Castration dilemma

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I'm torn whether to get my 1 year old working Cocker castrated. On the plus side, all the obvious reasons and he does get aggro from some older male dogs as an intact young male, which sometimes makes walks stressful. I'm hesitating because he is already a very submissive dog and I worry about the impact of losing testosterone on his already submissive personality. He is a quiet boy at home, but hugely enthusiastic and friendly, with dogs and people, on walks, with a high prey drive. We are doing lots of training. Appreciate feedback from anyone who has had a similar dog castrated, especially when they were submissive to start with.

speak to your vet we well mother in law never and me and nephew have been bitten and dogs been pts it can seemingly make them aggressive maybe a closed case but vet did mention it

I wouldn’t consider it until dog has fully grown, about 2 years old. We have a border collie who is 4 and we haven’t had him neutered, the only problem we have is the same with other dogs. My friend has 2 cocker spaniels, one 4 year old is neutered, but has a very bad coat of fur and only gets about 1/4 of food that he used to have, or else he would put on weight, so he’s always hungry. The other dog hasn’t been neutered and has a lovely coat and can eat what he likes.

I have a 6 year old working cocker. He was castrated about 18 months ago.
Hes always been a lovely natured dog but as he matured he humped other dogs. With the increase in dog ownership during covid this made taking him for a walk a nightmare and he needs to be let off the lead to wear him out.
On the positive he no longer humps and now ignores most dogs altogether.
On the negative we have to manage his weight very carefully. No treats and food measured out. He has lost a lot of his playfulness and no longer wants to play chase with other dogs. He still rolls in duck and fox poo at any opportunity.
Overall for us it was the right thing to do but it isnt a magic wand.

We haven't had our dogs neutered because I'm worried about weight gain. Both dogs extremely greedy and have always been slim despite eating like dust bins. After neutering we would really have to watch the treats.

For an anxious male dog castration is the worse thing you can do for it. I would avoid chemical castration.

Loads of research and academic article to state that castration of nervous,timid anxious male dogs is not recommended. Your vet should say the same.

XelaM weight gain is not a reason to not castrate just drop the calorie intact after castration by a small percentage(if needed)

You could try a Suprelorin implant and ‘trial’ neutering that way. It’s reversible so if you get personality changes/weight gain/coat issues he’ll get his testosterone back eventually. I have a Golden Retriever who has had implants since aged 2, now 7 and I think on his second to last implant. I think they age better. My in laws previous goldies have all been intact and made it to 15 years and older in quite good health to almost the end. My dog never humped though, his biggest behavioural pita was scenting (never in the house) and focus which was not compatible with gundog training.
I understand humping can also be behavioural and neutering a dog does not guarantee the end of humping.

I had my submissive dog castratedit was a Condition of the adoption process It made no difference to him whatsoever In my opinion it's irresponsible not to get you pet neutered as there are too many unwanted animals in rescue already

A couple of our nurses have completed behavioural certificates and the general consensus is to not neuter fearful or anxious dogs. The superolin implant is great as a trial, though be aware not to count the first 3-4 weeks until the hormone level settles.

I would definitely not get him neutered if he has a tendency to be anxious. The last thing you want to do with an anxious dog is remove their testosterone.

Thanks for all the responses, in particular @Ivedonethisthreetimealready and @Stillavetjust for your expert and research knowledge and everyone else for sharing experiences. I did talk to my vet about a test period with chemical castration, but he was very against it as he thought it was quite unstable and erratic, so put me off and tried to push surgery. You've all helped me to decide against castration. If I need to revisit in future for daycare or kennels I'll go the chemical route first. So far he's not particularly interested in bitches and practically no humping!

I've booked my dog into be neutered in a couple of weeks. He will have just turned 3yo then.

He is a bit anxious and I'm hoping it won't make worse He is such a nightmare around other unneutered males which is the main reason for getting him done. He also keeps harassing the cat who is nonplussed but must find it annoying to have a dogs nose up her bum constantly!!

I'm not worried about weight gain as he isn't greedy at all.

I've waited 3 years and he's a small dog so hoping he's benefited as much as poss from the testosterone.