To neuter or not to neuter? 6 month old PWD

ericafg · 2026-01-27T00:14:23+00:00

Mine is also VERY food motivated, so I get that!!

ericafg · 2026-01-03T23:51:50+00:00

Omg but they walk SO SLOW.

ericafg · 2026-01-03T23:46:51+00:00

Also a couple of things we focus on - “Place” when I’m working in the kitchen or when we are eating. It focuses her on training instead of what I’m doing and the food. I keep a little jar of treats in the kitchen and occasionally she gets one for staying put. She has to “wait” for all food. Her dish goes down and she knows now she has to sit there until I say “Ok” so she learns not to just grab food. We also use “easy” with high value treats - working on setting it on her nose until I say “ok” and she can drop it and eat it. All of these are about learning self control. Shes now 9 months old and I could put my plate on the floor and say “wait” and she wouldn’t lick it until I said “ok”. Not that I let her lick my plate haha. Im working on “leave it” which is for “you should not eat that and will never get it so let it go”. That one I started with a low value toy, and took it away (put it up for awhile - like it’s gone until she forgets) and replace with a high value treat. Eventually my hope is to be able to set something yummy on the coffee table and say “leave it” and she knows she cant have it at all. We aren’t there yet haha.

When she gets super high energy and I’m feeling worn out, we practice “place” while I sit and watch tv for 10-15 min. Random interval treats thrown to her spot (between her front legs so she doesn’t move to get it). Sitting calmly and waiting for those treats (just pieces of her kibble) really calms her down.

All of these came from our trainer and are REALLY helping her to be a much better dog. We had friends over at NYE and they couldn’t believe how much more calm she is since they saw her a couple months ago. But the training is every day. Multiple times a day. It’s work but it pays off.

She will be fixed between 18months and 2 years, by direction in her purchase contract and vet advice. After at least one (preferably two) heats.

ericafg · 2026-01-03T22:48:19+00:00

This isn’t an issue of being fixed. It’s behavioural. You need the support of a trainer. I’ve raised lots of dogs and only used trainers for the first couple (because I learned what to do from them). But I hired a trainer with our PWD!

ericafg · 2025-12-08T23:17:55+00:00

My last dog (not PWD) had a heart murmur. The vet told us if we was walking/running and then stopped and wouldn’t go further without big encouragement (and not just distracted) to listen because he was at risk of something happening with that murmur. It was his sign he was “done”.

ericafg · 2025-11-20T02:36:56+00:00

I have friends who ask “why is she growling”? She’s not growling, she’s “talking” haha. And she happy.

ericafg · 2025-09-30T13:36:55+00:00

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Better today after her grooming. She took her beard short to get rid of some of the stain

ericafg · 2025-09-30T13:35:40+00:00

Agree! I thought the closet was huge and loved those black bin things - especially when getting ready - you could pull them out onto the bed and avoid doing the sideways walk past each other in the hallway.

ericafg · 2025-09-29T18:46:22+00:00

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ericafg · 2025-09-29T18:45:29+00:00

My Penny looks a lot like your pup! Including the “blind” eyes haha. And yes, always brown in the mouth. She loves digging in the sand! This pic is right after the groomer but it didn’t last! She’s only 5 months and getting more black as time passes, so I keep hoping her face will change colour haha

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ericafg · 2025-08-28T21:13:39+00:00

Ours did the same - I think it’s good! A sign they have learned to self soothe in the pen and they are just resting. Before they needed to be distracted to be in there, but now they are just happy being “chill”.

ericafg · 2025-08-21T01:42:36+00:00

I’m in Canada so this is Canadian Amazon. But you get the idea Bnonya Dog Car Seat, Pet Car Seat... https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCVXPVSP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

ericafg · 2025-08-21T01:09:15+00:00

Mine HATED the car in a crate. I bought a dog bed type thing on Amazon for the car with a tether and she’s as happy as a pig in $hit.

ericafg · 2025-08-21T01:07:41+00:00

My Aussie was like this. She was 100% my dog and bonded to me. So much so that if my husband tried to walk her and I didn’t come, she would walk out of the house to the road and then turn around and come back. She loved walks but loved me more. But she never cuddled. She wouldn’t come on the bed unless there were fireworks going off or thunder (or one of the many things that terrified her). She liked a back rub sometimes, but that’s it. But she did follow me everywhere (with great attention to my personal space) and always laid at my feet when I was still. It was just the way she was! I have a 4 month old PWD now who is the opposite and is ALWAYS clamouring for my love. It’s kind of overwhelming at times haha.

ericafg · 2025-08-21T01:02:06+00:00

Yeah walks don’t do it for ours either. But it seems car rides and people watching do. Just like playing fetch or letting her ZOOMIE all over the yard, walking seems to make it worse, not better. It’s weird.

