When to neuter cockapoo

[susan198130]

My cockapoo is coming up to 6 months. My vets say they prefer to wait until he is a year old before they'll neuter, yet my friend who lives in a different borough says her vet says to neuter her cockapoo at 6 months. I also have another friend who has a cavapoo, again lives in a different area, and her vet said 6 months is fine. Both these dogs are male.

I did call my vets and they said unless the dog is displaying unwanted behavior, they don't recommend neutering until around 12 months of age.

In the past month or so, my dog has started cocking his leg and literally stops at everything to cock his leg when we're out. He does have a bit of a tendency to hump other dogs when we're out and he also likes to hump his bed, although he's never tried to hump us. He also can get quite aggressive if he's got something that he shouldn't have and you want to get it off of him. He will growl and bite. He's also still biting.

Would neutering help with these behaviours? I've never had a dog before so just wondering when most people tend to get their dogs neutered.

Neutering can make behaviours worse.
There is lots of studies providing that its better for dogs to be neutered when mature.
You should arrange dog training for the issues you described.

As guarding is a fear related behaviour and neutering takes their testosterone that helps with confidence I wouldn't recommend neutering until you've been in contact with a good behaviourist.

Definitely get help with the guarding now before it becomes more severe - it already sounds like it's escalated quite far if he's growling and biting. Look up the ladder of aggression and into dog body language as you will be missing the smaller signs he's uncomfortable. Use this link to find a behaviourist with the correct qualifications: abtc.org.uk/practitioners/

The dog training industry is unregulated so lots of people can call themselves behaviourists without any knowledge and will cause more harm than good to you dog/relationship.

Also neutering before all their growth plates are closed generally isn't recommend so best to wait until fully grown even without the other behavioural issues you've mentioned.

Six months is far too young to be considering neutering, IMO.

In the past month or so, my dog has started cocking his leg and literally stops at everything to cock his leg when we're out.

This is normal and nothing to do with whether he's neutered or not. Dogs who are going to scent mark will do it regardless :)

He does have a bit of a tendency to hump other dogs when we're out and he also likes to hump his bed, although he's never tried to hump us.

There is absolutely no guarantee that neutering would stop this - humping isn't necessarily sexual and is generally related to over-arousal and excitement. I walk plenty of neutered dogs (and bitches) who hump.

He also can get quite aggressive if he's got something that he shouldn't have and you want to get it off of him. He will growl and bite. He's also still biting

I would say that this is a reason NOT to neuter him as removing the testosterone from his system will potentially make his aggression much worse.

I would see a behaviourist rather than opt for surgery that may not solve any of your problems and that may in fact make some of them worse.

The behaviourist we worked with for issues with our Cockapoo has said not to neuter before 2.

It confuses me why there are so many different opinions between different vets. As I said, 2 of my friends, the one who has a cockapoo and the other who has a cavapoo, their vets will neuter at 6 months. I guess I'll just hold out for now.

There has been a study done by McGeery et al in 2013 which looked at impact of castration on behaviour etc. Conclusion was the presence of testosterone prevented 29 behavioural issues in dogs. SO if your dog is castrated early you are more likely to have fearful dogs, aggressive dogs and the list goes on! Although to be transparent if you castrated your dog before 6 months you are less likely to have scent marking in the house but if your dog already does scent mark castration will not stop it - that was the only benefit found of early castration.

There has been a recent study on castration and spaying by Hart B L et al 2020 which has studied dogs by breed for impact of castration etc with regard to joint disorders cancer and urinary incontinence and again later castration is encouraged but it does vary by breed .

Most vets are now acknowledging this. Many vets are not recommending castration until after 3 years of age. (your friends vets would be ones I would avoid tbh!).

There are clear benefits of delaying castration. If you are worried about reproduction then a vasectomy is a possibility - a few years ago vets were not offering this but now it is easier to find a vet who will do this surgery.

Don’t neuter till full maturity has been reached otherwise it affects the development of the skeleton leading to problems in later life. Male dogs will cock their legs anyway, neutered or not. They will also hump, even my bitches hump each other.

6 months is definitely too young, vets have different opinions because they are either up to date with current science or not. Also most vets aren't behaviour specialists so they don't properly understand the behavioural impacts of castration.
There is a very informative article here
www.wagtailwalksandtraining.com/weekly-wag74354403

The growling and biting sounds like resource guarding - you should probably look into getting a behaviourist to address it if it has escalated to biting.

Cocker spaniels have a tendency towards it - they instinctually want to have something in their mouths at all times, so they pick things up. The humans take away their "treasure", pup learns that running off, growling, guarding behaviour gets the human to back off.

Our cocker spaniel started displaying signs - taking stuff into his crate, stiff stance, standing over the item - and we had to makea really concentrated effort to manage it. Lots of swapping toys for treats or other toys, practicing dropping safe objects and asking him to leave, lots of positive reinforcement. He's now far, far better - he brings his "treasure" to us to swap for a bit of cheese instead, & we're working towards swapping for lower value treats.

It's really, really important you don't take anything out of the dogs mouth. Unless he is about to swallow a razor blade or a whole pack of paracetamol, do not try to take the object. You can sometimes get things back by creating a distraction - get their lead, go to fridge, open the door to the garden - but they cotton on quickly so the most important thing is to keep anything off-limits out of reach while you are working the behaviour, as taking stuff away will be a big setback.