To neuter or not???

Most people here will tell you to neuter, if you don't intend to breed from the dog, it's kinder. Intact males will try anything to escape for a female in heat and can get very frustrated. Not to mention the possibility of his escaping and getting at a bitch. Leading to an unwanted litter. I think it's generally accepted that the responsible and kinder thing to do it neuter. TBH if you suspect your vet is just trying to make a sale, you might want to look at changing to a vet you feel you can trust.

Neutering will calm him down,but wont solve all of your problems Make sure he has enough exercise and mental stimulation then you can get to work with training him not to bark and to be calm when you tell him.



Did you ever try crate him, I'm probably annoying everyone by saying this all the time but it's fantastic.

Start by feeding him in the crate, leave his water in the crate too so he gets used to going in.

After a few days of eating in it when it is open, close it behind him when he eats, then immediately let him out.

Eventually, start leaving him in for a few mins and then a few mins longer. Important thing is, when he is in the crate he is "invisible" dont speak to him, correct him or allow guests to speak to him. Dont let him see you looking at him either.

Sounds silly, but if he you will totally ignore him when he is in the crate, he will eventually stop barking when he's in it unless he needs the toilet.

The crate is also brill when you go visiting. Just dont overdo it, a few hours at night (6-7 hours at the start) and never ever use it for punishment, it should become his little den that he likes and feels safe in.

Hi,
We had a similar problem with our pug when he was about the same age so I feel your pain! We had him neutered and it helped a bit but he was still a terrible barker. He'd bark at people on the street, bark for our attention, and even bark at animals on the TV! One day we were at the vet and barked for the whole time we were there (so embarrassing!) so the vet referred us to a behaviourist. The behaviourist assessed him and concluded that he was barking for attention and also enjoyment. (Nothing to do with separation anxiety or anything). Apparently he just loves the sound of his own bark! She gave us a lot of great advice on how to cut down on the barking.
I think the best advice she gave us was to up his exercise. A tired dog is a well behaved dog! We had been walking him twice a day (which we thought was more than enough for a pug!) but she told us to up that to three walks. She also told us to go out and buy some food dispensing toys - we got a few different shaped kongs and a buster cube from the pet shop. We started to put a good portion of his daily food into the toys so he had to work to get it out. This is great exercise for dogs as it tires them out mentally as well as physically and can work really well for dogs with separation anxiety as it gives them something to keep them occupied while you're out.
We were also told to put another portion of his kibble aside every day and to hand it out to him for doing obedience tricks (like sit, down, roll-over etc) a few times each day. This is also great for tiring a dog out mentally and most dogs really love doing it especially if you give them loads of praise.
I think you might be unintentionally rewarding your dog for barking as well (that's what we were doing anyway!) by going down and letting him out each time he barks. If you let him out each time he barks at you he's probably learning that barking gets results. I know it's really hard but if you ignore him EVERY TIME and never open the door till he stops barking he should learn quickly enough that barking doesn't get him what he wants.
Also, If he barks when you are in the room you should turn your back on him and completely ignore him until he stops barking, don't tell him 'no' or anything like that as even by correcting him you could be rewarding his barks with your attention. (Sometimes even negative attention can be rewarding for an attention seeking dog!)
I really hope you get your problem sorted as I know how annoying and frustrating it can be! Good luck:)