Thanks for all of your opinions. I think I will end up getting him fixed; but, right now the worst he is doing is marking the tunnel on the agility course. I just have to watch him a little closer. I think I'll give him a few more monthat least. I have also emailed the breeder I got him from and want to get their opinion. I'm no expert by any means; however, he has only ben on this earth for 14 months and since I am not absolutely sure what else we will be doing, I think I will wait just a little longer. Thanks... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Phil R - check your PMs.

I have a question for all of you. From personal experience, do you feel that neutering will curb excessive marking behaviour to any great degree?

I have a friend with a brother to my dog, 3 yrs old, pet/comp. OB, that she is thinking of doing, only because of the excessive need of this dog to sniff and pee everywhere, to the degree that he is very hard to train when in that mode. She is not concerned about the dogs activity level, protective ability, etc. changing, only the marking behaviour. Will it make any difference at this age?

Phil

The longer you wait, the less response you will get from the nuetering. If you made that choice, do it soon.

At three it won't do a thing, IMHO.

Dobermann,
I agree with OldE that it won't change anything at this age. The extreme marking behavior sounds like a mixture of things.
First, understand that male dogs will want to sniff/mark any new place you take them. I like to get it out of the way by putting mine on leash, and walking around a small area with him, allowing him a few minutes of free time to do this in the area of my choosing. After that, he's much more content to get down to business and focus on the work at hand. Same with walks around the neighborhood. I'll take him to the small grassy area kitty corner from our house and let him sniff/pee a little, then off we go on our walk, at which point, I do NOT allow him to stop and sniff/pee every vertical object. I will allow it a few times during the walk, just because I'm benevolent, but always in the area of my choosing, on my terms. I say when it's OK to stop and pee, and when it's time to get back to the business of walking.
I don't know your friend, so I can't say for certain what is going on, but I would imagine that she needs to make sure she "airs" her dog before beginning work, and when walking him, do not allow him to stop and sniff/pee whenever he wants. It can also be an avoidance behavior, if he finds the work too boring or stressful. She might want to evaluate her training methods.

I'll probably do it within the next 6 or 8 months. Thanks again.

Dobermann

In addition to avoidance, as L. says, it could also be just a lack of control of the dog and he is just doing his own thing and ignoring the owner.

Thanks guys for the replies. My friend just happened to ask me because her vet advised neutering for the extreme marking behaviour. I do know that this dog is very strong in character, fairly dominant, and also her training is mostly motivational. The vet seemed to think that once the hormones were gone, the marking behaviour would decrease over time, allowing the dog to be able to focus more on the owner, less on 'who peed where'. I use the same vet and do not find him to push neutering to most people, so I was wondering if perhaps he had a valid point?

If this dog is a companion dog, then neutering him wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. Marking behavior is not entirely hormonal, though, so neutering him would only be in addition to behavior modification; it won't fix his behavior in and of itself. The reduction of hormonal activity will only affect the hormonal part of the behavior, but not the behavior itself (am I making any sense at all??).
There is nothing wrong with motivational training, even with dominant dogs. Your friend should correct him every time he tries to mark instead of following a command. Even a simple firm "Nope" when he even begins to sniff or lift his leg, and well timed praise when he stops, would go a long way to correcting the behavior when applied *consistently*.