Not to want to castrate my new dog?

[Nataleejah]

He's 7yo, very well behaved, never agressive, very obedient. Previous owner did not neuter him, so why should i? Even though people in the park tell me off...

Is the vet who is dead against neutering because it makes them nervous in fact an old woman who dispenses spells and wisdom?

And sorry, but "natural dog"???? Do you vaccinate him?

Frankly the only un castrated dogs I have seen in the UK are the poor old Staffies owned by stupid limp dicked little twats who don't bother vaccinating, socialising, neutering or training and hang them off trees in Redcliffe park.. If that makes normal peoples dogs unnatural then all power to it.

I take it you never let him off the leash?

We had an unneutered stray. He jumped out of a first floor window because there was a bitch on heat half a mile away. Whilst waiting for the neutering appointment which was booked after the window event, he bolted out of the front door and ended up severely injuring his leg scaling a 6 foot fence to get at another bitch in heat.

YABVVVVVVVVU to not get a dog neutered if you have no plans to breed from him.

My dog is six and we haven't had him castrated. As a pup he was terrible with other dogs. He was diagnosed as epileptic at one and this changed and he is the softest dog now. We have his litter mate who is castrated. The vet advised against it at the time due to health reasons. We have asked about it recently and still advised to leave him entire. Boys from same litter are not meant to be kept together as they fight. My two in six years since pups have never had a cross word. Vet is concerned if we neuter this will change the balance

My almost 6yo Lab was castrated at 6 months and is now a large, stocky (not fat) 35kg with the shiniest coat I have ever seen. I also have a rescue mixed breed boy who is 5 and was castrated before I adopted him.

My family and I have had dogs for over 30 years and all our dogs and bitches have been neutered.

It would never cross my mind not to neuter. I have no interest in breeding and as discussed earlier the health benefits of spaying bitches is huge so its a no brainer if breeding isn't going to happen.

On the subject of castrating male dogs I can only imagine the frustration an entire male dog would feel upon stumbling across a bitch in season. For him to have these urges he isn't allowed to fulfil seems like emotional cruelty to me.

I will always neuter any dog I have the pleasure of owning as I would like to give them as stress free a life as possible and an entire male dog would be stressed quite a bit if there are lots of local un spayed bitches.

I have no idea about the showing world but why must showing dogs be entire?

My head is constantly spinning from all the different dog advice out there.
Just when I go down one path, I read something contradictory and lose confidence.

I guess one just has to use common sense. At first I went full-on Positive Training. No admonishing, only "guiding" to wanted behaviour. Ha! Just as with children, this works with some dogs, but others (that would be my dog) laugh in your face. Now I use a mixture of positive encouragement and a good dose of stern telling off.

Same with neutering. I have a golden retriever and every article I read dictates "no neutering!" because of cancer risk and also because it's all a matter of training your dog properly. Well, my 12-month-old dog is becoming worse and worse when we go out. His eyes are glazed, he sits outside certain houses and points his nose in and will not move for ages (once it was half an hour with me pleading/bribing/pulling/weeping). Also I know when a female dog is being walked even when they're in the next road as dog's ears start revolving and there is much panting.

In summation, it really does depend on the dog. Yes, some dogs happily trot along in life not in the least interested in females, and others have one aim in life.

All the collie/lab crosses I know do not have visible balls because of their hair so something else may be alerting people to entire state. Also 2 trips to the park would not be enough for most of them, they need off lead exercise or at least two hours a day on lead.

Lainie - positive training works with every dog. If it didn't work with yours then either you haven't found what really motivates him or you're just not great at training.

A spiteful and unhelpful comment.

That's the bottom line though.

Personally I find its unhelpful when people come out with the "my dog doesn't respond to positive training" line. Other people reading that could well come away believing that there are some dogs for whom positive training doesn't work. They then feel ok about giving "a good stern telling off".....and so it goes on.

I have come back to add to my previous posts that I am absolutely not anti-neutering. All my bitches and dogs over the past 25 years have been desexed and so will this pup be - when the time is right and the vet is happy to proceed.

My points were made in the light of certain comments that people would judge me to be a bad/irresponsible/lazy dog owner if they saw me in the park with my large, unneutered boy and also to point out that the problems we have with overflowing rescues are not down to unwanted litters alone. There is a world of difference between an informed, responsible owner choosing to delay neutering and someone who refuses to even consider it or just can't be bothered. Of course people need to take full responsibility for their dogs' health, behaviour and welfare and something also needs to be done about the levels of backyard bred and puppy farmed pups we have in this country. I don't see the two things as separate, they both part of the same problem.

