeds of dogs from what I have read. I would get it done whenever you want at this age now. I also agree with the training part of it.

I think it's fine to get him neutered now. My friend got her 7yr old golden neutered because he would mark and hump anything in sight. After his neuter, he completely stopped. But I have seen other males in rescue who got neutered and it didn't change their behavior at all. I would say go for it. There's a good chance it will help with the humping.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help. I tried using command like Down and No but he doesn't listen, I have to drag him off the other dog I am truly hoping he is just in his 'terrible two ' stage, since all his weird behavior has started in the last couple weeks.

Loki2012 wrote:

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help. I tried using command like Down and No but he doesn't listen, I have to drag him off the other dog I am truly hoping he is just in his 'terrible two ' stage, since all his weird behavior has started in the last couple weeks.

If he hasn't been trained to know what "down" or "no" mean, then that might be why you were ignored. You'll have to physically show him what to do when you say "down" and then reward him to reinforce positive, desired behavior. Otherwise, to him, you're just speaking jibberish. Haha! Breaking bad habits is never easy, but you might neuter him and still be stuck with the same problem. So I'd work the obedience angle and neuter him if you have to.

when theres no other dog loki knows his commands, hes actually really good on his own!

Neutering him early will stunt his growth in certain bones and prolong it in others. It might not negatively effect him, but it also could. It probably won't though.

What type of humping is he doing? When I got Snoopy he was an EXTREME excited humper, but not a dominant humper. I would be very strict with commands if I were you until you want get him neutered, and exercise before you meet other dogs, if you can.

It's actually a myth that neutering early stunts their growth. Embry was neutered at 5 months and he's 55lbs and 21.5" tall. Ares was neutered at 9 months and is 20" tall and 60lbs

counter wrote:

Loki2012 wrote:

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help. I tried using command like Down and No but he doesn't listen, I have to drag him off the other dog I am truly hoping he is just in his 'terrible two ' stage, since all his weird behavior has started in the last couple weeks.

If he hasn't been trained to know what "down" or "no" mean, then that might be why you were ignored. You'll have to physically show him what to do when you say "down" and then reward him to reinforce positive, desired behavior. Otherwise, to him, you're just speaking jibberish. Haha! Breaking bad habits is never easy, but you might neuter him and still be stuck with the same problem. So I'd work the obedience angle and neuter him if you have to.

I 100% agree. You also have to do the "Fear of God" voice.
I know your pain - I was the humped! Nova would dominance hump me when ever he had a chance. I hate to say it but see if he will do it you and Alpha role him. I let him get a good few humps and I grabbed him flipped him on his back, held him under me and yelled STOP NO HUMP! I had to do it a few times but he got the picture. I can now do yoga without the fear of being humped by my dog. Will never had this problem because he is seen as Alpha in the house.

Nova has his hump pillow that we allow but that's it. If he ever thinks about another item we let him know.

I heard that neutering early stunts their growth too and I asked my vet about it and she also confirmed that it is a myth.

It might be a myth as in: doesn't happen to every dog. So it might not have happened in your scenarios, but that doesn't make it a myth. Every dog is different, so what early neutering does to one dog might not happen to the next. Our Holistic Vet agrees that you shouldn't neuter at all if you aren't having problems. If you're having problems, or forsee future problems, then neuter, but only once the dog is fully grown. I was told to wait until Paw Paw turned 2. When I took him in at 2, they assumed I was having issues, but when they found out that I wasn't, they talked me out of neutering.

They basically made it seem like responsible dog owners don't need to neuter, whereas the majority of your dog owners are irresponsible on some level, and they should neuter their dogs. They made it clear to wait until the dog is fully grown first though, due to the growth plates sealing. They said they had seen a lot of cases where dogs who were neutered early were coming in with all sorts of bone and muscle injuries, and dogs that were neutered later in life (or not neutered at all) would receive less of these types of injuries. He said it was due to the longer, unnatural legs and the bones and ligaments/muscles were not aligning naturally, creating problems and causing easier injuries. I'm no vet, so it would be easier for him to explain, but it made sense when he told me, and also matched up to articles I had read online about this subject. Haha!

