While playing 'fetch' last week, Ramsay took a break and started sniffing around the basement floor - not an unusual occurrence as he does tend to follow his nose. The difference this time was that I saw his tail briefly flip up in mid-stride. My fears were confirmed - at 21wks and change, Ramsay had begun to mark. After some choice expletives and chasing dogbert around the sofa a few times (such avoidant behavior was a first hint that something was up), I sequestered him in his pen - where he promptly deposited an unusually large amount of urine at the complete OPPOSITE end of the pen from his wee-wee pads / potty patch. "Here we go..." I said, shaking my head in frustration. We had finally truly reached...ADOLESCENCE!
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| don't be fooled by the calm, stately posture and the bionic eye. this little man has a secret! |
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| [WINK!] 'i've been naughty! don't tell mom and dad!" |
Adolescence: that "wonderful" time of a dog's life when it seems he has forgotten EVERYTHING that he has been taught. We can deal with the avoidant behavior and the barking-to-challenge-us - a little extra attention, encouragement and training have helped with these issues. But this marking business could send us back to our 8-10wk puppy stress levels! In order to protect our sanity (and our carpets!), NewMama and I have been extra vigilant with dogbert while off-leash/un-crated/un-penned in the house. So far, so good...as far as we can tell/smell!
24 weeks can't come soon enough - neuter/microchip time! With OzzY, neutering brought him back a to pre-adolescent/model-dog state. We're hoping the same will hold true for Ramsay!
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