Please talk to me about castrating reactive dogs

[ladyandthechocolate]

I would love to hear about your experiences regarding the decision to castrate (or not).
Ddog is 3 and has always had nervous traits. He loves the people he knows but doesn’t like being touched by anyone else. He tolerates and enjoys the company of some other dogs but is worried by bigger dogs that get right in his face. We have seen behaviourists and we understand him pretty well now.
We thought we had come to a decision about castrating him, we were advised to wait until he was fully mature to prevent the operation worsening his fear aggression. The vet now wants to do a chemical castration to assess the effect before we commit to permanent castration.
That in theory sounds sensible except there isn’t much online to read about chemical castration and it is a lot more expensive- an extra £400 on top of the standard castration fee.
The money isn’t an issue as much as I am suspicious of our vet right now because of the way they seem to upsell non-essential investigations. I am thinking of moving practices but that’s a different story...
I thought that once a dog was mature, castration has little effect on behaviour- this is why we have waited so long. I’m not expecting it to improve his reactivity but I just don’t want to make it worse.
Thanks

Watching with interest

@FishWithoutABike have you got a similar issue?

it is a lot more expensive- an extra £400 on top of the standard castration fee.
What? That’s bonkers - it is just an injection basically (called an “implant” but it’s really like a depot injection, it doesn’t need to be removed). It shouldn’t be “on top of” any surgical fee as no surgery is involved. £400 is also sounds very very expensive. The drug is called Suprelorin - might be worth shopping around. Off the top of my head at my workplace it is around £180 I think. Definitely under £200.

I had my dog castrated and it did nothing either way to his reactiveness. When we picked him up he was the calmest he had ever been, it was great but short lived when he recovered 🤣

@LemonViolet I’m sure it’s the same one although they mentioned removing it after. The fee includes sedation. I don’t know if that’s standard but my dog HATES being touched at the vets so it’s unlikely they could do it with him fully awake!

@radioband is your dog ‘fear’ reactive? I guess most aggression is fear based in reality.

Fishpup can be fear aggressive with strangers and some dogs. He can be a bit snappy with us too so I’m not sure it’s all fear. He has separation anxiety too. He’s too young to castrate but I’m interested if this will impact his aggression.

Talk to your vet about vasectomy rather than castration. So he gets to keep the hormones.
My dog had chemical implant before castration for the reasons you state OP; he was a bit nervous and we wanted to determine whether he would be affected.
The implant lasted 6 months. Must have been about 7 years ago and at the time was less than £100. It was just a jab in the scruff of his neck -a bit like the microchip one; he didn’t need sedating and nothing was removed.
It basically had no adverse effects so we went ahead and castrated him, but I would think twice next time and probably go for the snip instead.

Why do you want him castrated?

Castration and the drop in testosterone can make dogs more fearful. I would not castrate a dog showing fear aggression unless there was a real medical need to do so. It will still affect the testosterone levels in a mature dog so waiting until he is 3 will still make a big difference to him.

I am amazed that the chemical castration is costing you £400. It should not cost this amount but again would not do this on any reactive dog.

Why do you want to castrate him at all. I have a collie who can be a bit nervous. He is now 4 and I have no plans to castrate him. If yours is not a pain with bitches I would leave him entire.

[quote ladyandthechocolate]@radioband is your dog ‘fear’ reactive? I guess most aggression is fear based in reality.[/quote]
Yes, we’ve tried behaviourists etc. He’s just an anxious little thing.

The vets just said that it is better for him in the long run to be castrated, it decreases the risk of certain cancers and castrated dogs tend to live longer, healthier lives. How true that is I don’t know. He will also be less likely to get run over chasing a bitch.
However, we just won’t bother if it will make him worse. I was just interested in other people’s experiences.
He is a bit of a sex pest. I know castration won’t necessarily make that better though.

@radioband did you find the behaviourist helped? Ours was born anxious and ‘highly strung’. I have accepted it now but it limits our life somewhat.

