Should I get my dog neutered ?

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He will be 8 months old at the end of this month and that's when the vet said it could be done from (I don't know if this is actual guideline but pup had an operation at 4 months so vet wanted to wait before doing another - also the neutering would be an add on to a surgery he would already be having for cherry eye)
Anyway, I'm all for it so I've read/heard that it calms them down a bit in regards to being around other dogs/wanting to shag the furniture.
Obviously I understand that every dog will react differently to it but right now our guy is mental! He is fully housebroken and pretty well trained around the house, loves playing with my DS, but when we go for walks he's completely different - if I don't put the halti on I cannot walk him as he's a big dog and will just try to pull me and go whichever way he wants and if we see another dog I have to cross the road otherwise he'll go for them, also not a fan of buggys/the elderly! It's like he forgets all training once we are outside and won't listen to commands, I really struggled to walk train him but the halti helps significantly however he chewed though it yesterday so just had the walk from hell. So I just wonder if neutering would help that situation?
My DP is against it though, says it would make no difference so why bother put him through an extra procedure (and money spent) and I see where he's coming from since pup didn't have a great start in life (we recused) but for the chance it might make a difference, I'll like to go ahead.
Pups acting like butter wouldn't melt now snuggled up at my feet, he knows i'm talking about him!

At 8 months he's heading into his teenager stage, or likely already there, and that would likely explain some of his awkward behaviour.

Having a dog neutered doesn't necessarily mean they will calm down or change any of their behaviour, but there are certain health benefit. Not neutering however, can bring it's own issues especially around unspayed females. And obviously having a dog neutered means no unwanted litters so would be the responsible thing to do.

I wouldn't have an unneutered dog but that's my opinion. If you're unsure I would talk to the vet to get more information and maybe do more research on the pros and cons yourself.

Eight months is fairly early to neuter. Maybe if you're unsure wait and see how you feel when your dog's a bit older.

Yes.

It can make a massive difference.

Is your DH one of those men who won't get their dog neutered because it means you're taking away their masculinity?

Thank you PigsDOfly I had no idea they had an teenage phase! I'm new to dog owning but DP's had dogs his whole life so I usually listen to him or speak to his mum about dog related things but they are of two different mindsets on this so its confusing me.
I have done a bit of research, through google so admittedly could be shaky. When I asked the vet he just said he wouldn't want to do it yet since pup had an operation recently. MiL told me to just book it and DP will just have to pay for it! She said we should have booked him in at 7 months, but even I thought that was too soon, 8 months still seems to young (even though he looks like an adult dog!)
I don't want him to have too many operations/procedures so early on in life so combining this with when he'll have his next one seems logically but we can always push that back as the vet said as long as its not infected/causing him pain then we don't have to do it straight away. Thanks for the insight, I actually hadn't even thought about litters or anything like that so that's food for thought and will bring it up with DP tonight.

haha no ICantCopeAnymore I don't like he is, I think he just wants to save money!!

*Think, not like

I thought it was best to wait until they were two.

Fair enough! It's not that expensive. £50 at my vet and well worth it IMO.

I flat out refuse to have un-neutered males in my house (rescue fosterer). They are a bloody nightmare imo. The health implications also tip the scales for me, as well as the not trying to escape/terrorise everything if they smell a bitch on heat

There is a lot to consider before neutering your boy. He is not fully grown yet so I would definitely wait until he is 18 months or so. Also neutering can change a dog’s behaviour dramatically, confident dogs can become nervous, aggressive or timid. Neutered males often attract unwanted “attention” from other males. Although neutering can prevent certain health conditions it can also cause/contribute towards other health conditions, some very serious. Neutering can definitely be the right option for some dogs but for others it can be an irreversible disaster. Read up as much as you can on the subject before you make the decision. I am neither pro or anti neutering, but I feel that some vets push it on owners without explaining all the facts.

olivetor7 makes some very good points.

Recent thinking seems to support either not neutering, or waiting until 18 months - 2 years. Studies have shown that neutering before puberty is over can mean the dog grows larger than nature intended which in bigger dogs especially can cause skeletal issues and early arthritis, hip issues etc..

There is also lots of evidence to suggest that in male dogs early neutering can make them more fearful which in turn can cause major issues including aggression.

I fully intended to keep my boy labrador entire. However he became a horrendous sex pest when he saw a dog that he was attracted to. He was a dream at all other times but very difficult when he got 'the urge'. This led to us having to walk him away from any other dogs just in case. However we had a few incidents of him ejaculating on other dogs, and once on a person who was carrying a dog.

So after much soul searching we had him castrated at 15 months. He is still a bouncy dog who loves to interact with other dogs but he no longer looses his head when he sees other 'attractive' dogs and the humping has stopped.

It's a tough decision OP but one of the key things to remember is that it won't change everything - only sexually driven issues. So our lab was always well behaved in the house, well mannered with great recall. It was just when he had sex on his mind that he became incredibly difficult.....

if we see another dog I have to cross the road otherwise he'll go for them, also not a fan of buggys/the elderly!

Could those be fear based reactions - so he thinks he needs to attack them before they attack him? In which case he should not be neutered as it can massively increase fear aggression.

