Can anyone please tell me the pros and cons of neutering a male dog?

[ConfusedofCardigan]

I know this has been done before but advice and opinions change fast so just hoping for some up to date help.

Our lovely dog is due to have his bits off very soon and DH and I are now getting very conflicting advice from different quarters!

I just want to do the best for our dog and now I don't seem to know what that is.

He is 18 months old as we'd left it this long so he could benefit from his growth hormones. Please help us decide as I am very confused now (see name change).

[babyblackbird]

I don't know how to quote in bold but the suggestion of it being irresponsible to let an unneutered dog off lead is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever read.

My dog is entire and was off lead a few weeks ago in our local area when a bitch came up to him and would not leave him alone - the owner who was on his phone was oblivious - I sensed something was amiss and shouted at him " was his bitch on heat?" , to which he responded " oh she might be", I told him my dog was entire!

I called my dog who immediately recalled to me and was put on lead, he however had absolutely no control of his dog who was determined that mine was going to be the father to her puppies. The assumption that every entire dog is out of control and obsessed with on heat bitches is JUST PLAIN WRONG !!!

[BLUEsNewSpringWatch]

I also think it's irresponsible to let your dog off the lead if they are unneutered as they might run to a female on heat

Seriously?! You think my dog should spend his life having only on lead walks, just incase a bitches owner has failed to keep their on heat bitch safe? If you choose to have an unneutered bitch you are responsible for keeping her safe whilst on heat (which is a very small
amount of time). My dog's welfare comes before the bitch who, has the misfortune, to have an irresponsible owner.

[Whitney168]

I also think it's irresponsible to let your dog off the lead if they are unneutered as they might run to a female on heat.

On that basis, nobody should ever let a neutered male off lead either, as many are still very interested in mating bitches and certainly entirely capable of mating and tieing - the only thing neutering if 100% successful prevents is pregnancy!

[Veterinari]

Yes a trial suprelorelin implant will give you a good idea of his response to neutering and allow you to make a more informed decision.

[WiganPierre]

In my experience neutering has been so much better with regard to behaviour as they were a lot better behaved after the operation. That outweighed any risks for me. I also think it's irresponsible to let your dog off the lead if they are unneutered as they might run to a female on heat.

[Whitney168]

Neutering can certainly have cons, and if I had a 'lovely dog' at 18 months, the last thing I would be thinking of doing is rocking the boat by neutering him.

As well as the possible impacts on behaviour (and this can include bullying by other males) from lack of testosterone that others have mentioned, the risk of some cancers is thought to be increased by neutering.

Don't know if you have him clipped or stripped, but neutering can also play havoc with coats, so in many breeds is a very good reason not to neuter unless needed.

Lack of neutering does not cause unwanted canine pregnancy, that would be irresponsible dog ownership.

[GandalfsWrinklyHat]

We have a goldie and I had the same reservations about neutering. The only thing he did that drove me nuts was scenting everywhere on walks, thank goodness never in the house, but seriously, every blade of grass. Was interfering with gun dog training and his focus wasn't me, iykwim.

In the end we opted for an implant just to see what happens. The results were great and we're very happy. Will continue with this until he is older and then give him his testosterone back. My DH family's goldies were intact and all lived to 13+ in good health, the last one was 16 when het was pts. I do think there is big advantage in keeping them entire. For us the advantage is that he is temporarily 'done' for doggie day care, kennels when we're on hols etc. You could always trial a 6 month implant and see how he gets along?

[BiteyShark]

sparechange I also have no idea how you can guarantee to walk your bitch when there are no other entire dogs about. I often used to walk my previously entire dog off lead at 5-6am as there isn't actually a curfew for dog walking and sometimes we did meet other people walking their dogs at the same time.

[Eryri1981]

We have a Cocker spaniel X Bedlington Terrier.

We always intended to have him neutered and had him done at the earliest opportunity, of 6 months, for 2 reasons:

1. NDN had an unspayed bitch who was coming into heat at the time, and we didn't want any escapes, unplanned pregnancies, or for them not to be able to play together (they love each other).
2. He was starting to "hump" a lot of dogs including older and bigger ones than him, and I was concerned that at some point this might backfire and end with him being injured or worse.

The vet had no problem with doing it at that age as he is a small-medium breed, and he has always been a really confident puppy.

