Older Male Dog Over Active Sex Drive

Question
Hello, I hope you can help,, a few days ago our older basset/hound mix who is about 13 years old, started to be  overly sexual with one of our other male dogs. He is only doing this with the one dog, leaving our female and other male dog alone. It has gotten really out of control, where our female is starting to aggressively push him off of the other dog, which starts a fight. Our fear is that the older dog who is a third of the size will get hurt.
This is not a dominance thing,, this is so much more than that,, we separate the dogs to keep them safe and he wines the whole time. He seems miserable, however he is eating and drinking and other than constant mounting, he appears to be very healthy. It is hard to discipline him, due to it hurting the feelings of the dog being mounted,, he feels we are yelling at him,, so that is no longer an option.
He did get out a few days ago, and when we found him he had a scratch above his eye, but other than the mounting, he is doing everything else the same.
Any suggestions?
Thank you


Answer
Hi, Milo,

Thanks for the question.

Anytime you see a sudden change in an older dog like this (the whining strikes me as particularly troubling), your first priority should be to discuss it with your vet. And frankly, even if you can see a clear connection to some change in the dog's home environment, his food, or exercise schedule, you really should find out if there's an underlying medical condition causing this sudden change.

And make sure the vet does an ultra sound! Don't let them just do blood work!

Let me know what the vet says. Meanwhile, don't discipline him. It won't help. In fact it may make matters worse. Just make sure he's getting plenty of hard vigorous playful exercise, and keep a short (foot long) leash on him at all times so that you can use it to pull him away from the other dog when necessary. And call your vet!

I hope this helps,
LCK