As Scuttle pointed out, even as a responsible owner we can be put into situations, as a result of the action/inaction of irresponsible owners, that could potentially result in an unwanted litter should we own an entire dog (male or female) and we have to be aware and vigilant about that at all times and be prepared to take full responsibility for the consequences, should there be any, as well as being prepared to neuter, when appropriate for our pets.

I understand it seems cruel to the animal but whey is crueler is the thousands of unwanted, abused and stray animals that then end up being out down. If people insist on keeping animals as pets then castration is the lesser of 2 evils.

At the risk of outing myself (not that I really care) I heard a lovely story today that might put the frighteners up some dog owners

At the vets last night there was an older couple with a tiny 2 week old puppy - not even eyes open.

They have a 9 year old female labrador that they have never had spayed. As far as they were concerned her seasons stopped when she was around 5.

A few months ago they had friends over for dinner who bought their entire male lab. These dogs have played together pretty much all their lives with no issues.

Imagine their shock when after dinner they returned to the living room to find the dogs merrily shagging and coupled.

Owners didn't take the dogs to the vets afterwards (big mistake). At a routine innoculation appt in Feb they found out that the bitch was pregnant .

One single tiny puppy was delivered by C Section 2 weeks ago.

Mum not interested in the puppy at all, and not producing any milk so the couple are hand rearing. So far pup is doing well and gaining weight. They are keeping their shock puppy, but are knackered with the feeding routine (2 hourly with puppy formula and a syringe). So far vets are hopeful that pup will survive and thrive.

Amazing story. Can you imagine the shock

Just when they thought they were done with babies.....

SelectASpaniel reached the age of eight with his balls intact and has never sired any pups. Last year he developed an enlarged prostate and the vet recommended castration, which has sorted the physical issue but unfortunately has made his fear-aggression worse. So it isn't always a clear-cut issue.

Mig, they were in their 60's so very done indeed!

I feel for them, I had to do it for a foster dog for a couple of weeks and it almost killed me.

Yes it would do for me too. It takes me two days to recover these days if I have to get up to go the loo let alone anything else .

All those thousands upon thousands of dogs in rescue centres, many of whom will never find homes. That's what made me want to neuter my dog. He was one of nine unwated puppies who ended up in a rescue centre, badly neglected and abused. Four of them never found homes, they are 'lifers' - there until they pass away naturally or find adoption. They are large (huge!) mongrel dogs. I neutered my dog so he wouldn't add to the problem further.

Nobody wants mongrel puppies of unknown breeds as temperament is key nowadays, everybody wants a dog they think they can predict the behaviour of, knowing how big y

Your puppy is going to be is a huge factor, etc.

I still did a lot of research before neutering mine. Sexual agression, frustration, etc can be a big problem. I never heard of it changing their coats before, it never affected my dog. He smells as bad as he always did! I've never regretted my decision to neuter, but I was glad I read up first.

OP, you do what you want and what is correct for your particular dog and his character. Whilst I agree in most cases neutering is wise in my case my dog was 5 when I was given him (I knew him well anyway) and was entire. I knew he had been sent home in disgrace from his one attempted stud duty for not performing and as he has such a lovely laid back character I never bothered having him done as I didn't want his nature to change. I have never had a moments issue and if there are bitches in season around he will come back on recall with just a little more persuasion than usual. The only difference is he will go round licking the grass or carpet if a bitch on heat has been there recently. The vet advised not to due to his age and I am careful wherever I go anyway.

I really don't want this dog's character and behaviour changing. Maybe i'd like him to bark quieter, but castrating wouldn't change it.

I would consult your vet. If he was a puppy it would be unlikely to change his behaviour but for an older dog things could be different. I doubt it would change him much but the vet is the person who will know. Consult a few if you have to.

I am of the belief that every dog should be neutered but it is your choice.

I've had four dogs, one castrated when I got him, the other three not.
The castrated one had 'issues' and the uncastrated rescue dog was also a bit of a handful. The other two I'd had as puppies. The one of have at the moment is lovely. There are a couple of uncastrated males in my local park, they do a bit of sizing each other up and walk on. Bitches in season can be a problem but it doesn't happen very often.

I would certainly consider very carefully having an older dog castrated. I've only heard anecdotally but not found research on it but castrating an older dog can change them, sometimes turning them nasty.

I also remember reading that although the chance of some cancers is reduced the risk of others is increased. The problem is finding unbiased writings. People tend to have strong opinions and that colours the writings.

If the dog is okay I'd leave him as he is.

So what you want is more important than your dogs welfare?

Lovely.

Nataleejah - I'm sure we'd all love to hear a little more about your dog's character and nature. It would inform he discussion and we are all curious. Do share.