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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Neutering a golden retreiver

13 replies

Happydays50 · 15/01/2016 21:33

We are having a few problems with our 20 month old golden retriever.
He is humping anyones leg he can find, and its becoming a problem.
Will neutering solve this problem?
TIA

OP posts:
Tate15 · 15/01/2016 21:46

It should but there is always a chance they will occasionally still hump.

My middle dog is being castrated next week. He isn't much of a bumper though.

Don't forget, even after castration the hormones may take awhile to diminish so he may still hump but not necessarily so.

If you do not intend to breed from him you should get him castrated.

I have three dogs, the eldest is very obedient but before he was castrated, out of the blue he turned completely wild in his efforts to get to a female dog in heat. He went completely beserk and my daughter and I had to resort to physically picking him up and locking him in the car such was the lure of the bitch in heat! If a road had been between him and the bitch he would have run out and the risk of this happening ensured we had him neutered shortly afterwards.

Humping isn't just sexual it is usually a dominance thing.

Personally, if I was you I would get him castrated as it will help him calm down and could prevent him coming to harm should he decided to persue a bitch in heat.

Hoppinggreen · 16/01/2016 07:59

If you don't want to breed from him then yes get him neutered.
Our Goldie pup is just 10 weeks old but as soon as he hits 6 months he will be done on the vets advice.
No risk of unwanted puppies and keeps him safer

BestIsWest · 16/01/2016 08:04

Is six months young to neuter? No opinions or knowledge at all but ours is 5 months and I haven't begun to think about having him neutered.

Hoppinggreen · 16/01/2016 08:21

I'm sure that's what the vet said but it was our first visit to the vet with him qnd I was getting a lot of info!!!

Hoppinggreen · 16/01/2016 08:22

Also, I'm more used to cats so our policy has always been neuter as standard ASAP!!!

needastrongone · 16/01/2016 08:53

Firstly, talk to your vet.

Second, humping isn't anything to do with dominance. The whole dominance thing was disproved year ago. There is an absolute raft of information that I can link to to support my statement if needed.

It may be sexual. It can simply be excitement. Neutering may reduce the humping, but it may not. It may even be a habit now!

Can you reward his behaviour when he doesn't hump? Consistently done, this might break the cycle? Teach an alternative behaviour when you meet other people?

What type of character is your dog? I would think very hard about neutering a fear aggressive dog.

How about an implant? They have the same affect as neutering, but last 12/18 months (or at least the one I spoke with my vet about), so you might be able to judge his behaviour better then?

Floralnomad · 16/01/2016 10:16

My dog was a rampant humper and neutering did stop him ,more or less straight away , and he will now only go to hump if he gets very over excited and stops when told to . hopping , with large breed dogs I think the general advice is don't neuter until they are fully grown .

JustBeingJuliet · 16/01/2016 23:28

My neutered, 8yo BITCH humps occasionally! Usually when she's playing and gets overexcited, but, as she's not a boy, I'm at a bit of a loss about it all to be honest!

jigster01 · 17/01/2016 08:14

Our goldie was neutered at 7 months ....was very dominant and going through his teenage faze, biting terribly and jumping up going crazy ...only my ds would walk him.
Now he has calmed right down and is a beautiful dog! He still humps but as mentioned only when very excited ..boy is he strong (36kg) and hard to pull off,he's only 11months !!

LilCamper · 17/01/2016 09:08

This is an interesting article on the subject.

nellieellie · 18/01/2016 19:54

Just google premature neutering. If you neuter before the growth plates in the joints have closed, you remove the hormone, ie the message in the body that ensures growth stops when the bones reach proper size, so you can get bone abnormalities, joint issues. In a large dog, leave it until at least 2. Yes, some vets still say 6 months. More and more advise leaving it until later. Some rescues, eg flat coated retriever rescue no longer routinely neuter. For a male, there are arguments that an intact dog will have fewer health problems in general. Just please research it and make your own mind up.

Anonymum40 · 19/01/2016 12:31

We had our GR neutered at 3 years old. He was humping everything including the cat! Now he sits around peacefully wondering what to do with his time...

Original poster
Happydays50 · 19/01/2016 21:32

Thank you for all the replies, very helpful.
He is now 21 months, is it worth waiting till he is 2 years old?

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