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neutering questions

2413 Views 21 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  Barb E
Pros and cons to neutering and when?

Do males personalities change as they mature?

Do non neutered males get territorial? more animal aggressive? more dominant?

Quincy is 6 mnths and my vet suggested time to snip. I have read the heath benifits from letting a male mature. Should I wait?

I do not want to wait and end up with an aggressive dog.
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Neutering or not doesn't make an aggressive dog. You are going to get contradicting answers for all of your questions. Some people don't care when it gets snipped, some say later. Some say they change, some say they don't.

I think they change as they mature, not when they get snipped. My parents palmerian still marks his territory and he was snipped early.
peed in my house first time he came over!
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I don't believe in neutering before 24 months of age. Lakota was neutered at 3 years of age, before and after, he squats to pee and lifts his leg IF he wants to mark his territory, so neutering didn't change that. Dominate or wannabe top dog will mark. I have to females that mark, the youngest lifts her leg.

OK, back to the question. Dogs need their hormones to regulate growth. There are studies out there that show a relationship to early s/n and bone cancer. So for those two reason I don't neuter my dogs before 24 months.

Wrenny it isn't unusal for males neutered or not neutered mark strange territory.
Not to steal Michelles question, but my male Bear who is 15 months has an undescended testicle, and im wondering if i should go ahead with the surgery, or wait til hes a bit older. I know their is a serious health risk for this condition, so is this something i should take care of now, or can it wait until hes a bit older?
http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html talks about early spay/neuter considerations.

I like to do it about 18 months, give or take a bit.
I haven't neutered my 13 month old male and so far I haven't had a problem. His personality has changed as he's grown older. He's definitely not the same as he was when he was a puppy. But I haven't found him to be aggressive, or territorial yet. No marking problems in the house. He would pee on every tree we pass on a walk, but I just don't let him, so it's really not a problem. He's always been a little bit dominant, so that's not changed.

I do find that he seems to attract more aggression from other dogs. I don't know if this is because they sense the hormones or what but it seems like more dogs pick fights with him than my previous neutered animals. When I walk him and we pass other dogs (especially small ones) they always start to bark and carry on, and he might look at them, like "What's your problem?" but that's it. My dog is very sweet with our puppy and seems to respect other dog's boundrys, although he does get rough when he plays, but I think this is just typical of him.

I like the way he's grown, I personally feel like it's healthier for him. And since I never leave him out unattended I don't have to worry about the concerns of roaming and going after females. If I were to neuter I would wait for him to be 2 years old.
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Originally Posted By: tibvixie101Not to steal Michelles question, but my male Bear who is 15 months has an undescended testicle, and im wondering if i should go ahead with the surgery, or wait til hes a bit older. I know their is a serious health risk for this condition, so is this something i should take care of now, or can it wait until hes a bit older?
I prefer getting a vasectomy, but if that's impossible, then for the future health concerns of the dogs, I try to wait until they're between 18 to 24 months old.

When I took Ringer to a lot of vets about his undescended testicle, I was told he'd be okay if I waited until he was between 18 to 24 months to have it removed, but it definitely needed to be removed. When I had Mac's vasectomy, i had his undescended testicle removed at the same time.
thanks gayle! so then i'll wait a little longer, maybe mid fall i'll set up a date for it. I was just concerned of the health side affects of the testicle that is undecended.
Originally Posted By: MaggieRoseLeehttp://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html talks about early spay/neuter considerations.

I like to do it about 18 months, give or take a bit.
I'm of the same idea: 18-24 months, specially on a working dog. I'm trying to discourage a friend to neuter his pup at 6 months of age.

Does someone have more links like this, with scientific fundaments?
im in this dillema with myself, trainers, and vet. i have made up my mind to wait until he is atleast 18 months to decide to cut. so far he's not dog aggressive, does not mount, mark etc etc. so unless we have problems with any of that i will wait...
Please do a bit of research on the most recent suides regarding neutering a male GSD.

This issue comes up alot, and I have posted the most recent conclusions.

The studies raise serious concerns about sterilizing a GS male.
With the undescended testicle, my understanding is that it's much more important to neuter the dog for health reasons than if both had already come down.

Sounds like 18 months would be ideal for you and the dog. Still young enough to heal up well. But old enough to have finished growing so won't need the extra hormones.
Thanks so much. I am going to wait. I thought so but just wanted to check with my internet experts.
Jesse my male GSD who is 24 weeks is currently under the laser surgery being neutered as I write this, I had no choice, I was under contract with Brampton Animal Shelter and also with my daycare that he must be neutered by 6 months of age.
Update to last post Jesse was neutered two days ago and bounced back 100 percent pretty well right away but had to keep him calm for 48 hours (was hard), we see one change in him already, he wants to be cuddled and loved up more than before and actually invites it. Before he would take it but never came for it now comes for it.
We had Max done at 4 months old. He has always been a social butterfly but since we had no plans to breed him and after all of the research we decided to do it young. He has been fine ever since. He has no fear and is not aggressive. Sometimes I wish he was a little fearful. Especially when it comes to skunks.

Chris
Brady is 3 (I breed him) but I have to say he is not agressive at all
unless the other dog is, the only time he marks is when we go for walks. Loves little dogs and his personality is awesome, he has never been a snuggler even when he was a pup always independant. I have no intentions on having him neutered unless his health or life depended on it. Unfortunately I think Vets just scare you into it, It should be if you want to neuter your pet, or if its for health reasons then do it.
There is a lot of good advice take it all in and decide.
How about for females? Since I am not intending on breeding Mandalay, I think it would be for the best to have her spayed. My other females I always had done around 4-6 months before they went into heat...same here?
My pup Duece (15 wks) also has a undescended testicle and my vet told me that if we waited it would more than likely cause cancer. I am stumped on what I should do. As too the original ? my first GSD got snipped at 2 and he didnt change a bit. He was still just as funny and spunky as ever. I miss him
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Originally Posted By: lcht2im in this dillema with myself, trainers, and vet. i have made up my mind to wait until he is atleast 18 months to decide to cut. so far he's not dog aggressive, does not mount, mark etc etc. so unless we have problems with any of that i will wait...
Cezar just turned one on May 11th and I chose to wait with having him neutered. I had heard before that's it's healthier to wait until they are fully grown. But he does try to mount Indie a lot. I just thought it was because he's male, she's female and that's what males do.. but would it be time then to have him snipped with this behaviour? I tell him off when I see him do it; It does not bother Indie one bit (she's fixed) but it bothers me. He is sometimes protective which is good in a way. We have a male (fixed) next door of about 6 or 7 months old. Every time they see him walking, they both charge with Cezar leading. It's all barking and no harm done but is he protecting his girl?
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