Spaying? Please share your experiences.

[VanellopeVonSchweetz99]

He just turned 1, lovely miniature poodle, but does not play as well with other dogs as he used to. There's a lovely gang of local dogs and owners in a nearby park and he's been fine all along, but suddenly more growly/snappy with other dogs, and barking at strangers walking/jogging in the area (guarding?). His best dog friend he now almost resource gurads, ie if others want to play with her he snaps at them. Some older/wiser owners have suggested it might be time to spay, which I'm all for. Just hoping it helps to calm him down? We're not confident we can control him off lead in a safe park as well as we used to and it feels like such a shame, he was doing so well just as 'puberty hit' and we were feeling really pleased with ourselves as owners, but now less so. He's amazing and we love him and we want to do what's best.
Would you go for spaying and/or behaviouralist? Would love to hear your thoughts/experences, many thanks.

Sorry for crap spelling, I hate my new glasses.

Is it a boy or girl dog..?
Because you say ‘spay’ which is for female dogs but refer to your dog as ‘he’?

If the dog is a boy, as I understand it, neutering will help IF his aggression is hormone related but if his aggression is caused by fear (and it sounds that way in your post), neutering could actually make it worse.

If your dog is a girl, I very much doubt spaying will stop or even improve aggression.

I don’t think spaying or neutering ‘calms’ dogs down either.

At a year old and a small breed your dog is probably settling into his adult temperament now and may no longer wish to interact with other dogs and people he doesn’t know.

I also have a just turned 1 year old dog who is becoming increasingly less tolerant of strange dogs and especially strange people, so I empathise completely. Absolutely gutting to go from thinking 'we've absolutely nailed doggy socialisation' at 8 months old to now thinking we've got a slightly aggressive dog.
Our dog has already been spayed and if anything that was what caused the onset of the fearfullness. Neutering gets recommended a lot for behavioural problems and I'm not sure it that's simple. I would hold off until you understand whether your dog is fearful/protective/resource guarding and so on. So I would see a behaviourist first, and see where they think the behaviour is coming from. You have my sympathy, it's really difficult!

I'm interested in this subject. I have a very large (40kilo) almost one year old dog. He lives with his 5 year old spayed aunt and a very small four year old spayed bitch

His temperament is great. He's not guardy and loves everyone - human and dog. He is marking abit more than I'd like and rarely tries to mount his aunt. He does sometimes follow bitches around and try to mount them on walks. I am noticing that other neutered male dogs get abit funny around him and I presume that is because he still has his testicles!

I'm definitely getting him done but he is going to a dog sitter later this month (whom we know well and is very experienced) who would prefer him neutered before he is with him.

He's therefore booked to be neutered on Monday. He will be almost one year old.

He does sometimes get nervous and I'm worried about this. Any experience of nervousness getting worst post neuter? I appreciate that large breeds should not ideally be neutered until after 18 months and it can stunt growth, but this is not a concern as he is small for his breed. The vet supports him being neutered now as I had problems a few months ago when one of the bitches had a bladder infection and he was besides himself with trying to mount her !

He's got a lovely nature and I don't want another dog to ever be aggressive towards him and I also have to balance this with delaying getting him neutered.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

I appreciate that large breeds should not ideally be neutered until after 18 months and it can stunt growth, but this is not a concern as he is small for his breed
Considering that large breeds are not emotionally or physically mature until 3 years old I would completely disagree.

At one, your dog has not yet developed his ‘proper’ adult temperament, in a lot of large breeds neutering before mature is linked to osteosarcoma.
So, I wouldn’t myself.

Thanks everyone, reading with interest. My pup is male, sorry, bit of a langage issue there, of course I mean neutering.

I saw this link on another thread, about the best age to neuter for different breeds.
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full
I agree with others, I don't think it will fix everything.
He has good walks and less good, and we do feel it's hormonal rather than fear. Or maybe just his adult male personality?

Agression towards un neutered males by neutered males is a real thing - and can be hard for the owner of the entire male. I have a male that is aggressive towards entire males so it's a conversation I'm often having with other dog owners - as I explain why I'm scooping the dog up and rushing past their lovely boy. A few people have said how their boys are constantly being attacked.

I now only neuter once the growth plates have fused - so when a dog reaches sexual maturity, My reactive one is a rescue that was neutered because he came into rescue at 4-5yrs - by which time I'm guessing his behavioural traits were well established.

Good luck - it's a difficult age, they go all teenager on you anyway at this point, if you can afford a few sessions with a good behaviourist then you might at least be able to work out what is the root of the issue with him.

At one year he won't have developed his full adult personality unless perhaps he's a toy breed. They take a good year or two to mature.

As a dog walker, I don't notice any real difference between neutered and unneutered males - I walk dogs of all shapes, sizes and personality and it's not their balls (or lack of) that decides that personality

But what PP said is true - there is often aggression present between neutered and unneutered males and generally I don't mix the two.

He has good walks and less good, and we do feel it's hormonal rather than fear.
Why?
Your OP states ‘but suddenly more growly/snappy with other dogs, and barking at strangers walking/jogging in the area (guarding?)’
Hormonal aggression tends to be against entire males or males when females in season are about.
Or maybe just his adult male personality?
In larger breeds the adult personality shows itself at 2 to 3 years old.
Not 1.
At 1 your dog has not developed his adult personality.

That’s very early. Neutering is to prevent unwanted pregnancy or running off after a bitch in season. For all other behavioural issues I would want to work with a good trainer or behaviourist to figure out why certain behaviours are occurring.
There is also the implant which could give a good (but temporary) indication if neutering could help.

All my dogs have been good as gold until about 10/12 months, and then wee terrors until about 3 years old when they settle. I think this is relatively normal? With hard work you can keep them obedient and they keep learning, but they are in a stage of pushing the boundaries and testing what they can get away with.
I'm guessing this applies to their relationships with other dogs too. Some of ours haven't had that particular trouble, but some have, and I think they're trying to find out where they fit in. Last DDog was absolutely fine with all dogs, totally loved them. Then she turned one year old, and suddenly started barking/lunging at any dog she didn't know. Fine with dogs she knew though. We couldn't tell initially if it was fear or aggression, but once we introduced her to my brother in law's pack of three dogs it was pretty clear it was fear! They are very chilled and didn't even approach her, but she still quaked with her tail tucked in. It's like she lost her confidence that other dogs would be nice to her, and started expecting all strange dogs to be mean, so she started barking/lunging to kind of get the first word in! The solution was LOTS of dog socialising. With dog friends, and also with unknown dogs that we'd checked weren't vicious. She eventually got her mojo back!

They do change as they mature, and the smaller dogs mature faster.
My bitch wouldn’t say boo to a goose when she was younger, now she’s 10 and barks at most dogs.
Mine was spayed at about 14 months as I knew, as a toy breed, she was mature enough.

"Hormonal aggression tends to be against entire males or males when females in season are about."

That's a really good point, thank you. Upon reflection there were females in season about.