Continued Bliss

Griffen and Oakley continue to be good buds. I do, however, have a few questions about puppy behavior.
-Griffen is considerably more boisterous than Oakley was. How can I encourage him to be less talkative? I don't mind some barking and I know corgis can be a bit barky but his is a bit excessive.
-We go to the park on base twice a day. I let him and Oakley run off leash (only if no one is around). They run for about 20 minutes each time. Griffen is a bit more relaxed than Oakley is but he still does a fair bit of running. Is this too much excercise for a four month old puppy?
-The vet said that I can have Griffen neutered at any time. I was under the impression that you should wait until six months. How long did you wait to have your dog neutered?

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Comment by Charlie on May 15, 2008 at 11:19am: On the barking, I would teach "Speak!" (that one should be easy, right?), and teach "Quiet!" in the same training session. Give more treats for "Quiet" than for "Speak". Charlie is a lot less barky now at 11 months, than he was several months ago (though he still has his moments). If you don't have time for a short "Speak/Quiet" training session, just totally ignore him when he barks for attenetion.

"Free" running is great for Griffen. I'd let him run until his heart is content. He'll stop before it's too much exercise. It will also tire him out for a good, long puppy nap and may help with the excessive barking too. Bonus!

While there are lots of vets who will say that very young neutering is perfectly safe, I would wait until Griffen is 6 months. He may have some retained puppy teeth at six months which would need to be pulled, and you can have that done at the same time. No point in putting him under anethesia twice.

Comment by Kristen on May 15, 2008 at 11:04am: Our vet will not neuter or spay prior to six months. The first time we took Lizzie in for her appointment to be spayed, the vet called and said that she was too close to a heat cycle and we would have to wait until 30 days following her cycle for the reasons that David mentioned. Thankfully those issues don't exist with male dogs. Personally, I would wait.

Comment by deelee lew on May 15, 2008 at 10:35am: I waited until kiki was 7 months.. It was a bad idea to wait so long because her ovaries had gotten inflamed as she was about to begin her first heat, which meant she bled a lot. It was very traumatic for me to get that phone call from the vet, and it was more dangerous for the dog as she had to be kept under anesthesia longer.. not to mention more expensive and stressful for everyone.. but with griff being a boy I don't think it's as much of a big deal?