Dog urine marking and humping
We recently adopted a rescue beagle (2yo male neutered). He is an absolute angel except for two things. One, whenever he enters new territory (indoors), he scent marks compulsively, irregardless of the presence of other animals past or present. Once he is accustomed to the new place, he doesn’t do it. This has happened at our house, friends’ houses, and stores. And if we clap loudly and say, “No, Bernie!” he’ll stop – even in mid-mark! We would like to take him places without having to watch him like a hawk for the first half hour to forty five minutes. The second issue – and probably related – is compulsive humping. He’ll do it once you’ve been playing with him on the floor or ground for about twenty minutes and he’s getting really worked up. He doesn’t do it to other dogs, and he usually only humps human females. He doesn’t respond as well to correction on this one. We’ve mostly tried distracting him or re-directing his focus, but it’s not working too well. He was about a year and a half when he was neutered (that’s when he arrived at a local shelter). Nothing is known about him before that, but it’s quite likely he was used as a hunting beagle because he was found in a part of Louisiana that still uses beagles and other hounds as working/hunting dogs. He spent six months in the shelter and then a few months in foster care where he was with about ten other dogs where he was the smallest (he’s about twenty pounds). We’re wondering if dominance issues might be involved…? He doesn’t like being put on his back to have his belly rubbed, which suggests a dominant personality – but then he cowers a fair amount and won’t sustain eye contact which suggests a submissive personality. Other things that might be useful to know: he loves other dogs, likes humans, completely ignores cats unless they try to eat his food and then he barks, is VERY well housetrained, loves his crate, and is a classic beagle in that he spends our walking time with his nose glued to the ground and will do just about anything – including the classic Snoopy dance – to get food of any kind. Thank you in advance.
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Dog crying out in pain when shaking head
My dog (10yo male neutered Rottweiler) has been having pain and crying our occaisionally when he shakes his head. He has problems with his hips and a vet told me I could give him aspirin for that. He also has some small knots on his neck area. I have also noticed him cry out sometimes if he bumps his head lightly on something. Any Idea what the problem might be? And what I can do for him?
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Dog with red scabby skin on stomach
My yellow lab (4yo male neutered) has developed a red splochy stomach and it has some scabs on it. It also looks like he is losing slight bits of hair in spots on his front and rear shoulders. Im thinking that it might be heat spots or some kind of skin disease. We have 2 other Golden Retrievers and neither of them have developed any symptoms, What could be the cause of this?
Note : Dog question from Ask A Vet. Click here for answer (answer available FREE for 24 hours after posting afterwhich you will need to pay $3.95 to view the answer). See other pet questions.