Sooooo... we did it. Errol is now neutered.

[wvvdiup1]

Emmabeth, just wondering how Errol is doing?

[emmabeth]

He's fine, pretty much back to normal today just still a little less confident about bullying the older males. In all other respects, hes as he was pre-op.

[wvvdiup1]

Good to hear, emmabeth! Before you know it, he'll be back to "almost" his "old self" again!

[jacksdad]

... Before you know it, he'll be back to "almost" his "old self" again!

hopefully not...you can only neuter once

[wvvdiup1]

jacksdad wrote: hopefully not...you can only neuter once

in reply to my last post,

Before you know it, he'll be back to "almost" his "old self" again!

That's why I said "Almost"!

[Sarah83]

How's he doing now Emmabeth?

[emmabeth]

Hmmmm

We had a bad day the other day where he had a go at Dilly dog three times in the space of about four hours, however all these were redirections rather than him purposely going over to Dill, grring at him then having a pop..

I have set up our bedroom so that Dill has a hidey hole that means Errol cannot fly off the bed (or out from under it) and nab him directly so thats put a stop to him doing that in our room which has meant Dilly is sleeping better at night and is much more relaxed in the day and therefore less of a victim!

There is now NO 'stand over the other dog and put my balls in his face', behaviour and very little wandering around growling at the boys and trying to control where they go - we still have to watch the flash points like food time or walkies time.

Rocky and Dilly are MUCH more relaxed, which has surprised me a bit, they are definitely showing the bigger change in behaviour at the moment, and Dilly has told Errol to get lost a few times now.

When it comes to interacting with us, Errol is quicker to respond to stuff we tell him, particularly distracting or redirecting him from some evil plan - on the downside he is more reactive to scary stuff particularly outside.

[jacksdad]

.....on the downside he is more reactive to scary stuff particularly outside.

would you have considered him a confident dog before?

[emmabeth]

Oh no.. hes a scaredy 'shout at it make it go away' dog.. and now more so - I did suspect that this would happen but on balance.. well we can to a certain extent control what he is exposed to outdoors and with visitors coming here...

We can't keep him if he persists in trying to bully and fight my older two dogs - so I'll take the bad side of things as it means he can stay here.

Errol, it has to be said, is a lesson in not buying a dog from a breeder who has failed to socialise - he was well over 8 weeks (12 to 14 i think) when we got him so nearly at the end of his socialisation window - his Mum displayed similar 'shout at it make it go away' behaviour at sounds outside, and he had only met a vet once, and members of his own family, both canine and human (so two adult females and one adult male human, and some shi tzus and a bulldog, all of whom he bullied mercilessly!).

Still, between beating my head off a wall for being so foolish, I remind myself he teaches me a LOT every day

[jacksdad]

interesting. lots to be learned by this dog. what your sharing certainly challenges, confirms and raise questions about a lot of things.