Does anyone regret castrating their dog ?

[babyblackbird]

We have a 3 year old lab who is still entire ? We had always intended on neutering once mature but have held off because he is quite nervous around other dogs and the vet recommended we leave him as he is to avoid making him more nervous.

He is nervous due to previous attacks by other dogs. However I keep wondering whether we should get him done as he quite often is a target for other neutered males and has begun fighting back now if he is set upon. Sometimes to me his reaction seems a bit disproportionate when a growl would have sorted it and so I wonder if removing some testosterone would help? He is never the one to start things and generally is not at all interested in other dogs but I can tell he is uncomfortable and on high alert when another dog approaches him in case they turn on him. Yesterday it happened twice and the second time both dogs landed up in a scrap although it was all noise.

So I was just wondering if others have had their dogs done and found it has actually made things worse ?

[Tamberlane]

You can get a hormonal treatment from the vet as a test run before a permanent solution if your worried.I cant for the life of me remember what its called at the minute though...
They tend to last 6 month's/or a year and will let you see if he needs testosterone in his system for confidence or not.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

All the good quality studies say that in your situation castration is highly likely to make things worse.
If he is being attached by neutered males it is their behavioural problem not your dogs.

[Tamberlane]

Basically chemical castration though. It mught put your mind at ease and give you an idea of what to do next.

[SparklingRaspberry]

Having him castrated will make him worse. It'll take away a large amount of hormone which helps the fight or flight system in the situations you're describing

At the moment your dog has the confidence to defend himself which comes from the testosterone. If you have him castrated he'll no longer have such strong testosterone which will mean you're more likely to end up with a fearful dog - and believe me, that's much worse!

Of course nobody wants their dogs to fight but in situations where other dogs are kicking off towards yours, be glad he's able to defend himself. Having a fearful dog means you're more likely to have a dog kick off out of fear in far more situations

[babyblackbird]

Ok thanks everyone. You have confirmed what I thought, but sometimes it feels like a vicious circle in that he' s nervous because he was attacked, he was attacked because he was entire etc and the more often he gets attacked or has a negative experience the more nervous and tense his interactions with other dogs are. I just feel quite sorry for him that he can't be relaxed and happy around a lot of dogs. I know it's not the case but sometimes it feels like everyone else's dogs are so carefree around other dogs and he seems so socially awkward and would rather just pootle about undisturbed.

[ItsAYesFromMe]

My friend's lab was constantly being approached aggressively by other males so he had him castrated when he was previously against the idea. The change has been phenomenal, not one dog has tried to start a fight with him since.