Neutering And Behavior Changes

[Riika]

Duke is two years old now, and I am thinking about having him neutered. He has recently begun posturing to our 11 year old spayed female, marks everything, and is slightly reactive to other males.

Pro-neutering folks say that all these issues will be solved with neutering.

People against neutering say that it does not and that it is a training issue.

 

Which have you found to be true? I think that all these are training issues that will be much easier to handle without those hormones surging through him. And really, I have no reason to keep him intact. He'll never be bred, and then too, our young female is due for her first heat any day. I'm not concerned about preventing them from breeding but if I neutered him it would be much easier on all.

 

Suggestions?

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

 

Early castration is rare in the sheepdog world. From the few instances I've seen, I conclude that sheepdogs castrated young are less keen and thus more difficult to train. Once trained, it doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

Donald McCaig

[Sue R]

Most folks I've spoken to seem to indicate that neutering does not generally affect any ingrained (habitual) behaviors. In that case, while neutering *might* help avoid increasing or new unwanted behaviors, it probably wouldn't eliminate those that had become established but it *might* reduce the intensity of some behaviors.

 

I've not heard of people saying that neutering will decrease work drive although done way too early, I wonder if it could have a somewhat negative effect by perhaps reducing the intensity that might go with being intact. My Celt, neutered at six months, is as keen to work as I could want and he was easy to train. Dan, neutered at 18 months, is extremely keen and he has not been easy to train. I think that everyone's mileage seems to vary!

[Blackdawgs]

My male was neutered at 2+ years of age. I wanted to keep him intact, but he was becoming an asshole to male dogs. In addition: trying to hump one of my females excessively, marking in the kitchen, licking urine from the ground and chattering his teeth.

 

Post surgery, the marking in the kitchen stopped. The chattering stopped. The humping dramatically improved. He is much less reactive around male dogs. Overall, his behavior has become more juvenile. His desire to do agility has not changed, but i get the feeling that if he was neutered sooner, I could not have started showing as early as I did (around 20 months). He also seems sweeter towards me.

 

I am quite surprised at the effect that neutering has had on his behavior. I really did not expect such a dramatic effect. We had suspected that he was a high testostorone guy as he started lifting his leg at around 4 months of age and was lifting it consistantly at around 6 months of age, which the vet thought was very surprising. He did not learn that behavior from my females....

[jvw]

My male was castrated around one year and if it made him less keen to work and train I would hate to see how he would have been intact!

[highway61]

I had my dog neutered at 18 months and struggled with the decision because he had showed no signs of sexual drive and his marking (outdoors of course) seemed pretty normal. But he has some fear aggression issues regarding other dogs only when they are on leashes. He's also very, very active so there was just a shred of hope neutering might curb those problems. But it didn't change anything that I can tell. He still marks normally, still doesn't hump and since he's a roughie his "package" was never exposed before castration either. So now there is a little piece of me that regrets the decision but its not like I was ever going to breed him anyway so in the end I'm glad its done and over.

 

But like Sue already said, YMMV indeed

[CSW]

My old boy was neutered at 18 months. It stopped the fence jumping and fence climbing. He did not have any other negative behaviors. I was concerned it would change his personality which fortunately it did not. He was the best.

[Riika]

He is not a working dog so that won't be a bother.

He just started "flirting" with the older female, and hasn't met enough male dogs for it to become a habit so I'm hopeful that those two issues will fade.

That's about what I thought with marking-he's been doing that since he was six months old. I don't like it, however, it really isn't that big of an issue as he doesn't do it indoors. He has two marks on his record of lifting a leg on a person. Both times he was younger and over the top excited at the beach with lots of people and dogs around. He has stopped that as well as mostly refraining from hitting an especially tempting telephone pole as we walk by.

 

I just don't know what way to go-my pocketbook is pretty slim right now, but if I'm gonna do it, it'd probably be best to go as soon as possible.

What does YMMV stand for? *Embarrassed face*

[Sue R]

"Your mileage may vary."

[Tommy Coyote]

^{Joey isn't neutered. He's fine. The only problem I had was when the neighbor's female was in season and I didn't know it. All of a sudden he started marking in the house. I took him in to see if he had a UTI. He stopped as soon as she was out of season. He didn't try to climb the fence or anything. I was lucky. Next time I know she is in season I will keep a lot closer watch on him.}

[Riika]

Okay, I had the deed done today.

For those of you who DID notice behaviour changes, how fast did it happen? As soon as he recovered from anesthesia? A week? A month?

[GentleLake]

It'll take several weeks for the hormones to leave his body.

[Gloria Atwater]

Belatedly answering, I think it depends on the dog. My old Jesse was a rescue I got at 2 years old. He was a lovely dog but he PEED on everything - including me and my trainer. I got him neutered and the marking stopped within weeks. He became ever so much lovelier to live with.

However, a friend of mine got her male neutered at @ 2 years old for health reasons. But it didn't change a thing. He's still about half a jerk who pees and postures all the time.

Bottom line, it may not fundamentally change a dog's innate personality, but at that age, it's worth a try to get unwanted behaviors sorted. It certainly won't hurt him any. Give him a few weeks, I'd say. I do believe the dorky behaviors with your female will stop, as he'll lose the drive to do so.

~ Gloria

[Pippin's person]

I haven't seen much difference in dogs neutered anywhere between 1 year and 8 years. I have noticed less chattering in one of them and no more stinky boy pee. One thing I didn't know so share in case you don't either is that there can be live sperm for up to 6 weeks post neuter, so if your female comes in heat before six weeks or so have passed, they could still breed. I think it becomes decreasingly likely as time passes and probably not very likely at all after about a month, but still possible.

[airbear]

I had Bar neutered about a month ago. He sniffed the set out dog and had a pee at the top during a trial and that was it - no knick knacks for you! (I don't breed my dogs, so he was going to get snipped eventually - he just accelerated the process). He is a little over 2 years old.

 

About a week after his neuter, we travelled to the Bluegrass Classic, and I noticed that he was squatting instead of hiking his leg for his morning pee. He ignored the set out dogs, and in trailer park land, he didn't mark every post and tree.

 

He never was studdy or a jerk around other dogs, and he still isn't.

 

Okay, I had the deed done today.
For those of you who DID notice behaviour changes, how fast did it happen? As soon as he recovered from anesthesia? A week? A month?

[Beach BCs]

I had Tex neutered around 18 months. He could be a little bit of a turd at times, but that was about it. He still chatters, will try getting frisky with a female if he thinks he can get away with it, but is slightly less of a turd. He's a rescue so it was required that he be neutered but if I'd had the choice, I probably would have left him intact. He's a good boy, and he was never so much trouble that I thought he needed to be neutered. Or maybe I just felt that neutering him wasn't going to alleviate his less than desirable behavior. I know for some dogs the change is quite noticeable.