What the heck!! Yet another stage?!

[Lyn]

Bubba is 21.5 months old. I thought the crazy "I don't hear you and I'm going to drive you crazy" stages were over with. But I think he's going through yet another one.

He's back to sniffing out the counters and the kitchen table, ignoring my commands, refusing to come when called. Mouthing although not as bad as the previous 'stages', but it's still annoying.. The usual adolescent stuff.

Then lastnight he was pestering me.. nudging etc.., apparently he wanted to play because when I turned to him and said "What do you want?" and he litterally "TACKLED" me off the kitchen chair and pounced on me once I hit the floor. Once I stood up he took off and layed down. Like he corrected himself. LOL He plays with hubby that way but never attempted it with me before. It was a painful experience to say the least.

I know he views me as alpha.. No problems there. When given commands even by my hubby he looks to me before he complies. Lola does it too and it drives my hubby nuts. LOL

The only other thing I can think of that *may* be contributing to this psycho behaviour is that there is a female in heat in the area outside on a tye-out. (yet another stupid neighbor) When I was first told about it, Bubba didn't seem to notice at all. Then the occasional bouts of whining started, then he wanted outside every 10 minutes to mark all around the yard (another behaviour I wasn't thrilled with, but at least it's outside and not in the house). The "I don't hear you" stuff just started 2 days ago.

Can anyone tells me the general behaviour of a male when he senses a 'lady in waiting'? lol

Maybe it's a combination a 'stage' and the female in heat? In anycase it sucks and I just needed to vent. LOL

[schelmischekitty]

i'm so sorry for you!  i know it can hurt a lot by axle, and yours probably weighs about the same as him.  none of our dogs listen to my hubby either, but they will listen to my 3 y/o  sorry you're having to go through this because of someone else's ignorance!

[MagicM3]

OH MY I hate to say this he he but it happened to me with Magic at about the same age,and I couldn't for the life of me figure it out.

He knew better and it got to the point that I thought he was just doing it for the attention,even negitive attention.


I asked friends and dog trainers etc... and I hit the books on bouv's again.And I found what worked for me.

I know Bubba isn't a bouv but I think it falls more into a personality thing than a breed thing

The answer for me was *letting him know when he did the right things*

I am guilty of this,once obedience sinks in I take it for granted,and expect it.

Magic was one of these that *needed* to know when he was doing it right.

So I went back to some basic obedience with lots of positive attention for the good things,and then just continued on in EVERY OTHER AREA of of lives.

Females in heat can affect all males in different ways even ones that are fixed.

So it might be both, you can give it a try though.

Tricia and the fur kids.

[aggghgmom]

I'm sorry that Bubba is behaving badly.  I hope you did'nt get hurt when he sent you flying off the chair (But I must admit I did LOL).

I don't have any advise since Harley doesn't listen to a word any of us says unless he really wants to - or if I stand right over him.  When we put him in a down it appears that he has springs in him as he pops up immediately, then we put him down again, pops up again....you get the picture.  He also doesn't listen AT ALL to my husband; occasionally my son and daughter but not my husband.

Best of luck with you babies.

Randy & Harley

[bluskygirl]

I went through this with my last dog Pepper. For me it was the same thing as with Magic; that I had taken her training for granted and stopped positively reinforcing the good behaviors. She realized that there was no longer any reason to do it becuase it wasn't "pleasing me".  As soon as I got back on the ball again with it she was much better.  Training/obedience is really a lifetime committment I found out from her.  I don't know anything about boys with regard to females in heat becuase I've always had girl dogs... I have no idea why. Good luck!

[Lyn]

Oh laugh it up.. LOL It was kinda funny afterwards.. I was sitting sideways on the kitchen chair so it was in essence like a football tackle, his head hit me right in the chest pushing me backwards and knocking the wind out of me. So instead of being all like 'oh mom did I hurt you?' while I'm on the floor trying to catch my breath, he pounced on me. The turd. I have some good bruises to show for it now. 

We do NILIF with both Bubba and Lola and I practice obedience with them both daily. I'm not working so I'm home pretty much 24/7, I have lots of free time, lol. With Bubba I always praise him when he complies the first time I give a command. If he ignores me he gets nothing. That worked great up until lately.

After today I think the female in heat is the major issue. When he's outside you can't get his attention at all and inside he's completely distracted and wanting back outside. It's like he's supercharged with energy.. Lola is even getting annoyed with him. He whines and starts pacing and she will chase behind him and nip at his legs.

I've been honestly re-thinking the plan to let Lola mature and spay her when she's 2. (My vet is a firm believer of allowing giant breeds to mature before spaying/neutering as long as your responsible enough to prevent pregnancy of course) So the plan was to have Bubba neutered before Lola ever went into heat. But after seeing how he reacts to a female in heat, snipped or not he's going to drive me nuts if I let Lola go into heat at all.

Ahhhh.. The joys of raging hormones.. LOL I'm definitely going to have 'the talk' with my hubby. Maybe take them in and get them both done at the same time. Heck with it.. LOL

[TheUnSaintlySaintClan]

Hey Lyn. Sorry to hear about the tackling you took. But I've got to tell you...it did sound hilarious. Hilarious, because I could see it happening in my house too...So don't feel bad.  Sometimes makes you wonder why they're called "Saints". LOL

I know you've said that Bubba has been really passive when a female is in heat, but if he's starting to get more "anxious" you might want to go ahead and get him fixed. Simon was 16 months and has done great. But before he was fixed, he was he** on wheels when a female went into heat. He has definitely calmed since then.

I haven't heard about letting the giants get to age 2 before fixing them. I always thought it was good to do it early because it could prevent certain cancers. But either way...good luck!!! And keep us in the loop on how those beautiful Saints of yours are doing.

[Lyn]

Bubba has always been easily excited, so that's really nothing new. It's the over the top excitement that's different. He's actually been ok today like he just snapped out of it. But I'll have to see how the rest of the day goes. LOL

I had a page saved on early neutering vs waiting and allowing the growth plates to close.. but I lost all my favorites when the pc crashed and we had to format. I couldn't get back in to save everything. Does anyone remember the link I'm talking about?

I found this.. Not the link I had but close..

http://www.bigpawsonly.com/index.php/topic,9884.0.html