Sexual maturity in male toy dogs – some concerns

I have been contacted by many parents whose children's male dog starts to display some sexual behavior, especially in front of the kids. One parent called me to help her get a female dog to mate with their dog in other to stop their dog from humping on objects or people's feet. Many of them say these things laughing so it sounds harmless and funny. The major concern they usually have is how to explain what is happening to their little curious kids because the kids won't stop asking.

Another issue usually faced when these male dogs are maturing sexually is their tendency to mark objects in the house with their urine. Some of them can be so stubborn that you caution them and they still repeat it. This can make the house start smelling bad and mostly force these owners to send the dog out of the house.

Another one that is commonly reported is when they hump on objects that their 'peepee' (penis) sticks out and stays out for up to 5 minutes. Most people call me thinking something very bad had happened to their dog. After some interrogation and explanations, they get to understand what is happening.

These sexual behavioral changes in male dogs are among the things I try to discuss with parents who want to get a male dog as a pet for their kids. I don't discuss it to sway them towards the female dogs because the females have their own sexual maturity issues too and most times I talk about both, to help them choose the ones they can handle. The truth is that the parents mostly end up caring for these pets more than their kids whose names are in our register.

The question is: does getting a female dog to mate with the dog stop the male from humping at objects? To an extent, it does help to reduce it. Some testimonies I have gotten say that it helped to reduce it drastically. My dog, Drizzy, a Lhasa Apso breed of dog, did that also and when Truffy, a Havanese breed, a client's female dog came for extended boarding in my house, the behavior reduced. I noticed he was trying to mount Truffy continuously and Truffy will keep fighting him off. Of course, Drizzy won't fight back because he is in love or “in lust”. Objects at home stopped receiving the humping from him at that moment.

Truffy eventually allowed him to mate when she was already on heat and fought him off when the heat was over. Drizzy now started to become patient waiting for the next heat so he can be allowed. I also start using him for stud service. That guy has almost 200 puppies circulating in Abuja through this stud service.

The only thing that didn't stop was the marking with his urine which actually increased. He wanted to mark everywhere including the clinic whenever I took him along. He constantly baptises my car tyres one after the other whenever I got home daily. And at the clinic, he will sneak out to spray people's car tyres as well.

I don't know your own experience, please tell us in the comment section.