Dog Penis Irritation

[Mike4k9]

When I adopted my beautiful boy, he was already neutered. But he does like to have a hand job occasionally and I’m happy to give him one. The other night he got one and then he woke me up in the middle of the night consistently licking his penis. There was blood on the bedsheets but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. His penis was sticking out almost as if it wouldn’t go back in but since he’s neutered his knot was not swollen. I took him to the vet and she said it could’ve been anything that irritated him. Of course I can’t help but wonder if it was the hand job. I’ve never had this problem with any of the dogs that I have been with but most of them have not been neutered. Any suggestions to reduce the risk if in fact my hand job caused this problem? He wasn’t in pain when I did it or even when the vet examined him.

 

[DreamWolf]

Hard to tell from this side of the screen. There's actually a few items here that could cause this issue. I'm assuming that you know the mechanics of what to do and in particular what not to do with a dog's penis, so I'll skip that part.

1) Paraphimosis, which is a condition in dogs when the preputial opening is too small for the dog to retract the penis after intercourse. Does your dog's penis slide all the way back? Have you checked?

2) Sometimes, the prepuce rolls into itself when the dogs pulls his penis back in, and the penis gets stuck. Usually, dogs will resolve the situation by themselves without any issues. As above, have you checked if everything is back in place after the deed is done?

3) Dry penis skin. I have seen this particularly in neutered dogs as they tend to be less moist down there. If the sensitive skin of the your dog's penis dries out, this could cause irritation, and it could also make 2) more likely to happen. I believe you can think of ways to keep your dog's penis wet.

4) Some dogs, especially if experiencing a full erection for the first time, have little blood vessels on the surface of their penis pop. I haven't seen this often, but it does happen and it can cause some very minor bleeding. It does not sound from your description that this is the case for your dog.

5) Allergies or skin reaction are also a possibility. Does your dog's penis skin get in touch with anything that could case irritation or could cause a allergic reaction?

Off the top of my head, that's all I can think of right now. I'd say 1) or 2) are probably the likeliest items.

Best,
DreamWolf