I wouldn’t neuter an anxious dog.

In what way is he a sex pest?

It is not true that a castrated dog will get more cancers in fact in some breeds it is the other way around.

This research may help you decide on what is best for your breed of dog

[quote ladyandthechocolate]@radioband did you find the behaviourist helped? Ours was born anxious and ‘highly strung’. I have accepted it now but it limits our life somewhat.[/quote]
Yes definitely! He could get him to behave really well but I find it really hard to put into practice. He understood why he behaved like he does and what we need to do to sort this out. There is slight improvements but it’s going to take a lot of effort from us to make a noticeable difference.

@PollyRoulson that’s an interesting article thanks.
By sex pest, he will try to hump our cushions a lot. He also tries to hump us too but I think that behaviour isn’t always sexual.

What doesn’t help is my MIL who is constantly blaming his behaviour on his testicles and telling us he will be a completely different, calm, well adjusted dog when he is castrated.
I know it’s bollocks (if you’ll excuse the pun) but she will not be told!

Google 6month Suprelorin... It's not £400

Most humping isn't sexual, it's over-excitement.

Personally I would never neuter an anxious dog.

Suprelorin implant is expensive, but £400 sounds too much! It is somewhere between £120 and £180 at my place - sorry, can't remember exactly - but will vary between practices. With sedation would be more, but not more than £250 , would depend on the size of the dog. Most dogs can have the implant without sedation (it is similar to having a microchip). With the information you have given, I would definitely recommend implant before committing to castration. Castration MAY help with aggression/reactivity with other dogs, but in the case of fear aggression it may make matters worse. It may help with the humping type behaviours but not always.

I have only ever had male dogs and tend not to have them castrated. Current dog is 2 and pretty 'reactive' with other entire male dogs, especially large ones!! He is smallish and likes to make himself look as big and fierce as possible, though he is not really a danger except to himself. Previous dog (a rescue, uncastrated and medium sized) was a 'fighter', only with males, and again, the larger the better!

A childhood dog, who was neutered, was NEVER a problem with other dogs. So much less stressful on walks! There seem to be so many other reactive dogs around nowadays. DP will not permit current dog to be neutered , but I've had some success with walking him in a Halti, seems to improve his attitude a little!

We've always had our dogs castrated to stop them wandering. Our collie was quite nervous and in the house was getting very bolshy and snapped a few times. We had him castrated and it has helped. He is calmer, he no longer sizes up other dogs on the beach or at the park, now he is just totally focused on us or his ball or Frisbee. A lab was trying desperately to get his attention when we were on the beach and he totally ignored it. It was jumping in front of him but he just moved out of his way and he didn't react at all. He doesn't hump his bed anymore. He's more affectionate too. He just seems calmer, happier and quite chilled out, it certainly hasn't made him more nervous. Do what feels right for you.

I use it a fair amount in nervous dogs to trial castrations. But in these dogs I implant under sedation and placed it under the skin of the inner thigh. This means that if it makes the aggression worse I can easily feel and remove the implant to reverse the effects rather than waiting the 6 or 12 months depending on which implant we have used.
It is normally used into the scruff, but it is very difficult to find and remove in this location.

Watching with interest as having similar dilemma with my dog, he about 20 months now and definitely goes through phases of having issues with other dogs. The issues tend to be with other male dogs and I'm sure it's hormonal as he will be awful for a week or so and then it settles.

He also likes to wee and mark constantly on walks.

If it's fear aggression would it be just with other male dogs? He will lunge for them so it doesn't seem like he's scared iyswim?

@Lonecatwithkitten they said they would implant it in his belly so it could be removed if necessary.
@bluedomino thanks for sharing the experience you’ve had with your dog. While I know our dog has some fear agression he has been a bit growly with the kids at times and I’m pretty sure that isn’t fear based. He is also very snappy with other dogs if he has a stick or a ball that they want from him.
If he chilled out a bit like yours did that would be amazing. I can’t assume it will work like that though.