To neuter or not to neutor

[scotsgirl]

Anyone have any good reason not to neuter a 1 year old dog? We are trying to decide what to do, and most people (dog trainer, vet, other dog owners) are all for neutering. Breeder says not to. The dog is not aggresive in any way, but is 'marking his territory' i.e. peeing indoors (although we've only had him for two weeks, so maybe he needs more time to settle in). Come to think of it, how long should it take for them to realise that the toilet is outside only if they've never lived in a house?

What kind of a dog is he? When he is fully grown, will you be able to control him if you are out for a walk and you come across a female dog in season? I haven't neutured my male pomeranian, who is now 6, but keeping him under control is not a problem. Having said that, I keep him on the lead at all times as he is not reliable about coming when called. It took a long time to house train him, but that is typical for poms (tiny dogs, HUGE attitude ), and he does tend to pee indoors even though he gets plenty of walks. The biggest problem with an entire male is that most kennels won't take him, which can be problematic unless you have friends/family willing to dog sit, or plan to take him with you everywhere.

My bitches and dogs breeder both said not to neuter although we have done the male as we ddint want them to mate. We wont do the female though. I've researched it and teh research backing up the traditional get em done theory isnt as convincing as dont do them. That said we have no intention of breeding and will make sure she doesnt get caught accidently!

personally if you arnt going to breed then i would neuter,just means he wont do a disappearing act if he catches scent of a female in season

I don't know? We'll have to decide the same when our puppy is older, he's 16wks at the moment, but I'd like to see if he's got potential to be used for breeding first as he's got a good pedigree. Regarding house traning, we used to have a rescue dog who was about 1yr old and had been in kennels and living stray before we got him, he was much harder to housetrain than our puppy. He would be clean for a while them have accidents again, He wasn't completely housetrained until we moved to a new house over a year after we got him. Dogs vary so much though, your might train much more quickly.

I dont think there is a hard and fast rule regarding neutering of male dogs. Female dogs should definately be speyed if you are not going to breed as they are susceptable to a condition called pyometra (sp) which is a life threatening womb infection.

The vets where i work do not neuter males as a matter of course. They only tend to recommend if the dog is over dominant or has a wanderlust. It is a difficult one actually because both of these things can become a habit if not caught early. 16 weeks is far to yound to be marking his territory as he wont be sexually mature until he is about 6-9 months. I am undecided - i woudlnt tend to neuter, i have had two rotties, one i didnt neuter and the other a rescue so he came without his bits. The first dog was a sweetheart and had no problems whatsoever with his temperement, i ended up having to castrate him due to prostate problems later on though. Our second rottie was a rescue and castrated, his temperement was questionable to say the least but that was because he was mistreated.

My advise would be, see how he goes, if he does show signs of dominance or wander lust then consider it, although both of these should be kept in check with good training. It is really important to socialise your dog with other dogs from a young age to avoid problems with aggression later on. A point to bear in mind though is - if you are going to neuter him then do it early (6-9m) as for some reason, castrating later on often leads to a really dull coat, happened with my first rottie, not sure why this is.

The piddling indoors isnt terretorial, its naughty! rub his nose in it - it works

hercules, i would be interested to know the dont do em theory with regards to bitches as the overwhelming body of evidence points towards speying.

I'd definitely get him neutered. He'll start rubbing himself up your leg soon enough and clinging on - you may even go to stroke him and he'll wrap himself around your arm - very embarrassing! Plus it'll stink! ....Also you've got a far greater chance of losing him if he ever got out the garden/let off the lead because one sniff of a female and he could run for miles!

Lucyellensmum- I can't believe you advocate 'rubbing a dog's nose in his own urine'- that technique went out in the dark ages!!!!!

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I;ve had my dh neutered..he's much more manageable now

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Thanks for all the advice. The dog is 1 years old, and doesn't seem to have a problem with dominance. As for wanderlust, don't know yet - we've only had him for a couple of weeks.
I dunno why the breeder is against us neutering really. I wonder if it's just that he doesn't do it because he breeds from them. Admittedly, Freddie (the dog - a whippet BTW) is a good pedigree, but we're not planning on breeding, so I don't have a good reason not to neuter.

He didn't pee indoors today - hurray! He did have a bit more outside time today and a good old run about with some other dogs (first time I've let him do this), so maybe he just felt more chilled, or knackered. Or maybe it was just a fluke. Will see what happens tomorrow .

ggrl

i know the rub his nose in it technique is old hat - but it works! Actually i was half joking, but that is what i am doing with my pup just now and it is working. I don't hold with the never scold your dog techniques, he needs to know his place in the pack order and mine is right down there at the bottom, just above my DP! They tend to be happier when theey are lower down the pack, less responsibility and likelyhood for aggression. As to the OPs dog, then i definately wouldnt be rubbing his nose in it, he is too old at 1 year old and he is probably only doing what he has been trained to do, as he is not used to being in the house. I did read recently that alot of people are doing away with the paper technique, it makes sense, by training your dog to go on paper you are training him to go indoors, so it does mean a lot of trips to the back door. My pup was home bred which has made training easier, just a few mistakes, but he was paper trained and if we happen to leave anything remotely paperlike on the floor then its fair game!

Lucyellensmum- I agree about the pack order but could never agree about rubbing a dog's nose in his own urine and nor do the behavourists I work with. There are other kinder techniques. Dog behaviour therapy has moved on so much it is sad that these 'old hat techniques are still used.

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oh for heavens sake! What if i promise never to do it again?? Well i wont have to will I having done it once when the naughty little sod did it straight under my nose, by the open back door! He wont do it again I dont think he likes the smell of wee - but it doesnt hurt him and he isnt going to be walking around all day going Oh my good god ive got piss on my face is he, hes not squeemish like us.

I have to say, those DAP things are really good, they work - you have to give them a bit of time, apparently they can take up to a month to show improvement so worth sticking with. We used one to calm a mad rotweiller that we took on from battersea, he went from Demon do teddybear (well as close as a rottie can ever get to a teddybear) in the space of two weeks.

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Neuter.

Cuts down the risk of reproductive cancer.

Hi Scotsgirl, I had a whippet untill 6 months ago and they are wonderful wonderful pets. I would recomment them to anyone. Took about 18 months to fully train them (not house training) but we had her from an 18 month old pup. They are wonderful and I would have one in a second.

oops, i wasnt offended by your post, of course you must write what you feel - otherwise there would be no conversation. I agree with more or less everything you say, im a bit dubious of dog behaviourists having come across some dodgy ones who think they can charge loads of money to give people advice that is basic common sense with no real background to it. But a good dog behaviourist is a brilliant resource.

I do take on board what you say about the wee nose rubbing thing, maybe it is a bit harsh - i dont think it should be done to house train tbh, i rather fancy the chuck the dog out the back door when you see him sniffing around technique. OK? Friends? Of couirse we are

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Well the peeing indoors thing is improving -only once yesterday. New trauma's today as he got bitten by another dog , but I guess these things happen sometimes. He's also discovered that he can get upstairs now and there's no stopping him (even though I was trying to keep that area out of bounds). Will have to invest in a stair gate - it's not cheap having a dog is it?

Singyswife - glad to hear you had a wonderful whippet. Can you elaborate as to what you mean by 'it took 18 months to train him'. Thanks.