DOG ATTACKS HIS PENIS

Dear Your Own Vet’s Animal Behaviorist,

My dog is a two year old mixed shepherd and after finishing his obedience and protection training he started to behave very weirdly, he is attacking his penis!!  It has been 10 months now and he is not getting better at all! In addition to being very aggressive, two vets in Lebanon diagnosed this case as a psychological case.  One of them said that he should take a medicine called Prozac as well as letting him play and do everything to get rid of the stress inside him, also a dog trainer said that he needs to get married.  I do not know what to do to heal my dog – please help me.

 

Hi there,

The fact that your dog attacks his penis is indeed a unique problem.
What worries me is that this could actually be a medical problem. He would have something wrong with his penis – but you do say that you have seen two vets. This behaviour is not normal, and I’m sure that he is in some pain.
But you also don’t mention is your dog is neutered? I totally disagree with the dog trainer, that says he needs to get married! The best thing would be to get him neutered, so that he doesn’t get rushes of testosterone which could be a cause of his doing this behaviour. He also will get urges if he smells a bitch in season nearby, and this could exacerbate the problem.
Being a mixed Shepherd, he does have a lot of energy, so he needs a lot of stimulation to get any frustrations out of his system. Dogs also can get aggressive when they have rushes of testosterone – another reason for neutering.
Before going on Prozac, you can try some homeopathic remedies. I am not sure if you have a homeopathic chemist near to where you live? If you do, ask them to make something up to calm your dog down.
Strong medication should only be a last resort.
It is very difficult for me to give advice over the internet, as I have not seen the dog or the problem. When I do a home visit I can spend up to two hours or more as I need to actually see what is happening.
I hope that my reply above helps you. I still strongly advise neutering.

Regards,
Kathy Clayton
Chairman of the Animal Behaviour Consultants of South Africa
https://yourownvet.com