Behaviour changes after neutering?

[whateveryousay]

Hi, my vet has advised me to neuter my 9mth old male gsd, to curb his aggression.
I am reading conflicting advice on this online, so was wondering if anyone here had any personal experience of this working, or making it worse?
I’d be grateful to hear any anecdotal evidence either way please!

There is no evidence that male-female aggression is testosterone related. The fact that it’s female-focussed and only at home would make me much more suspicious of resource-guarding or territorial aggression (they aren’t siblings are they?) Bith if these types of aggression have an anxiety component so i’d Definitely get proper behavioural advice first as neutering could worsen the aggression

Thanks Veterinari. It’s not only at home though. It’s the ‘at home’ bit that’s making me consider neutering though, as that’s the most difficult to control (although not impossible).
I will get a second opinion before doing anything.
I think what I was hoping for was a flood of people saying ‘yes, that worked for us’, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

I do not like to draw too many conclusions without seeing in rl but from what you have described it is not fear aggression.

It sounds like a bolshy teenager just doing it cos he can.

I would be working on control and management of this to start with. So never ever let it happen, no pushing, no sitting on the goldie, no interaction with the goldie at all to start with.

Loads of positive training experiences with you, so lots of focus work, reward for eye contact and being close to you, mat or bed training so reward for being quiet on the bed etc. All positive interactions will come from you frequently throughout the day.

What happens outside of the house?

Sorry guys, I read the OP as being about aggression towards other dogs rather than people. And some dogs do seek to be dominant over other dogs. Generally not bitches though.

www.petwave.com/Dogs/Behavior/Dominance.aspx

Dominance and pack theory are rubbish. Have been completely debunked.

Neutering didn't change our dog one bit, but we didn't neuter for any behavioural issues anyway.
It sounds like doesn't want to share, his space or you, with your other dog. Definitely get specialist advice. I grew up around GSDs and only ever had this sort of issue with one GS bitch who was awful to our elderly collie bitch. It was he dog version of jealousy - she was very possessive of my Mam and couldn't bear the other dog being near her. Fine with kids/other people.
Hope you find a solution.

Did your behaviourist mean dominance as in dominance theory, or as a politer way of saying cheeky git?

That petwave article is nonsense.

There’s a ‘useful resources’ thread in doghouse if you search - it has great evidence-based behavioural resources.

The term ‘pack’ is meaningless - wolf packs are actually natal family groups. Domestic dogs don’t live in Natal family groups and definitely don’t live in packs. So any theory of social behaviour based on pack heirarchy e.g. dominance is utterly flawed

tabulahrasa - yes, I do think they meant 'dominant' in a 'bullying little shit' way, as opposed to 'fearful'. Certainly didn't mention 'dominance theory' as such, and my dog is not a problem at all around humans in the family (me, husband and 4 kids). Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.

vallahala - thanks for the input. To answer what he's like outside the home, well, I don't walk them together any longer. This is because as soon as he sees the goldie getting her lead on, he will start biting at her legs. Not an attack as such, more sniping. When they are off lead, he will stick fairly close to me, but she likes to wander a bit. He would not let her do this, if she strayed more than 6 feet, he would bring her down. So I started keeping him on lead while she had a run. This then meant that I could not recall her again, as she soon learned that when she came back, he would pounce. So I ended up having to try to get home with her trailing off lead at a distance of a few metres. Hence not walking them together.

We do a lot of short training sessions during the day, his focus and attention to me is outstanding. If I was to anthropomorphise, I'd say his behaviour was a case of 'this is a party of two here, me and my mum, and no one else is welcome'.

Anyway, in the absence of any positive experiences re neutering, I am thinking I will just accept they are separate for now, and look at behaviour.

If the dog boarder has no problem is it more about him resource guarding you? How does he bring her down if he’s on lead? I use a dogmatic for when I need close control of my giant breed.
Any chance anyone could walk with you and hold him whilst you recall her? So avoiding the pounce?
Disclaimer! I’m no behaviourist. Far from it! Just trying to think of ways round it.
Hope you find a solution.

Ok things are getting clearer now

I do not like diagnosing over the Internet I would usually take at least 2 hours of rl interaction but what you are describing sounds like very herdy gsd behaviour.

GSD are herding dogs they herd instinctively like collies (sort of!)

So what you are seeing is just that herdy instinct being misdirected. The nipping at the legs the keeping you altogether is just what instinct is telling him to do.

You can work around this with training and it will not be too difficult a job to do (much easier than fear aggression!)

As you can see he prefers to be near you that is normal behaviour for many herding breeds, he is looking to you for instruction, so work on focus on you (this will be easy!) reward for looking at you, reward for being close to you, get his attention back on you and not on herding the goldie!

Do this on separate walks to start with then maybe have someone else walk the goldie so you can concentrate on keeping his attention on you.

This is just tip of the iceberg on things to do but a good trainer can help with this not a behaviourist look at imdt in your area to help you with this.

Nipping his goolies off will not help with this just good training

Agree - this sounds like a combination of resource-guarding (you) which does have an anxiety component - he’s worried about losing your focus and attention, plus an element of herding GSD behaviour.

I’d actually suggest a different approach to above. If he’s resource-guarding you then he needs to learn to share and this means rewarding him and goldie for calm quiet behaviour when together, not giving him more focused attention when alone. He needs to learn that he gets more of your attention when he’s relaxed around goldie. And she needs to be reassured around him. Start by training quiet calm behaviour in each of them, gradually bringing them closer together. If he starts misbehaving eg nipping at her legs. Stop and remove yourself from the situation.

I’d stingily suggest though that you contact an APBC accredited behaviourist who can properly assess him - as this thread shows, the Internet isn’t the best platform for assessing behaviour

Yes yes yes to a GOOD behaviourist. Unfortunately they are like gold dust. The FB group dog training advice and suppprt can help if you need someone in your area. And yes they need to come and see the behaviour for themselves. Dog behaviour can be quite subtle and nuanced.
Good luck.

I bet money this is not resource guarding. There are none of the key indicators for RG in the scenario described by the OP

OP my youngest GSD bitch displays some of this behaviour towards my older GSD. She tried nipping his legs and side as he was running in an attempt to bring him back and she is also quite bossy at home with him.
Luckily my old boy takes none of her nonsense and has told her off so many times that she has stopped now but I do think an element of it sounds like young full of himself GSD behaviour that should be solvable rather than pure aggression.

I also would go for the registered behaviourist route, I used one with another Shepherd I had with issues and it was invaluable at the time.

Thank you all for your input, especially as I realise it’s hard to ‘diagnose’ over the internet.

He’s my third GSD since becoming an adult, and I’ve done literally hundreds of classes over the years. What I’m trying to say is that while I’m by no means an expert, I’m not a novice owner either. I’ve never had this specific behaviour though!

I don’t see it as ‘resource guarding’, I’m thinking more ‘herding’ mixed with bolshy teenager. I will take more RL advice though. In the meanwhile, I’ve cancelled the op that was scheduled for next week (he will never know how close he came to losing his precious balls!). I’m also going to give him an alternative behaviour when he’s sniping at goldie too. Whereas until now I’ve simply told him off/dragged him off, I will try giving him something else to do, like putting him in a down-stay for eg instead.

Thanks again for all input!