Spay or not spay a male dog

[happymoment]

My dog will be one soon. I m not sure to spay or not spay him. He s a very friendly good boy. He humps his own bed every night since he was about 4/5 month old. Other then that he s a very amazing boy. I m worried having him spayed will have negative effects on his personality and health.

Have you ever regretted after you had your dog spayed? Is it really true that they are better at recall after having it done?

I believe most vet practices may little profit, if any, from neutering and spaying. Some may even make a small lose. If a vet practice was in it just for the money, they would make a lot more if pets weren’t routinely neutered or spayed.

My opinion is that it is a very personal decision. We have always neutered ours without issue but equally I have friends who have never neutered their dogs and have had no issue either.

That's absutr utter bullshit, this is a full on fucking myth that boils my piss

Neuter your damn dog!!! Its down right cruel not to, unless your breeding, in which case you're a money grabbing shit

Our Labrador was neutered 2 weeks ago and already he’s stopped marking, walks better on his lead and other dogs have stopped snapping at him. Even my mum’s dog who hated him ran up to him like they’d been besties all along 🤷‍♀️. The best benefit is no more green goo coming out of his willy and landing all over the house 🤢.

My cats are spayed. My past four dogs were neutered. Even my rabbits and Guinea pigs were neutered.

But I'd be reluctant to neuter a male dog again because of my past experiences. My last dog was vastly different before and after his op.

I've got a 9 year old entire male cocker spaniel (worker). He never showed any sign of sexual behaviour and after a long discussion with the vet, we decided to leave him be.

My seven year old Labrador has never humped anything or chased bitches. He’s been a dream to train, he walks nicely on the lead and doesn’t mark every five seconds. He gets on fine with other dogs although young entire dogs will be defensive but that’s to be expected. He doesn’t take any notice. He has a lovely calm friendly personality and has never, ever been any trouble.

Why would I want to tamper with that?

Yes.

Only if they're in season but we rarely come across them. Probably about once a year. Can't remember the last time. No interest in spayed females.

What is your area of expertise that you feel entitled to aggressively order people on the internet to do what you think they should with their dogs?

My dog was neutered by the breeder at 7 weeks! He's now 13 and full of personality and is still quite a bouncy boy.

3 yr old collie bull lurcher cross, not neutered, on the advice of the vet and my trainer. He doesn't hump, doesn't run off and has great obedience.
However when he was younger (his puppy classes etc ended at lockdown when he was 6 months) he was quite fear reactive to other dogs and strange situations.
The vet advised this problem could be made worse if he was neutered, so we've kept him entire.
With good training his reactivity has diminished to almost nothing, he isn't keen on strange dogs but that's typical of his breed mix anyway, so it's just about management. I have zero interest in letting him play with other dogs, some dogs are reactive to him, so we give plenty of space and I advocate for him - mostly everyone is happy giving everyone a wide berth.
He now shows good control around other approaching off lead dogs, with steady escalation of signals to 'fuck off and leave me alone' which I back up to the owners if they're remotely interested (the classic 'it's ok he's friendly' as their dog cannons up to us ignoring recall efforts)
Long story short, it works for us, he's a fit lively energetic obedient dog but it is constant effort to be alert as I'm aware a mature entire male is a big responsibility.

My dog was neutered by the breeder at 7 weeks
I hope you reported them.

For those saying it is cruel not to neuter, why is that? I'm genuinely interested, not being snarky.

I am concerned about a change in my dog's personality if he were to be neutered. That is the main thing holding me back. He's such a lovely dog, friendly to all, confident and happy.

the ONLY correct answer here is to speak directly to your vet.

with regard to my experience (which is one dog so statistically invalid) I have a 4 year old male Border Collie who is entire. This was discussed with both vet and very experienced breeder from whom we got him as a puppy.

we have had absolutely no regrets and we have no problems with him. He is very sociable and very friendly. No problems with humping or running after females in season.

but definitely speak to your vet as what is right for one dog may not be for another.

utter Shite

How is my OPINION a myth? Do you understand the basic concept of OPINIONS.

You might also want to find a saying that has a bit more class than “boils my piss”

So many old fashioned views here. Neutering depends on the dog. Our daycare wanted all dogs neutered when they were a year old. Discussed it with our vet who said they wouldn’t recommend it as he had no adverse behaviours and was a boy who needed his testosterone. We agreed with the vet and withdrew him from daycare. We haven’t regretted our decision at all.

Please don’t listen to people who are completely out of touch. Times and science have moved on.

My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.

At about 10-11 months, dogs would snap and growl at him whether they were neutered themselves or not. He started getting bolshy back which was awful. After he was neutered a month later, it faded and we worked with a trainer on his reaction. He’s now fine but not keen on unneutered male dogs.

His recall also improved afterwards. He just couldn’t hear me when he was in a randy mood.

Our standard poodle is 5 and hasn't been neutered. He is the most loveable, friendly dog ever and every day he just gets more adorable.
Never had a problem with other dogs, he's a star, even with dogs who snap and bark at him. He just looks at them and walks away.
Dogs that have been neutered are usually the ones who start on him.

All our male rescue dogs from rescues have been neutered ( a requirement of many rescues) and none had any health problems from it. They didnt get fat, they were fun and lively. All my dogs had good recall because they'd been well trained (by us) ; successful dog training has nothing to do with gender or neutering, just a matter of patient consistency.

Theres often pratical considerations.

Our neutered dog like many others intensely dislikes entire dogs. If he was entire Our dog walker will only do 1:1 walks, dog day care etc would be out as would some kennel options. A lot of our holidays involve staying with others with dogs or having dog care where the dog stays with family with pets so it was important for us to neuter

We also knew it opened up rehoming options when we eree looking for another pet

Our dog is 4 and hasn't been neutered. He can lack confidence so we decided to leave him intact. Never had a problem with his behavior or him running off.

Previous dog was a lab and we neutered him at 18 months. Didn't really effect his personality but did make him gain weight.

There are pros and cons to both tbh.

Thanks everyone, I ve learned so much from this thread. I don’t want to make a decision while he is still under 1 year old anyway. But I will work with a dog trainer on recall to see how he gets on first.

“MissMaple82 · Yesterday 21:25
Neuter your damn dog!!! Its down right cruel not to, unless your breeding, in which case you're a money grabbing shit”

I will not use my dog to make money. It s not my intention to have a dog. He is our baby. I just want do the right thing for him.

We neutered our 1st dog (pug) at around 8 months, he was obsessively trying to hump my leg every night, nothing else, just me. His marking was dreadful, including people which was obviously awful, although only ever outside not in the house.

He was always very anxious when it came to being left alone, he also barks a lot at people. He adores all people and dogs but seems to bark if people (or bikes/scooters) walk past him. The humping and marking stopped immediately, the barking and anxiousness continued and I believe its actually worse. Part of me wishes we'd waited but vet and behaviourist recommended it. I don't know if it would have made any difference.

We have a 2nd dog now, he is 8 months but is a large breed so we wouldn't neuter him yet of course. He has only in the last month started cocking his leg, occasionally humps the air or ground near dogs when he is playing but its not too bad yet. He's really teenager-ish at the moment but I imagine we'll wait till 12 months as I think that's what is recommended at minimum. Its a hard decision but due to his size I won't consider not getting him done.