You also have to remember that a lot of vets care more about making money than caring for what's best for your pup. They're in a business for a reason: money! And yes, they want to help decrease overpopulation, etc. I do too!

It's just like how vets get "sponsored" by certain food companies, so they push that particular brand of food on their patients, even when they know there are better food products out there. Bottom line: it's all about the money.

As I typed this, I remembered something else: my vet mainly geared this towards working dogs, not show dogs or house pets. All 3 of my dogs are working dogs (Nara does Search & Rescue, and Paw Paw and Beowulf are sled/bikejoring dogs), so that was another reason he talked me out of neutering. If Paw Paw had just been a house pet, he might be neutered already. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Lucian was neutered around 5 months old, and he's still growing just fine. One of the reasons I had him neutered early is so he wouldn't start any unwanted behavior. He did do some humping before hand, mostly to his stuffed toys. Hasn't done any humping at all since he's been neutered.

Just to put in my two cents. We got Stark fixed a little later than scheduled due to other medical issues. He used to hump like crazy and there would be people who brought their dogs in heat to the dog park so when his other medical issue cleared up, we opted to get him fixed at just shy of 9 months. Before getting fixed, he would be the sir humps-a-lot a the dog park (and not just females), but after he got fixed, he's only done it once and never again. Not sure if it'll be the same for yours, but just putting it out there that that's what happened with mine.

It's not a myth, a dog will still grow and will seem normal but growth has a lot to do with the sex hormones of an animal, even humans. If you remove the primary source of those hormones, you will change their growth, regardless of if it seems like it. Again, it's typically not important in pets, like Kevin said. The unnatural angulation of the bones is really only a concern if you have working animals, or an animal prone to joint problems. Like if I would've known about Snoopy's leg problems, I would've waited to have him neutered.

Also, if you remove the sex organs, the animal retains "child'like" features from not having those hormones. A good example of this is a tom cat. A tom neutered young won't develop the full, round jaw of a mature male, while a tom neutered after maturity will have the large face.

Thanks for all the info and advice! It seems like hes almost done growing up, and is starting to go out. He isnt a working dog, hes more of a companion, we do long hikes all the time and stuff but no 'work'. Im leaning towards neutering since his behavior has changed so drastically.

Again thanks! Its great to have a support system for advice!

I know a lot of people have weighed in already, but my dog didn't begin humping until AFTER we had him neutered. We had him neutered after 10 months. Prior to that, he never tried to hump anything or anyone. After the neuter, bring out the hump. He's since learned that other dogs don't like to be humped so much, and if he tries to hump them they turn around and he takes that as play time.

Hopefully your humping fun times go away!

They actually aren't done growing until they're close to two years, but as he's a pet I wouldn't worry about any problems from neutering. If it's what you want to do, then I'd do it, just keep in mind that it may not be a fix. It does take a few months for the testosterone to leave the system, and even then he might not stop. Keep being firm!

There is no evidence to support the claim that early neutering (5-6 months) inhibits growth. Iv'e witnesse countless larger breed dogs get spayed/neutered at 6 weeks from animal control and the shelters, and they all have grown with zero problems. Not ideal, but neutering at 6 months ruining joint formation for a family pet? That's not true. I'm not one to let misinformation get spread.

As for the humping, neutering probably will not help, but redirection and training will.

(Also as a side note- not all vet hospitals are after your money. The equipment that is used/ purhased to keep the hospital running costs money, we have to recoup the cost somehow...Most vets have your pets best interest at heart. Making blanket statements, and having first time pet owners come on and read things like that are detrimental, because they end up having preconceived ideas in their head when they take in thier new pup to the vet, if they do at all. Just something to think about. )

Hayden_69 wrote:

I heard that neutering early stunts their growth too and I asked my vet about it and she also confirmed that it is a myth.

We actually had our Vet flat out tell us it is not a myth, and agreed, stating that hormone development, as in all animals, is directly correlated to muscle, bone mass, and overall strength development.

I think we are all forgetting that Siberians are not a large breed; they are a medium breed. It has been proven, to some extent in large breeds. In reality, that doesn't effect our 35 - 60lb dogs.

In the end, none of us will agree on this subject. So neuter if you feel it's right and don't feel bad. Your dog, your choice.