Two questions pertaining to dogs...

[Lothiriel]

One weird one.. and one awkward one.

First, is a male "thing" to lay/sleep on their back with their hind legs spread-eagle? Riley does this all the time, as well as our male cat. Our female dog never does this.

And the awkward question... Riley is our first male dog.. and he's been... shall we say.. "immodest" a couple times. He did it yesterday and my 10 year old brother got incredibly scared...

He'd not seen it the first times, so he thought something terrible had happened to Riley. My friend's male Lab who isn't fixed does it too. I don't know if my other friend's Schoodle who IS fixed does it... So... Is it just something unneutered males do, or do they do it regardless? And do they even know what's going on? Like, so they have control?

 

[Tiramisu]

First. No, depends on the dog. We have a female there that does it a lot, and considering her age I'm surprised she can still lay that way lol. Sometimes it worries me though when she does it against the fence. (I work at a kennel).

Not quite sure what you are asking for the second one. Like is his junk sticking out more? If that's the question, it doesn't matter. A nuetered male may not do it as much though. We actually had a dog that did have a problem with that and they tried to fix it a bit when they nuetered him..seems like it didn't really work though.

 

[Lothiriel]

Yeah, that's what I meant.

Ok. So I guess we'll have to see what happens when he gets neutered.. We are hoping it will help...

 

[terrilhb]

I have dogs now that do that all the time. But I had other dogs that did not do it. All depends on the dog. I was always told if a dog or cat does this it means they trust you and feel completely safe. Don't know if it is true just something that was told to me.

 

[AinaWGSD]

For the first question, I don't think it's just a male thing. My female GSD does it too, although not quite as often as my male.

As for the awkward question....??? I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "immodest." I will share a funny story about my neutered male though that may or may not help answer this question. He was neutered very young, at around 13 weeks (we adopted him at 14 weeks and that was just about a week after his neuter). At the time, he'd never tried to mount anything (probably because all the dogs he hung out with as a puppy would have kicked his but if he'd even thought about it). We were at a rally trial, in the middle of a run, and came to the one of the "come front" exercises where the dog has to come and sit directly in front of you. For this particular exercise, he had to do this from a heel (I did take a few steps backwards to allow him space to turn around and come in front of me). I started taking the steps backwards, and from the corner of my eye I see him start humping the air. He was doing it as he was starting to come towards me, the whole time giving me this horrified look that said, "Mom! I have no idea what's going on! What's happening?!. If I hadn't been in the ring I would have died laughing! As it was I had to take a few steps back to recompose both of us and try that exercise again! He was very excited, it had been hard keeping his focus during the first part of the run, and it just sort of happened. I'm sure he didn't know what was going on at all, as was evidenced by the look he was giving me.

Oh, the "rocket" thing! Yes, it's normal and most dogs will do that regardless of whether they are neutered or not. I work at a vet and every now and then you hear someone at work telling a dog to "put it away!" It happens more when they are very relaxed or very excited. I'm not sure if they realize it's happening or not.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Some dogs are just very comfortable in that position, spread eagle and sawing logs!

Pertaining to the other question. I have not seen a difference between how often an intact male dog and a neutered male dog has is stuff showing. Most of the time it is when they are sitting down and things just get pushed forward a bit and everything is relaxed so it sticks out. You may or may not find a difference after he is neutered. If you are asking about him being "excited" and being able to see his..stuff...then neutering will help in that case.

 

[CheekyMare]

Dogs don't understand the concept of modesty. It's nothing bad and nothing he should be punished for. It does tend to be less common in neutered dogs. If he's mounting people(or other dogs or furniture) that's another story...

 

[Lothiriel]

Aww poor boy!

Riley has tried humping Ginger and when he does it we push him off with a big "NO!" because we don't want him getting into that habit.

I guess what I mean is... Like Tira said, he's sticking his "junk" out.. and leaving it..

 

[terrilhb]

Humping is also a sign of dominance. All these things are normal.

 

[dedicateddourly]

My dog was neutered, but his "lipstick" would come out occasionally, especially when his favorite people came to visit. Also, he did like to be rubbed in that area. If your leg was crossed over the other so that your foot was in the air, Kurn (in my avatar) would position himself so that the foot would make contact with him, lol. He never humped people but there were a few dogs that he felt the need to dominate.