Will Neutering Help my Dog?

[Buddhababe]

Hi there

I have a 3 year old Golden Retriever, Male. He is the perfect dog around the house but once you bring him outside that front door, its a different story. He pulls terribly on the lead, pees on everything. It is like he is on the hunt for something!

We invested in some training a while back but to no avail. I have lost count on the number of times I have to say 'Heel' to him. He just does not want to listen. We have let him off the lead a few times in the common also and do you think he would come back? Not a chance. Complete Nightmare!

Sadly, it has got to the stage where we hate bringing him for a walk now. We will only go with him with a halti on him which he hates so he now hates his walks. Will neutering help our case do you think or is it a waste of time. Thanks

It will change his personality quite substantially. Of course, this depends to some extent on the individual dog, but I've never come across one that didn't turn out a more passive animal after neutering.

If training didn't work, I think it's a sensible course to consider.

Be prepared, though .. especially with a Retriever. They can get a lot more hairy!

You could ask your vet to chemically castrate him to see if it makes a difference. But tbh, I think ALL pet dogs/bitches, unless they are going to be shown, should be neutered.

Wasn't there a tip where if your dog is pulling on the lead you let it go slack and then start

Doh - pressed post before I finished

meant to say "and then walk the other way". Don't know if that would work though, sorry

My experience is that neutering is not very likely to help with this sort of problem. But all dogs are different and it may be that it helps. An important thing to remember is that it won't do him any harm (so long as you adjust his food quantities to stop him putting on weight).

Suggest you talk to your vet about neutering but I don't think it will solve your basic problem that he doesn't sound trained once you go outside.

I took my dog back to dog training classes at a year old as he was really pulling (and he's much larger than a Retriever!) and it was a life saver. So would really encourage you to invest time in going back to training.

Sounds like you're in a bit of vicious circle as I was. The harder they are to walk, the less you take them, hence the more overexicted and testing they become. We did a lot of basic obedience training and socialisation and he has calmed down beautifully.

Good luck and don't give up!

I had a Spinone who was very, very lively. Hard work for the first five tears. I had him neutered at about 20 months and it made not one jot of difference to him.

If a dog's difficult behaviour isn't directly sexual, or connected to sexual aggression/dominance, neutering is likely to be irrelevant.

I usually advise that all males are better off neutered, unless you are planning to breed/ show him. It can affect their behaviour, but not in a bad way!! I always think it is more cruel to leave all their instincts intact but not allow them to fulfil them! The majority of dogs involved in Road traffic accidents are unneutered males, as when they smell a bitch in heat, all other training can go out the window. Unneutered males can also develop testicular cancer, prostate problems and benign tumours around their bottom, whereas neutered males don't tend to get these problems. I think you have a lot to gain by neutering, and very little to lose (although the dog might feel differently!!)

Our male husky was incredibly arrogant when we rescued him at 18 months old, last year. He'd been basically ignored up until that point and even the vet described him as a "juvenile deliquent". He just had no idea how to behave around people. He barged all over the place and peed on everything. One of the first things we did was neuter him. He has calmed down SO much. This is probably a combination of a lot more attention and hard work, as well as the neutering, but removing some of the testosterone definitely helped.

However, whilst I agree netering will help calm your dog's general behaviour, I am not sure it will resolve the specific issues you describe. Getting him to "Come" and "Heel" will probably require more training, but you might find it easier to get him to listen to you so you can train him to do this after some of the hormones have gone!

One of our dogs pulled terribly and nothing seemed to stop her. In desperation I bought a headcollar (the "dogmatic" one) and it has really helped. She hardly pulls on it at all and is much easier to handle.
As for neutering I doubt it would help to be honest, although you may want to get him done for other reasons.

I too have a Golden, we had him neutered when he was young. From what the vets and his dog trainer told me, it wouldn't do much good to have your boy neutered now.

It's to do with learnt behaviour, in other words, the hormones started the pulling and sniffing etc, but the behaviour is established now, so removing the hormone drive won't stop the problem.

Our golden used to pull really badly on the lead, but we started using a gentle leader and we literally went from holding his lead with two hands to ONE FINGER!! He couldn't tolerate a halti collar either but was happy with the gentle leader.

HTH

HI everyone, thanks for your feedback. SOme interesting points there to consider. I think we will go ahead and neuter. I spoke to the vet and he advised the same and also said that he will need more training with the learnt behaviour as a few of you have also pointed out. We did train him as a puppy to sit, lie down which he does no problem. Howvever, whn we tried to train him on the lead, its as if he switches off on that part. I tried every trick in the book, the rewards, turning him around as if we are going the other direction e.t.c.but you should see the look he gives me when I do that! Useless altogether.....

I got the dogmatic and I find it great as I am pregnant and am pushing a buggy aswell so really need it but he really hates it and spends the whole walk scratching it of his nose. I have also met numerous people in the park who admire him and then say 'oh, does he really need to have that on him', so I feel really awful then but needs must I'm afraid. I might look into the Gentle Leader to see how that is.

Thanks again

actually, maybe I could have him do a stint in Dog Borstal!!

neutering a dog that age will make no difference to his behaviour, i also do not think his testosterone is making him pull! i use the halti on my dog and yes at first they try and get it off but over time he will adapt to it and walking will be a joy again.

castration only works if you neuter them before 18 months and only then it stops them from wanting to breed and fight so would not make any difference to their pulling.

do you ever watch dog borstal as they have good methods for teaching your dog to heel like using treats and looping the lead.

good luck!!

i used gentle leader on one of my dogs as he was a handful to walk wanting to take on anything on four legs and walking became a joy again. he was a boxer and very strong on the lead so if he wanted to go anywhere i had no choice until the gentle leader came along!!

Yep Bethoo, have watched it many a time but he is so used to getting treats at this stage out on the walk as a reward that it has warn off on him Im afraid. I didn't see the part on looping the lead though.
As for the halti, the dogmatic is the newest of our collection. We have had the halti for over a year on and off and he runs a mile when he sees me coming with it.

Neutering a dog usually improves their behaviour, i.e. they are calmer.
All dogs should be neutered unless you are planning on doing shows.

How much exercise does he currently get? Retrievers are a very active breed and need lots of exercise, preferably off-lead running (playing fetch, football etc) and swimming is great too, as well as on-lead walking for healthy joints/muscles etc.

Maybe he is just full of energy and rearing to go.....if he is pulling a lot though maybe training classes will help if your not getting through to him at home.

I would have thought he was too old for neutering to make a difference to his behaviour, although there are many other very good reasons for having it done.

Sounds like a training issue to me (pot-kettle issue here for me - my dog also pulls like a train unless on a Halti and was expelled from 2 lots of training classes ).

yeah I still think I will get it done. It will be good for him for health reasons and if it improves his behaviour slightly then, happy days for us all. I will still do the training when I get the time. Hard with small children in toe but I will mostly leave it in the good hands of my DH!

Thanks for all your feedback everyone!