Hi everyone, I was advised to join this group by some members of the Rottweiler uk group. I really hope you can help to give me some advice... Apologies for the long post. I have a 13 month old male Rottweiler (Django) who Im considering getting neutered very soon. I wasnt going to get him neutered at all, or at least wait until he was 2 years old (as was recommended by the vet so that he has chance to reach his full growth potential) BUT... Over the last 1-2 months I’ve had a few incidents that I don’t want to happen again… The first time, we were at the dog park. There were loads of dogs there, at least 50, possibly up to 100, of varying breeds and sizes. He was absolutely fine, friendly with all the dogs, no issues at all. This has always been his normal behavior around other dogs. Then someone came over with a male Doberman (intact) that wasn’t unfriendly, but Django just went crazy. I’d never seen him like that before. He sort or eyed up the Doberman for a split second then went into full on lunging, growling aggressive mode. Luckily I managed to grab his collar quickly. I told him “No!” sternly and pushed him into a down-stay position until he calmed down, but he wouldn’t really calm down and I couldn’t get him to break eye contact with the other dog and focus on me. In the end I made him walk away. A few minutes later, he was totally fine again – his usual happy-go-lucky self and playing around with the other dogs at the other side of the park, but when we saw that dog again later, he went crazy again (luckily he was on the lead). He’d never acted like this before; it was totally out of the blue. Since then he’s had a couple of other incidents like this (luckily he’s always been on the lead, so nothing bad has ever happened). He’s totally fine 99% of the time and such a lovely calm boy, even when street dogs run out into the street and bark aggressively at him (I live in Vietnam), he barely bats an eyelid, but sometimes – out of nowhere – he just flips. In the beginning I had no idea what was causing this behavior, it has probably happened 5-6 times in total now, and I’ve noticed a pattern – all the dogs he’s ever reacted to are intact males. Common sense tells me that it’s probably sensible to get him neutered and this, combined with consistent training, should help to eliminate the problem. However… I was advised by my vet and numerous other sources that large breed dogs should not be neutered until they’re at least 2 years old, otherwise they will not reach their full growth potential. Django is only 13 months right now… Also, I’ve been advised that neutering does not necessarily do anything. So, I’d really appreciate your opinion on the following points: - Is there something I’m missing here? Am I right in thinking neutering may help this problem? (I’m not expecting it to fix the issue entirely, obviously training is needed too, but do you think it will help?) - What age (if at all) did you get your dogs neutered? Do you think 13 months is too young? - Can you give any advice/tips on how I should handle this situation? I’m currently telling him “NO!” very sternly and making him lie down until he calms down. Is this right? I’ve also tried the “Let’s go” technique, but I don’t feel like it really works as I can’t get him to focus on me at that time and I feel like I’m just dragging him away. I’ve tried to get a trainer to help me, but there really aren’t any here in Vietnam and the advice I’ve got from UK trainers over the phone/internet is pretty much what I’m doing already… I just want to make sure I’m doing the right thing and try to nip this problem in the bud before it escalates. I should mention, he’s been very well socialized from a young age. He’s very obedient most of the time (sit, stay, down, paw, high 5, play dead, etc.) The only command he struggles with is “Come” when we’re outside and he’s having fun. 80% of the time he’s great, but occasionally he will ignore me if he’s having too much fun. He’s a really lovely dog and I love him to pieces, so any advice you can give would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 07:06:04 +0000
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