Ive never owned a male dog before Cody, so im new to the hormonal behaviour side of things. He is 5 1/2 months old, and i was planning on taking him to be desexed over the next few weeks (the vet recommended doing it at about 6 months).
I live in the suburbs, so there are houses all around with dogs, and the last week or so he has been digging to try to get under the fence to get to the dogs next door. I am certain that this is the reason, as he only digs when the other dogs are at the fence and barking.
I have a few theories for this behaviour, and I was just wondering which one would be most likely:
- Maddie (my other dog, lives with my parents) has been placed on complete rest for 6 weeks; meaning Cody isnt getting his 2-3 times weekly socialisation and is looking for another dog to play with.
- One week ago I had an operation on my knee, so I havent been able to take Cody for walks. Instead I have been taking him to the park down the road so that we can play fetch. He is exhausted by the end of it, but perhaps this isnt enough physical exercise and he is getting bored? I have still been doing tricks with him.
- His hormones are taking over. At the park yesterday we saw another dog (female great dane x; bout his size) and we let them run together for ages. Then he just kept trying to mount her (not very successfully, he didnt have any idea what end!) which quickly became tiresome. Her owners werent too concerned as she was only really young too, and hadnt had her first bleed yet; but eventually we split them up and took them home (we didnt encourage the behaviour though, just kept throwing the ball for them, when they returned it, he'd move over to her so we'd throw it again). It was the first time I had seen him display "male" behaviour, and I was wondering if this could explain trying to get to the dogs next door. I know the one on one side is a female golden; perhaps she is in heat and he is trying to get to her? Im not sure about the one on the other side.
I realise that both BC's and ACD's are great diggers, and he has always dug a little; but this sudden desire to dig really large (body size) craters is rather annoying. If need be I will use balloons etc to discourage the digging, but if it looks like something that will be fixed when he sees the vet, I wont try too hard with it.
Sorry, didnt mean for this to be so long... Thanks for reading it
