Will castration help?

Hi All, i haven't posted for a while but read posts regulary, Caleb will be one in March and is great in nearly all ways he has wormed his way into my rescue lab's heart and for the first time ever my Lab has a playful relationship with another dog. But he is testing my husband trying to become the Alpha! Growling at him and trying to stop him going upstairs he hasn't done this with either the dog or myself or the kids, other than when I groom his back legs and trim his nails he doesn't bite just warns but I take no notice!( he is fine with the groomer who comes to the house). He plays with husband and likes cuddles from him. No probs on walks other than he tries to play with kids. he is very loyal and will refuse to move if my 7yr old son disappears from sight . I am reluctant to have him castrated as other than with husband he is not a problem. Hubby doesn't give in and ignores the growls.( I'm not sure if it is just a different noise just for hubby as he is very vocal).
He is a real clown and at the moment we are collecting boxes ready to move and he flips them on top of himself and visitors find a moving box! .

Just a thought - who feeds Caleb? if it is not your husband one of the ways you can establish the balance of power is for your husband to feed him for a while and to make him sit and wait until he is given permission to eat. It worked with my sister's male GSD and her son.

I would also get your hubby to carry a coke or other can with a couple of small stones in and when Caleb growls at him to shake it - Caleb will qiuckly associate the tin noise with his actions (it is imperative that your husband doesn't use his voice with this so that the dog only associates the noise of the stones with his action) - they don't like the noise and because they are very bright they suss out that the noise only happens when they are doing the behaviour you want to stop and usually stop the behaviour. it doesn't happen overnight - you have to keep reinforcing until the penny drops - though that can be quite fast.

Finally get your husband to do some clicker training or treat training with him particularly getting him to do a down-stay... and then moving that training to the foot of the stairs when he wants to go up.

As for when you are grooming - some shih tzu will do this (Josh does it) if they are worried you are going to hurt them (catch the knots for instance) I just talk calmly with Josh telling him I am not going to hurt him and telling him he is a good boy. It hasn't ever escalated into anything more than his usual grumble which I read as being him just letting me know he doesn't want me to hurt him

Hope that helps xxxx

Thanks Simbalove, I will get hubby to follow your advice, my seven yr old son feeds him and has done from early on when the play began to get too rough and it has worked a treat but I don't think he will be happy to pass on the feeding. I have prepared the can for tonight. No he has never tried to bite when I groom but after the growl he licks my hand as if to apologise!.
I have worries about having him castrated as it may upset the balance between him and my Lab (he came to us as not dog friendly but we have come a long long way and can walk him off lead with dogs now) and their friendship is amazing! Thanks again Jo

Then I would leave well alone regarding the castration. Tell your son that it is only for a little while (cos daddy needs to learn how to feed CXaleb perhap?? )

The thing with the grooming is the same as Josh so really the only problem is the power struggle with hubby... and that should be easilky sorted xxxx

As well as training Caleb we have to train husbands as well Jo.

I am so glad Caleb has made friends with your lab, it's nice to see dogs getting on well, especially when they are so different in size. Shih Tzu can work wonders when given the chance.