So he is now 9 months, and his behaviour so far...
The humping stopped completely almost instantly.
He is just as confident with other dogs and with children, but a little more wary of new adults. Not sure if this is just a phase, or to do with the neutering.
He is still very hit and miss with cocking his leg...it's very funny!!
He has never shown any aggression pre or post surgery :-)
No weight gain beyond expected growth, but bedlingtons are a skinny breed.
He still likes to bark :-(

I was reading up about barking the other day, and it said that stopping them barking at postman/ deliverymen can be near impossible, as dog barks at the postman, postman leaves, therefore positively reinforcing the dogs intended behaviour of scaring the postman off...good job well done and all that!!!
Also to train a dog to not bark, you have to train them to bark on command to start with, and then train them with a "quiet" command. At the moment, our pup will go on the prowl into the (open planned) kitchen jumping up at the work top to see if there is any food left out. At the moment he does this quietly. I do not want to train him to associated barking with getting what he wants. So I think I'm going to leave it.

[sparechange]

If you have a female dog - simply keep her away from male dogs. It's not impossible I don't care who you are. Walk her at quiet times or whatever.

How do you stop entire dogs roaming to get to her, or try to her to her?
It's all well and good walking your dog at 5am but if male dogs smell her and break out of their gardens to find her, it can be near impossible

Plus the misery of phantom pregnancies and risk of pyo
I've just seen someone have to put down their much-loved 2 year old bitch after she got pyo.

[Orangebird69]

Ylvamoon, what about the dangers of pyometra?

[BiteyShark]

Haha I had better watch out for those zombie testicles in my neutered dog

[BLUEsNewSpringWatch]

sparkling can you please explain this point Neutering a male dog does NOT remove the risk of testicular cancer! As I really can't see how if the testicles are no longer there they can get testicular cancer (just like in humans a mastectomy prevents breast cancer because there is no breast tissue to get cancer). The removal of testicles obviously affects hormones thus can cause other cancers but not testicular, since there are no testicles!

[Ylvamoon]

Orangebird69 - simple answer is no- I am against neutering. The girls come into season roughly every 8 months. Dog will either go on "holiday" or we keep then separate. It's manageable and we don't have unwanted puppies. My first girl is 8 and the other is 1- and before anyone asks, nope dogs do generally not have a menopause.
I have always had dogs, breeding pairs and rescue pets. There is definitely a difference in neutered/ not neutered dogs. I have also seen some of the "damage" caused by early neutering - in psychological and physical terms.

[Veterinari]

Neutering will only help to reduce behaviours driven by testosterone - if the territorial behaviour is driven by testosterone, neutering may help, if it's driven by anxiety, or 'terrier-ness' neutering is unlikely to help, and could make things worse.
I'd suggest an APBC behaviour consult.

[Orangebird69]

Ylvamoon, are your bitches neutered?

[Mellington]

After neutering there was a huge decrease in the dog fellating himself.

Seriously.

[ConfusedofCardigan]

See Through - that now makes me think...will it help with the territorialness? But I just don't know!

[Veterinari]

Neutering a male dog does NOT remove the risk of testicular cancer!

In fact there have been many studies over the years which proves the opposite

Could you please link to some of those studies showing the increased prevalence of cancer in an organ the dog no longer has, please Sparklingraspberry

[ConfusedofCardigan]

Sparkling I have just read the recent study about golden retrievers and am now even more confused. For them at least, it doesn't look great. Read another study too about GSDs, though that was about the effects of doing it before they're one.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

We didn't. I hated the idea of chopping bits off our friend . Did at 5 because he was an aggressive bastard with other dogs. It did calm him down.

[SparklingRaspberry]

Neutering a male dog does NOT remove the risk of testicular cancer!

In fact there have been many studies over the years which proves the opposite

[SparklingRaspberry]

I would never get any dog done unless it was a matter of saving their life

Yes spaying/neutering may decrease the risk of certain reproductive organ cancers but it increases the chances of even more cancers elsewhere in the body as well as many other health problems.

I don't see the point in it. If you have a female dog - simply keep her away from male dogs. It's not impossible I don't care who you are. Walk her at quiet times or whatever.

If you have a male dog I just don't see the point? He's only going to hump if given the opportunity - and that's down to the owner to stop. Again, it's not hard.

[ConfusedofCardigan]

JW13 we had him from a pup and went to great lengths to socialise him, so I really don't know why he's like that. We even made sure he met people with beards, glasses, blonde hair, dark hair etc etc. All before the socialisation 'window' of 16 weeks closes.

I guess what our dogs do have in common is that they're both terriers...

[JW13]

PS @ConfusedofCardigan mine also barks and barks at unknown visitors. He's a great guard dog (until people see his size). He's not so bad once the visitor is settled/sitting down etc but then he goes mad barking when they try to leave. I always blamed that on his previous owners as they didn't socialise him with other people, let alone dogs. But I wonder whether neutering might help that.