Castration?

[Babyroobs]

Just looking to hear people's experiences of whether castration calmed their dogs down. We have a very hyperactive working cocker spaniel. Before anyone comments , I know I was woefully unprepared for the amount of work involved with this breed and did not research it properly and accept full responsibility for my stupidness. I love him hugely, he is funny and affectionate but very hard work. He is constantly annoying our older ( 7 years) bitch , constantly sniffing her and bothering her, body slams her on walks and is over boisterous. Walking them together is a nightmare sometimes and I often walk them separately just for an easier life and because I feel sorry for our older dog. He is not aggressive with other dogs ever, he has growled at dh when he did not want to be moved off our bed when he had sneaked up there earlier in the evening. but not generally aggressive to anyone.
I'm just wondering if getting him done might help to clam him. DH is very against it, thinks it's unfair to do it to him and blames spaying for changing our bitch and making her more aggressive. I'd just like to hear other peoples experiences of whether it helped clam their dogs down and whether it negatively affected their dogs personality. The sheer amount of energy ( despite lots of walks/ play etc) is overwhelming. Also is there anything we can do to discourage digging - he has dug huge craters in our lawn which admittedly was already awful from a hot summer, he cannot be left unsupervised in the garden or a new crater appears and now our older dog has started copying him.

@merrz, though we both needed our operations for health reasons and was neccessary it still impacted both my dog and myself not being allowed to have children and going through normal changes associated with a female, it may seem daft to some but however seeing the affect it had on my bitch and the subject experience of having these changes and choices taken away from me i can see both sides of the coin with regards to spaying a bitch,,, sorry i know my reply seemed curt it wasnt intended that way, it just gets my back up when people complain about periods when they dont realise how it truely is a case of better the devil you know for some. certainly was for me x

at least i felt like a real women when i had them and choices

Dogs aren’t people. Bitches don’t miss seasons. They don’t have a biological desire to have a family.
The decision should be made on the basis of what is best for the animal. Health and welfare.

I didn't mean to offend anyone who's had to have a hysterectomy, really sorry to read that @Crazy
But what I mean is if you're never going to let your dog breed why not have them neutered. No they don't have a biological desire to have a family but they do have a desire to mate every time they come into season or for males every time they smell a bitch in season so if you're not going to let them fulfill those desires why put them through that frustration every time.

Merz it is not as simple as just preventing mating.

Early castration causes behavioural issues, increase in some illness and can issues with physical development.

The change in hormones can have a major negative impact on the dog - if we are comparing to humans (which is ridiculous) that is why vasectomy is preferred to castration in humans

I very much doubt that dogs who have been spayed or castrated don’t feel like “real” dogs
Dogs are not people and we can’t project our feelings into them

Personally I feel from my research that I've done the health risks and benefits of neutering Vs not neutering often balance out. Obviously there are specific individual health needs that can sway that (like the poor bitch who had seizures before her season mentioned by a pp).

People rarely consider the effects on joints, bone strength, etc that neutering has.

Ive always found my male dogs calmed a little post neutering, however young dogs still need exercise and play to wear them out, whether neutered or not.

My 9yr old dog that was neutered at 15 months humps every dog he meets, humps his male housemate every morning, and even gives himself oral sex regularly!

I've a 3yr old dog still entire (not quite sure whether he's a foster or adopted dog..). It makes me nervous from the point of view of him being stolen, as he's a pedigree. He's very good with other dogs, but he does get strange around children - I've had a couple of occasions where he's had such a good time running around with friend's children that he's tried to hump them and becomes a bit obsessed with them. Never seen that before!

He has been totally uncontrollable on his walk this morning. he goes off load and will go running off but always comes back especially if called. Today he has gone flying off after a squirrel and just would not come back to the point where I was upset and panicking an had my other dog on the lead to think of too. He had this totally wild look in his eyes and wasn't listening to me at all. I feel like I really can't cope with him at the moment.

I used the perfect recall book and found it really helpful. For now walk on lead, longline or in secure areas only. Do you attend training?

Wolfie - he is shocking on the lead. I have a bad back and he pulls like mad even with a harness and makes himself gasp and wheeze. We need to sort out some training, I guess it's just finding the time to go.

My cocker spaniel is terrible on the lead as he is in hunting mode so nose down and zig zagging about trying to pick up scent so I know how you feel OP.

I spent ages on recall. Several months of him just being a pain in the arse. However the lightbulb moment came when he got really interested in balls so much so I can walk past deers/squirrels really close and I can see him thinking he would like to chase but actually he wants me to throw me ball instead a lot more (I have two on me just in case of that situation).

Honestly I had to forget the stroll through the forest with my dog and now we just throw or hunt balls. I don't even need to do it all the time as he is so obsessed that he will circle me until I throw it. I have seen other people say their spaniels are ball obsessed so I think it's a trait of theirs so yours may be the same.

Can you get him interested in them at home by throwing or hiding a ball. Once you get him interested start doing that on walks. Reward recall with ball throw or play.

Neutering won’t magically solve recall or make him walk nicely on a lead. You need training.

Some interesting opinions on castrating on this thread. I had both my jacks castrated as early as possible, 6 months. I felt that as i didn't want to breed from them and I was terrified of them dashing across the road or doing a runner to get to a bitch i might as well get it done as quickly as possible. I feel a bit sad i will never have a puppy from either of them but then I would have wanted a puppy from each of the puppies and would have drowned in a sea of pups. One of my jacks humps and is very, very challenging. The other is easy as pie.

The challenging dog i use kibble puzzles and i feed him more of his kibble (from his daily amount) by throwing it on a walk. I have to vary walks too, even just going to a different section of the park. The other Jack is super chilled and just moseys along. So both neutered, high energy breed and both completely different.