So… back in December, Sampson had…um…a little ‘incident’.
I noticed when I got up in the morning that Sampson was licking himself. I mean, going to town, licking himself.
It was dark, and I was preoccupied getting ready for our walk, so I told him to “leave it” and went about my business.
After I had my pre-walk chores done, I grabbed Sampson’s harness and when I approached him, I noticed he was once again licking himself. I turned on the light to see what had his attention.
Can a neutered dog have an erection?
Speaking of attention…his little ‘soldier’ was at attention, and as I turned on the light, a drop of blood fell from the tip of his penis onto the floor.
“Oh my God!” I exclaimed to Hubby, “He’s bleeding from his penis!”
I called the emergency vet and explained the situation.She asked me a couple of questions, and as I was answering them, I noticed that the area in question appeared to be very red and….hem, hem,… bigger than normal.
Well you know how I roll, SO…
I reached down and gave it a gentle squeeze.
I was startled to discover, it was quite hard.
I mentioned this to the young woman on the phone, and asked what I should do. To her credit, she didn’t laugh, or give me any lewd suggestions.
Now, I don’t mean to be indelicate here, and I don’t mean to blow my own horn, but if the situation included a male person, I’d definitely have ideas on how to handle it.
But this is my dog, and I’m not going there, because that’s just gross. (And if you came here for that, this post isn’t for you, so please move along).
The vet’s office mentioned I could give it a few minutes and see if it went away, or I could try icing it.
I’m just going to let you picture that for a minute. Me, sitting in the dark crying, while holding a bag of peas to my dog’s bleeding penis.
As luck would have it, I didn’t have any peas.
So, I told the girl I’d much rather bring him in and could be there in less than 20 minutes.
I hung up and said to Hubby, “I’m going to get the car ready!”
At which point, Sampson jumped up ready for his walk.
I took a breath then, (well, if he can jump and walk, it can’t be THAT uncomfortable, am I right?) Let’s see how he pees…it’s only hearsay to me, but from what I understand, peeing in that condition isn’t very easy.
So I said to Hubby, “Let me try a walk and see if I can get a urine sample.” I grabbed my urine collecting tools and out the door we went.
Sampson didn’t seem to have any issues walking, nor did he struggle to urinate, or pee more than he usually does on a walk.
I called the emergency vet back, and told her I felt like we could wait the hour until I could reach my own vet. (My vet’s office has a vet who checks phone calls beginning at 7:00, even though they don’t open until 8:30).
When I spoke to my vet, she said someone should definitely look at him. When I asked her about the stiffy he was sporting, she suggested he may have found the licking…enjoyable.
I hung up the phone and said, “Great, my dog has morning wood.”
Sigh.
I have to say it, you know I do.
“Why does a dog lick himself?” and the answer is, “Because he can.”
When the vet’s office opened, I scheduled an appointment and brought him in. While they ran the urine sample, Dr. Dupre gave him a physical exam and then she performed a Prostate exam.
To say this wasn’t well received is an understatement. I almost had to lay on Sampson to keep him still. If his eyes could have spun in his head, they would have.
Dr. Dupre couldn’t feel anything abnormal during the exam, so we did an x-ray.
The x-ray showed Sampson had a bit of stool in his system, so the Prostate wasn’t fully visible but there was nothing alarming. There was a slight shadow under his spine that could have been a lymph node, but again, nothing alarming.
After all of this, it was determined that Sampson had injured his prepuce (the skin sheath that covers the penis when it’s not peeping out) and with whatever licking he had done, he’d gotten an infection.
I had to think about it to figure out HOW he injured himself, but then I remembered the week before he’d seen his friend Mrs. Whinnem at her front door, and he was so excited, he tried to climb her steps, but they were steep and his back legs let go and he slid a bit on the cement. That had to have been when it happened.
We went home with some ointment that had to be squeezed into the prepuce and some antibiotics.
Ointment that had to be squeezed into his penis. Twice a day. I was afraid he’d start getting ideas…
As we were leaving, Dr. Allen was coming back from lunch. She stopped to say hello, and I told her what was going on, so while I was getting Sampson’s ramp ready, Dr. Allen was observing Sampson. She watched him pee, and then she took a quick look at his junk when he got into the car. Basically, we had two exams. 🙂 Dr. Allen agreed with Dr. Dupre’s assessment.
So we had an answer for the blood, but no idea why he was having an erection.
Conversations with my vet were…interesting, and I will admit, we did get a few good jokes about it, especially as she was asking around on forums only available to veterinarians.
What reasons are there for a neutered dog to have an erection?
There were a few theories about what could have caused the chubby, (besides the enjoyable bit).
One theory was that little nodule on his adrenal gland, (that we discovered in February of last year), had begun secreting some type of hormones.