Spaniels that's a really good point. My boy who benefited from neutering had never showed a scrap of aggression prior to his op. He was a confident dog who just wanted to mate constantly. This was demonstrated by sniffing licking humping etc, no aggression whatsoever.

OP I cant see why having his testicles would make a dog aggressive towards prams or types of people etc.. These sound like fear based reactions which could be made worse by neutering.

Please do some reading up on fear in dogs, as this may need careful management before it gets out of hand....

He's hit his adolescent years. Is he food orientated? Keep him on the lead with a halti and treat as he follows commands (even stop/wait) he will start to understand that when he's asked to do something, he gets a treat.

In regards to the neutering, all my dogs are neutered. I have a dog not much older than yours and he was a nightmare. He still has that bouncy personality, but he's not as extreme as he was. No humping our (spayed) bitch and doesn't try to hump our other 2 boys. I say get the neutering and keep up positive reinforcement training. Seek a behaviourists help if you feel you need it.

Hi OP, I second what other posters have said about waiting until he is older. What breed is he? As the larger breeds reach maturity later than the smaller ones do. We hung on until 18 months to neuter our mini poodle as we wanted him to be fully mature and he was also showing signs of fear aggression and we were concerned that neutering might make that worse. We would probably have waited longer still but he was becoming a nuisance at the dogsitters! Once he'd been done, it did stop him chasing other dogs in the park that he was 'interested' in and his recall improved because of that, but otherwise we saw no real difference in his temperament. Yours is entering the teenage stage and they are notorious for behaving as if you have never done any training with them and for recall going AWOL - it does get better again and there are some very good recent threads on here about the adolescent phase, so maybe have a read of those?

I was advised by numerous different vets to neuter at 9-12 months.

Absolutely.

Although the advice on when to neuter is always different. The last three dogs I have had have all been through rescues - girl was 6 months old when she was speyed, boy at 5 months and boy at 15 months. My old JRT wasn't neutered until he was 8 (due to having a husband who refused to get him neutered - balls came off about 2 weeks after husband became an ex-husband!!).

Luckily they have all been nice-natured dogs, so I can't say one way or the other that neutering made them better behaved. Best to concentrate on the training and socialisation as the primary way of improving your dog's behaviour and castration as a secondary issue - although this will stop his going after the ladies!

8 months is a difficult age. Mine was in full teenage mode at that point and was the biggest pain in the arse ignoring me, pushing boundaries and being very stubborn (don't even start me on recall issues ).

As for neuteuring I was advised to do it when fully grown so this will vary depending on breed (google growth plates etc), and to ensure there was no behavioural issues such as fear aggression of dogs and humans. As it happened we did it just before he was 11 months of age.

We had our a Goldie done at 1
I think it definitely calmed him down and stopped the humping - doggy daycare said it was like having a different (better) dog.
He wasn’t aggressive before though, just daft. He’s still daft but a bit calmer and less humpy

My boy isn't neutered and he is 6 now. He is the loveliest, kindest dog you can imagine. I don't have any problems with him in regards to other dogs or lifting his leg where inappropriate.
I think if I would neuter him now, he'd be overweight and stop moving completely (he's on the "solid" side and always been a bit lazy!!).

I've got a 5 year old cocker spaniel and he is entire. I went on the advice of my rather lovely vet, who said only to get him done if he was showing dominance/aggression which he never has. I didn't want him to be neutered as it can affect their growth plates and they are more likely to have ruptured cruciate ligaments, which having had in our last dog, we were desperate to avoid.
He was a bloody nightmare between 10 and 18 months - teenage phase - but I don't think that was remotely hormone related. Just him growing up.
I'd have a really good chat to your vet about it. It's a very personal decision, but I've not regretted leaving my boy for one second. I also strongly feel that GA's are for life and death only.

One other thing, if you need to use doggy daycare or home from home Holiday care some won’t take entire males from a certain age
Possibly not a good enough reason on its own to do it but worth considering

My Cavalier is two and entire. We only had a brief problem of attempted escapes when there was a bitch in season a couple of gardens away but only if I wasn't watching him 100% when in the garden (found out the intelligent little git was jumping into a tree to be able to jump the fence to next door but couldn't get from next door over to the bitch thankfully). We fenced round the tree and no more issues.

He did hump his one particular duck toy from 8/9months until 18months-ish but nothing else. And then just stopped.

His recall is as close to perfect as you can get and he is so laid back and obedient he actually gets complimented on it when we are out on a walk.

I haven't neutered him because he is a bit of a wimp and I think he needs his testosterone to be brave enough to face the world.

I think the medical benefits and negatives balance each other out, so it comes down to behavioural reasons for me in deciding whether to neuter a dog or not.

My cocker isn't 12months they so I will assess what I think is best for him at 18months.

Oh god please do not get him done until he has at least fully grown and developed in all aspects not just physically!

I wanted to wait until my small dog was fully grown so had him neutered in Feb at 14 months. I've not noticed any differences in him at all apart from him being less interested in other dogs and more focused on me. His recall has improved alot.