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Background: Got this guy today from a local shelter. A 6 year old un-neutered male teacup chihuahua mix (I think a Jack-chi). Adding him to a household with two other dogs, a 1-2 year old female teacup chihuahua, and a 4 month old male teacup Chi-winnie. All being crate-trained.

The problem:

1) Whenever the new guy is handled, urine leaks out of his penis, he gets an erection, and starts an involuntary-looking humping/masturbating motion. Even petting his back.

2) Whenever he's outside, he compulsively lifts each leg, one after another, urinating until nothing comes out, then keeps on doing it, and keeps on doing it, etc. On a walk around the block he wanted to stop every two feet to do it. And something about it seems involuntary, certainly not aggressive, as he's the most timid little guy.

The two things above really amount to the guy being totally disfunctional. What's going on, and will having him neutered next week fix this?

Note - We haven't had him meet the female yet, though their crates are nearby. We had the two males meet outside the house and surprisingly they got on well. But within a minute, the new guy was lifting his leg dripping everywhere, and then came the erection and the contortions/humping.

EDIT: Forgot to add this possibly important detail. It seems he's been living the last year at the shelter...underneath the friggin' front desk with a bunch other little dogs. (?!)

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He's overstimulated, a good chance neutering won't fix the problem (though still a good thing to do!) but it can help. Some dogs who get overly excited will dribble urine and get erections. Humping can in time turn into a learned behavior (also used for dominance) and have no relation to hormones, that probably won't stop at this point. Even for the erections, a dog who's very excited can still get them even when testicle free.

Urinating every few feet is a marking behavior will be seen in neutered pets as well, same goes for the excitement/nervous dribbling. It's fairly common and normal. However that being said if you notice that he's urinating on himself when he sleeps, seems to want to go outside for big pees more than usual or dribbling urine with no cause you could have an underlying urinary tract issue.

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  • Thank you, Rebecca RVT. Does your idea change if I clarify that the "humping" is barely a humping at all...but more like a bout of seemingly uncontrollable spinal contortions? The poor guy looks like he's about to vomit or something. I've seen a chihuahua that compulsively goes a humps things...consciously. This isn't like that. I just took him to the yard. I gently carried the crate outside, he exited and immediated did the lifting each leg alternately until he was empty and continued drop by drop for a couple minutes, and then scratched the ground, at which time I praised him. (Cont.)
    – David Reishi
    Aug 1, 2016 at 19:19
  • (Cont.) But at this point, when he finally scratched the ground, his penis was mostly erect, and then the spinal contortions began. It didn't look like a conscious or decided act. Certainly not like actual "humping," which is far more graceful in comparison. It's unfortunate that any physical contact with him causes the process to begin, even picking him up for a second. The only thing that doesn't cause it is petting the very top of his head...though eventually this causes it too. Interestingly, he doesn't seem do any of this stuff inside his crate. I will have him checked for an infection.
    – David Reishi
    Aug 1, 2016 at 19:30
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    I would take a video of the "spinal contortions" you speak of and show it to the vet when you do a check, I'm having a hard time picturing it.
    – Rebecca RVT
    Aug 1, 2016 at 20:13
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    Thanks, that's exactly what the receptionist said just now when I made the appointment (for tomorrow).
    – David Reishi
    Aug 1, 2016 at 20:18
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    It ended up being an enormous bladder stone.
    – David Reishi
    Aug 3, 2016 at 6:40

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