Merlin's adolscence is cracking me up!!!
Merlin had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago. He's been showing some of the normal signs of adolescence - testing limits and so forth. But we've been very lucky, as he usually backs down pretty quickly (especially if we take away his greatest prize: our attention and affection), and he remains a very friendly and social boy who likes everybody (and sort of expects that everyone is going to like him too, which is not always the case  )But here's the thing that's cracking me up: for several months now we have noticed that from time to time he would suddenly seem a little freaked out, do some funny things with his back legs and then plop down suddenly wherever he was (even on a walk) looking a bit scared. At first we would think maybe he stepped on something or got stung by a bee, then we were worried he might have something wrong with his hips or knees... But, on closer inspection, these episodes always correspond to his being... well, a bit aroused. Poor baby, he doesn't know what to do with himself! I don't know if it's his age, or the fact that it's Spring, but it's more often and more severe now. Today we were getting ready to go for a walk (or at least, *I* was) and each time I went to put the leash on him he would quietly and gently take one of his front paws and push it away and look at me imploringly. I thought this was pretty weird because he LOVES "walkies" and usually gets to see some old friends and meet a few new people along the way, which are some of his very favorite things. Then when I tried to get him to walk toward the front door he started doing those weird things with his back legs and plopped down on the floor. I could see that he was having a bout of hormones. I decided to give him some time to chill out (seemingly the best remedy for this). Right now he is laying at my feet as I type, quietly whining and occasionally looking up at me as if for help. We'll try the walk again in a bit if it isn't too hot... Oh, our poor teenagery boy! Adolescence is so hard! |
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Sad but funny...  Did you go in the other room and laugh as to not embarrass him? |
| Well, it's hard to walk with 5 legs, We assume it is entirely natural but he might also have an infection or rash.............. |
| I was wondering if something else might be going on too. I had never heard of this before and I have a male that just turned one as well. If all is well it is certainly hard not to laugh at his dilemma. |
| oh my, I never even considered an infection or rash. I have never had a male dog and am ignorant about their issues. I am so embarrassed now. So please forgive me. It just struck me how you told the story as funny. I really hope nothing is wrong. |
| Oh dear! It never occurred to me to think of an infection. I figured it was just an idiosyncrasy of his. I will ask the vet on Monday - we're doing a check-in for what we think was a strained muscle so I'll ask her then. I have never really heard of this either (although this is our first male dog) and just thought he had an odd way of dealing with puberty! I felt bad for him, but found it amusing. If something is wrong I will feel SOOOOO terrible for having chuckled at his struggle. Thanks for your input. I do learn SO much from this community. I'll keep you posted as to what the vet says. For the moment, he is fine again - had his walk and is resting in the hallway with his teddy bear  |
| And you will all be heartened to know that he seems otherwise fine - eating, peeing, pooping and playing normally - except for these times when he just plops down, and has to wait to chill out. He doesn't appear to have a fever and his urine looks normal. I'll certainly follow up with the vet though. I'm feeling like such an inadequate puppy mommy for not having suspected something out of the ordinary. And I'm the type who runs him in to the doctor thinking for sure he's got a foxtail up his nose on a direct route to his brain if he sneezes more than a few times! |
He's probably just going thru those adolescent times and is emotionally confused, but good to talk to a vet about it. Apparently there's not licking or discomfort signs. Does he become aroused if he needs to go outside for business? Then it may be pressure on the prostate. Boys  |
| No, no licking (well, occasional licking, but no more than I'd expect from any dog I've ever known, and far lass than some). And it doesn't seem to correspond to when he needs to go do his business. If anything (and, honestly, I'm a bit embarassed to say it) it appears to correspond to my own cycles. Maybe some scent he's getting...? So I had my husband take him for his walk this evening and they did fine. Poor boy, he does seem pretty confused about what's happening to him. I had previously done a couple of internet searches on this odd behavior, but mostly I just get results about unwanted behaviors in adolescence. Haven't found anything at all about anyone having experience with this. He's a funny, sensitive boy and I hope this is just one of the funny things he does and not anything to worry about. |
| We always have male dogs predominantly at our house (and I grew up with showing/trialing dogs as well), and I've never had a male do that. Our 4 OES also have all been males. And our current household is 6 dogs - 5 males, 1 female. That's about our usual canine population. I would check it out. Might not be something medical, but I sure wouldn't say it's a normal occurrence by any means. |
| OK, so the vet said that the "penis crowning" can happen - especially at adolescence - during times of excitement or stress. And the sudden sitting can be about stress too. She knows him and thinks that it is probably more from excitement (or just hormones at this age too) and that he then freaks out about weird sensations in his body. But she said to just be aware of any other signs that he might be anxious at these times and that, either way, the best thing to do is to just take a time out to calm down - which is exactly what we do. So I think I can safely go back to snickering behind his back and just watch him for signs of stress or anxiety. He's usually a very relaxed guy, so it probably has more to do with puberty and excitement. He can definitely get excited and worked up in play situations or when there's the prospect of meeting new friends, so I'll just have to continue to try to work on that. Sometimes I can tell that he's using everything he has to control himself LOL! So I'm sure we'll get through adolescence fine |
 We pretty much thought it was a "teenage" thing. Check under his dog bed for Playboy magazines....or is that Play-B***h magazines? Guess Chewie, Bond, etc living on the farm are so used to animals breeding and such, meeting so many people at class, they are bored by the whole thing. Poor Bond became a Dad without having met his "date." I'd  Merlin but don't want to get him excited  |
| UPDATE: My poor boy! The behavior that I described above has continued. One day was so bad he couldn't go for a walk at all - though we tried several times. And of course, this was during my "time". Though I think scientific literature says that dogs don't respond to human pheromones/hormones, empirical evidence (in our house, anyway) would suggest that they do. The female techs and nurses at my vets office also said, "definitely". Anyway, it's been so severe for him at times, and so often now that I took him in for an exam just to make sure he didn't have an infection or something. Everything checked out fine. We did a urinalysis. Again, negative for the problems they would normally look for. Buuuuut... an unusually high number of sperm present in the urine. Sooooo, after spending money on an exam and tests, we find out that: SURPRISE! He's an adolescent boy! Vet suggested considering neutering him - both to prevent the unusual (and disruptive) urinary behavior, and to reduce the risk of prostatitis. I did a quick search on prostatitis and it looks to me like it may not really be a *significant* risk - not at this age anyway. Our reason for not neutering YET is that we have come across research showing a higher incidence of bone cancer in neutered males (specifically neutered before 1 year old). If there's even a chance we can decrease his risk of that horrible disease and there's no other medical or behavioral reason to neuter him it seemed a no-brainer. So we decided to wait until at least 18 months unless there was some other reason to consider it before then. Anyway, since you've all been so helpful, I just wanted to let you know that we've now effectively ruled out medical problems OTHER than adolescence. But I feel a bit bad for him since it's interfering with his daily activities at times. I've never been an adolescent male, but I presume that's par for the course and he'll get through it fine |
Quote: My poor boy! The behavior that I described above has continued. One day was so bad he couldn't go for a walk at all - though we tried several times. And of course, this was during my "time". Sorry, I just flashed on the book "Portnoy's Complaint."  If Merlin could write, he might be the next Philip Roth. |
| I had to look that one up. But... yeah |
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