Our male dog was neutered last month at 9 months of age. He had been completely housebroken for two months prior, at around 7 months of age.
Well, after his neutering, our dog temporarily regressed in his housebreaking somewhat. The regression was not a brief episode. He wasn’t back to square one, but he was pretty inconsistent for about a month following his surgery.
Was that inconsistency a direct result of the neutering? Is that normal?
Happily, our dog is starting to get the hang of it again, and is almost all the way back to a perfect housebreaking record. He does, however, seem to eliminate less frequently than he used to – twice a day instead of 3 or 4 times.
His elimination behavior predictably changed. For instance, he used to “mark his territory” 5-10 times over the course of about a 200-yard walk. Now, our dog urinates all at one or two shots – he doesn’t “save it up” for repeated territory marking. Is this typical after neutering?
I can identify two factors here: our dog’s procession into adulthood, and possible aftereffects of his neutering. Maybe he eliminates less often because he is older, but could the neutering also be behind the decreased elimination?