The second theory was sex glands. Apparently there are two sets of sex glands in male dogs. The testicles (which most vets remove when neutering), and there are another set at the base of the penis shaft. Sometimes when Sampson is super happy, that second set pops up like two little marbles. And then I always ask him if he’s happy to see me. 🙂
A third theory, which is the one we all seem to be leaning towards, at least with Sampson is, when he really has to urinate, he gets an erection, because yes, it has also happened in the afternoons, and it continued to happen after the infection was cleared up. Each time, I would take a urine sample in, and with the exception of once, he didn’t have a UTI.
The final theory of course, is the Urinary tract infection, which Sampson initially had. But once it was cleared up, the erections continued.
I think a lot of Sampson’s issues could have been when he scraped his penis, as the further we’ve gotten away from December, the less frequently these erections occur. But you can bet your boots if he’s really paying attention to that area, I’m going to watch it, and possibly get a urine sample.
Author’s note: I tried bringing some humor to a somewhat delicate topic, I can find the humor after the situation, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t and I don’t take this seriously, because I do.
Emma says
You are the perfect one to handle the topic! All we can say is, boys! There are many reasons Mom has decided not to ever have a male dog, and boners are one of them. Neutered or not, she doesn’t want to deal with that. Hopefully Sampson can find a “happy” balance with paying attention to himself, but not too much attention.
All Things Collie says
Poor guy, hope the infection clears up quickly!
Jan K says
I think you handled this topic perfectly, as only you could do! It’s great to know this kind of stuff, so we don’t panic if it happens to our dogs, so thanks for tackling the subject!
So glad he’s OK. Poor Sampson though….no privacy for a dog whose Mom is a blogger! LOL
Shadow and Ducky's Mom says
Hmmmm. I can just hear and see the reactions at our vet’s office if I were to bring up this topic back in the treatment area while the vets are at lunch! (The techs are all females.) OMD!!! We would probably all be ROFL before we could even start discussing the serious, medical aspect.
Poor Sampson. That scrape must have HURT! Just like Ducky’s vulva all those weeks before and just after her vulvaplasty. And I certainly don’t mean to make light of his issue – but you know that – I hope by now he is feeling better “back there”! Give your sweet boy a big kiss for me! (And Delilah too!)
jan says
You did well in writing this but I still had some lewd thoughts
Jodi says
You think I didn’t? 😉
Lori says
This post is awesome. I would stand up and salute, but Sampson has already done so. 🙂
Max says
Should I run into this problem I will be sure to call for advice and assistance. Same for Max should he have this problem. 🙂
Jodi says
Received this comment from Blueberry’s Human. (For some reason, some people cannot comment without being identified as spam.)
And this, Jodi, is why I will only ever have female dogs. I would be WAY too embarrassed to think about it, talk about it with anyone – even my vet! I remember when I was fostering Linus the puppy and he would sometimes stare at me as I was getting ready for work and his lipstick would be obvious and I’d look at him sternly and tell him that was totally inappropriate and then shut the door on him.
mommakatandherbearcat says
Holy crap. I don’t know whether to laugh hysterically or cry. But I do truly admire you for addressing the topic.
ps – And we’re glad Sampson’s okay!
mommakatandherbearcat says
Glad to read this gem again as part of the Showcase.
Maria Flores says
This is mainly the reason why some or most dog lovers would prefer to have a female dog rather than a male one. In addition to the morning wood or boner the male dog experiences, the female dogs are less likely to urinate around the area of your house just to keep mark of their territory. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Jackie Bouchard says
You were definitely the perfect person to handle this post… And I bet you had to hold back a time or two, right? I had a good chuckle at a lot of this – although, really, poor Samson! Whacking your willy on cement does not sound like fun. You’re a good dog mom!
Monika & Sam says
Now that I’ve dried my eyes at all your observations and my sides have stopped hurting from laughing…it never ceases me to see what gets these boy dogs excited. Sam was initially used as a stud dog for golden doodles till his pups had some recessive genetic issues (cherry eye) so those days ended and yet, his desire didn’t seem to wane. I do check to make sure he has no infection. Thanks for sharing a delicate subject in a humorous way. It’s always a comfort knowing my knucklehead really isn’t a sub-standard poodle in the ‘wood’ department. 😇 Hoping your boy is feeling better with each passing day.
Sue says
Leave it to you to write a post about canine morning wood! LOL I shudder to think about the folks doing google searches that will land here! Seriously, great post! Rudy tends to get a little excited now and again and poor Rosie simply lays down. Have to say it’s funny to me when he’s trying to hunch her head and she’s giving no bjs….
Pamela says
As soon as I stopped laughing, I thanked the canine gods that I’ve always had female dogs.
Beth says
This is why I have girl dogs! Boy dog parts scare me. (My boy cat’s parts are tiny enough that I can almost pretend it’s not there.) I’m glad that the vet was able to get you in so quickly! Hope you both survive the ointment without too much trauma–I’m not sure I’d recover from that experience 😉