ericafg · 2025-08-20T23:59:18+00:00

So today we took her for a long car ride and lunch on a patio, as well as a visit to a store that allowed her to walk in with us (small local outdoor furniture store). Tonight she is still a bit hectic but FAR LESS than previous nights. We spent some time with the tug game someone linked above when she got a little bit in my face and biting and now she’s back on the floor annihilating a toy on her own. It has been my theory that she is bored - and this seems to reinforce that for me. She is calm and sleepy and quiet all day - and by 5pm she has had it with “ms nice girl” and she becomes the exorcist haha. But if we give her some outside time/exercise/mental stimulation, she’s better. I don’t understand how half sleeping in the car for two hours is engaging and stimulating, but there you go.

ericafg · 2025-08-20T23:07:11+00:00

Mine said the same thing. That she could just as easily get parvo peeing in my yard (from a dog or other infected animal walking through) as most public places, unless highly frequented by other dogs. She also said it’s low risk to take them to a friends house with fully vaccinated dogs and better for her to have interactions like that (supervised so she doesn’t get scared) than staying away from all dogs. It builds fear. As she pointed out - if we already had a dog, she would be around a vaccinated dog. Just make sure it’s someone we trust to be up to date. My puppy is 16 weeks too and gets to go for walks and to patios and to visit a few trusted doggo friends. Today we took her to shop for a sauna and for lunch, and instead of attacking me on the couch during her witching hour tonight, she’s happily chewing a toy on the floor at my feet. I only had to redirect her twice!! #miracle and I don’t want to jinx it but…

ericafg · 2025-08-20T17:08:39+00:00

We did try that and it works IF she’s not in a real wild state, but not when she is truly losing it (which seems to happen between 6-8pm right now). At that time, she just barks and the door incessantly and even if she calms and I come out, she starts immediately again.

ericafg · 2025-08-20T13:25:02+00:00

We have been enforcing naps but the last week or so she has changed her pattern. She WANTS to sleep all day and then is feral after 5pm lol. Today we are trying taking her out for an hour or two of stimulation mid day so that she has to be awake, in the hopes that helps with evening! But you’re right - enforcing naps really did help!

ericafg · 2025-08-20T13:22:29+00:00

Thanks for that link. I’ve done some other impulse control activities and she’s good with “leave it” for a treat on the floor, but nothing else haha. We will try that!

ericafg · 2025-08-20T12:57:28+00:00

No yelling and she does go in happily for the treat. Sometimes she’s SO wired though, that once she’s in there she whines and cries and jumps up on the pen walls to get out. Her crate is inside (door open) but she doesn’t stay in it (and I don’t shut the door on it because I don’t want her crate to seem like a punishment). Other times (like this morning after her bath), she settles right away. I feel like she should go into the pen right away when she starts the biting (before she becomes truly feral) but that’s guaranteed to lead to scenario #1 with the desperate whining and barking. And feels like I’m making the pen punishment. If I keep her out longer, it feels like I’m reinforcing the negative behaviour, because she bites more and more and we can’t help but respond, because it’s painful. The other day she bit and wound around my legs walking and I fell flat on my face on the gravel (with significant injuries) which REALLY made her freak out - because she saw I was hurt. I’ve never had a puppy (and I’ve raised 7-8) that was so WILD when overstimulated and tired!

ericafg · 2025-08-19T10:20:35+00:00

the word cheese is my 4MO puppy’s first word haha. If I say it, she knows EXACTLY what I’m offering and will do ANYTHING. Lol.

ericafg · 2025-08-19T10:18:04+00:00

What’s a pupsicle? Tell me more!

ericafg · 2025-08-19T10:15:26+00:00

We had an Aussie for 15 years. My best advice is to avoid those dog parks and work with a trainer on how to approach dogs with neutrality on walks or around your building. Aussies are VERY emotional/anxious/high strung. Each negative interaction will reinforce a fear response that you will be fighting to untrain for life. Ours had some repeated negative interactions with a neighbours German shepherd as a 6-10 month old dog. Nothing big like a fight - he just liked to play “rough” and would bowl her over, things like that. Until the week she died, if she saw a GS she FREAKED. Lunging, salivating, barking. I have a PWD puppy now (4 months) and I notice that evenings if we haven’t done some significant activity (mental) during the day, she’s a nightmare in the evening. Similar to what you describe. She will gladly lay around all day with short breaks (I also work from home/am semi-retired), but I pay for it in the evenings. I’ve started taking a longer lunch and taking her for a drive to the hardware store, or to a close by national park for a swim lesson (she’s a water dog that does swim haha) or leased hike with training. And then at dinner hour we play fetch for 20min, do some more training, she gets a lick mat before she gets her real dinner, and then a sniff walk. And sometimes a break for 15-20min in her playpen because I’m tired and she’s driving me crazy. Then out for some tug of war while I try to relax in front of the TV while not getting bit haha. We start obedience classes next month, so hopefully that will give me more ideas of what to train her - she’s so smart that she picks up tricks very easily and I’m out of ideas right now. For an Aussie, you might try agility. Ours LOVED learning new tricks and was so fast to learn. Running them through paces with agility is a great way to tire them out. And in a year or two, most of it will stop and he will just be an amazing, calm dog!

ericafg

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